- Eligibility at a Glance
- The Work Experience Requirement
- The 20-CEU Requirement
- The Accredited-University Pathway
- What Is Not Required
- Application Mechanics and Fees
- What You Qualify For: The Exam Itself
- Mapping Your Experience to the Seven Domains
- Sequencing Your Qualification Plan
- Keeping the Credential After You Pass
- Frequently Asked Questions
- You need one year full-time in compliance, or 1,500 hours of direct compliance duties within the two years before applying.
- You also need 20 CCB-approved CEUs in the 12 months before the exam, at least 10 of them live.
- The initial exam fee is $350 for HCCA/SCCE members and $450 for non-members, rising to $375/$475 on January 1, 2027.
- The exam has 120 questions in two hours, but only 100 are scored; 20 are unidentified pretest items.
Eligibility at a Glance
The Certified in Healthcare Research Compliance (CHRC) credential is issued by the independent Compliance Certification Board (CCB) and administered through the Health Care Compliance Association (HCCA). Unlike some credentials that are open to anyone who pays a fee, CHRC asks you to prove two things before you can sit for the exam: that you have done real compliance work, and that you have recently kept your education current.
If you are still deciding whether this is the right credential for you, start with What Is CHRC Certification?, which explains how the research-compliance credential differs from other certifications that share the same abbreviation. This article assumes you already know you want the healthcare research compliance credential and need to understand exactly how to qualify.
| Requirement | What the Issuer Asks For |
|---|---|
| Work experience | One year in a full-time compliance position, or 1,500 hours of direct compliance duties, within the two years before application |
| Duty relevance | Duties must relate to the CHRC Detailed Content Outline |
| Continuing education | 20 CCB-approved CEUs in the 12 months before the exam, at least 10 live |
| Degree | No separate degree requirement verified |
| References | No separate reference requirement verified |
| Exam fee | $350 member / $450 non-member (through 2026) |
The Work Experience Requirement
The experience rule has two alternative forms, and you only need to satisfy one:
- Time-based: one year in a full-time compliance position.
- Hours-based: 1,500 hours of direct compliance duties.
Both must fall within the two years before you apply, and the duties must be related to the content outline. That last phrase matters more than candidates expect. A job title containing the word "compliance" is not automatically enough, and a title without it is not automatically disqualifying. What counts is whether your actual tasks line up with the exam's subject matter.
Who Typically Qualifies
Research compliance work is spread across many roles, which is why the hours-based path exists. People who commonly accumulate qualifying duties include:
- Research compliance officers and analysts at academic medical centers and universities
- Institutional review board (IRB) administrators and staff who also handle compliance functions
- Clinical research billing and coverage analysis staff
- Grants and contracts personnel with compliance responsibilities
- Compliance staff at hospitals, health systems, and sponsors who audit or monitor research activity
- Privacy, quality, or regulatory staff whose duties include research oversight
The 20-CEU Requirement
Many candidates focus on experience and then discover the continuing-education requirement late. To sit for the exam you need 20 CCB-approved CEUs earned in the 12 months before the exam, and at least 10 of those must be live rather than self-study.
Why the Live Requirement Shapes Your Calendar
Live CEUs usually mean attending a conference, webinar, or in-person session in real time. That makes them harder to compress into a last-minute sprint than on-demand modules. If you are working toward the exam, plan your live events first and fill the remaining CEUs around them.
A few practical points follow from the issuer's rules:
- Only CCB-approved CEUs count, so confirm approval before you invest time in an event.
- The 12-month window runs backward from your exam, so CEUs that are too old will not help.
- CEUs earned for the initial exam do not carry forward into your first renewal period, so you cannot double-count them.
HCCA also runs Research Academies, which are valuable for professional development and CEUs, but the issuer states they are not exam-preparation classes. Treat them as education that may earn credit, not as a substitute for focused review. For the preparation side, see the CHRC study guide.
The Accredited-University Pathway
There is an alternative route for people who completed qualifying coursework at an accredited university. According to the current FAQ and a January 29, 2026 support article on work experience and CEU requirements, the university pathway fulfills the work-experience requirement for 24 months and the CEU requirement for 12 months.
The Unresolved Graduate Timing Question
Here is where candidates need to be careful. After the first 12 months, the FAQ and support article say you must earn 20 new CCB CEUs, including 10 live. The handbook and the Become Certified page word it differently, instructing graduates to sit for the exam within 12 months. These sources have not been reconciled in the materials we reviewed.
What Is Not Required
Because many credentials gate entry behind a degree or professional references, it is worth stating what we did not find for CHRC:
- No separate degree requirement was verified.
- No separate reference requirement was verified.
- No mandatory preparatory course was identified, and HCCA states there is no official exam study guide.
This means the practical barriers are experience and CEUs, not credentials you may not hold. A career changer with the right duties and a clean CEU record can qualify without a graduate degree. That said, the exam itself is demanding, so qualifying and being ready are different questions. Our CHRC difficulty guide covers the second one.
Application Mechanics and Fees
Current Pricing
The initial exam application fee is $350 for HCCA/SCCE members and $450 for non-members. If you need to retake the exam and are eligible for a re-exam, the fee is $75. The fee page also lists a $75 non-refundable application amount, but it is not added on top of the published initial totals.
The January 2027 Fee Change
The official fee schedule announces higher rates from January 1, 2027: $375 for members and $475 for non-members on the initial exam. Renewal fees also rise from the current $145 member/$265 non-member to $155 member/$275 non-member. These are future prices, not what you pay today, so if your timeline is flexible, the date you apply affects your cost.
| Fee | Through 2026 | From Jan 1, 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| Initial exam, member | $350 | $375 |
| Initial exam, non-member | $450 | $475 |
| Re-exam (eligible) | $75 | Check current schedule |
| Renewal, member | $145 | $155 |
| Renewal, non-member | $265 | $275 |
The gap between member and non-member pricing is $100 on the initial exam, so it is worth comparing that against the cost of membership. For a full breakdown including preparation spending, see the CHRC certification cost guide.
What You Qualify For: The Exam Itself
Meeting the prerequisites earns you the right to sit for the exam, so it helps to know what you are signing up for.
- Length: 120 multiple-choice questions in two hours.
- Scored items: 100 count toward your result; 20 are unidentified, unscored pretest questions, so you cannot tell which ones to ignore.
- Language: English only.
- Provider: PSI, with test-center computer delivery, remote proctoring, and paper-and-pencil administration at selected HCCA/SCCE events.
- Rules: closed book, with reference materials and personal electronic devices restricted; the remote-testing FAQ expressly prohibits handheld calculators.
- Passing standard: set by an Angoff process on the scored questions. A fixed numerical cut score was not publicly verified.
The issuer does not publish a pass rate in the materials we located, so any figure you see elsewhere should be treated with caution. We discuss what can and cannot be known in CHRC pass rate: what the data shows and CHRC passing score. For scheduling logistics, see CHRC exam dates.
Mapping Your Experience to the Seven Domains
Because the experience rule is tied to the content outline, it is smart to audit your background against the seven domains before you apply. The percentages reflect each domain's share of the 100 scored questions.
Domain 5: Monitoring, Auditing, and Internal Reporting Systems (20%)
The largest domain. Experience here includes conducting or overseeing audits, tracking corrective actions, and managing hotlines or reporting channels.
- Research billing and coverage analysis audits are a common source of qualifying duties
- Internal reporting systems cover how concerns reach the compliance function
Domain 4: Communication, Education, and Training (18%)
The second-largest domain. If you have built or delivered researcher training, this is evidence of directly relevant duties.
- Training design for investigators, coordinators, and research staff
- Communication of policy changes and regulatory updates
Domain 1: Standards, Policies, and Procedures (17%)
Drafting, reviewing, and maintaining the written standards that govern research conduct. The official outline touches agencies including FDA, USDA, ORI, OCR, and OHRP.
Domain 2: Compliance Program Administration (15%)
Oversight structure, program resources, and how compliance functions are organized and led.
Domain 7: Investigations and Remedial Measures (14%)
Responding to allegations, conducting inquiries, and implementing corrective action.
Domain 3: Screening and Evaluation of Researchers, Employees, Physicians, Sponsors, Vendors, Contractors, and Others (8%)
Exclusion screening, conflict reviews, and due diligence on the parties involved in research.
Domain 6: Enforcement, Discipline, and Incentives (8%)
Consistent enforcement of standards and the incentives that support a culture of compliance.
If your background is heavily weighted toward one or two domains, that is normal, but it tells you where your preparation needs to concentrate. The complete guide to all seven CHRC content areas breaks each one down in more depth.
Key Takeaway
Use the domain list as an experience inventory. Write one sentence per domain describing work you have actually done. Domains where you have nothing to write are both a potential application weak point and your priority study areas.
Sequencing Your Qualification Plan
The prerequisites and the preparation interact, so it helps to sequence them deliberately rather than treating them as separate tasks. Here is one way to order the work, built around the exam's weighting.
Verify eligibility and book live CEUs
- Confirm your experience meets the one-year or 1,500-hour standard
- Schedule at least 10 live CEUs inside your 12-month window
- Decide on membership versus non-member pricing
Domains 5 and 4 first
- These two domains together account for 38% of scored questions
- Cover auditing, reporting systems, and training design
Domains 1, 2, and 7
- Standards, program administration, and investigations make up most of the remainder
- Add timed practice sets from the CHRC practice test site
Domains 3 and 6, then full review
- The two smallest domains are 8% each, so they reward efficient review
- Finish with full-length timed attempts under realistic conditions
HCCA offers sample questions and a candidate-only 50-question practice exam, but states there is no official study guide, so independent preparation matters. Our CHRC study guide and one-page cheat sheet are built for this gap, and you can pressure-test your readiness on the main practice test.
Keeping the Credential After You Pass
Qualifying is not a one-time event. The credential is valid for two years. Renewal requires 40 CCB CEUs earned in that renewal period, at least 20 of them live, along with an application, attestations, and a renewal fee of $145 for members or $265 for non-members. Some older indexed handbook text shows $125/$245, but the current fee and FAQ pages take precedence.
Two details catch people out. CEUs used for the initial exam do not carry into the next period, and excess renewal CEUs do not roll forward either. Treat every period as a fresh start.
If you are weighing whether the ongoing commitment is worthwhile, see whether the CHRC is worth it. A CHRC-specific salary premium was not verified in the sources we reviewed, so evaluate it against your own career goals; the CHRC salary guide explains what the survey data can and cannot tell you.
Frequently Asked Questions
No separate degree requirement was verified. Eligibility is based on compliance work experience (one year full-time or 1,500 hours of direct duties in the prior two years) and 20 CCB-approved CEUs, including at least 10 live, in the 12 months before the exam.
Duties must be related to the CHRC Detailed Content Outline, which spans seven domains from policies and program administration to auditing, training, and investigations. The substance of your tasks matters more than your job title.
The initial exam fee is $350 for HCCA/SCCE members and $450 for non-members through 2026. From January 1, 2027, it rises to $375 and $475. An eligible re-exam costs $75. See the cost breakdown for details.
Yes. Per the current FAQ and a January 29, 2026 support article, an accredited-university pathway fulfills the work-experience requirement for 24 months and the CEU requirement for 12 months. Sources conflict on what applies after month 12, so confirm with HCCA/CCB if you will test later.
Two years. Renewal requires 40 CCB CEUs earned in the period (at least 20 live), an application with attestations, and a renewal fee of $145 for members or $265 for non-members.
Qualifying for the CHRC comes down to documented relevant experience, a recent and partly live CEU record, and a realistic plan that sequences both around the exam's weighting. Verify the details against the issuer's current pages before you apply, since fees and handbook wording can change.