- What CHRC Means (and What It Doesn't)
- Who Governs and Who Issues the Credential
- The Exam: Format, Provider, and Delivery
- The Seven Domains in the Official Outline
- Eligibility: Work Experience and CEUs
- Fees, Renewal, and the 2027 Fee Change
- Where CHRC Fits in Research Compliance Careers
- How CHRC Differs from Neighboring Credentials
- Sequencing Your Preparation by Domain
- Frequently Asked Questions
- CHRC here means Certified in Healthcare Research Compliance, governed by HCCA and issued by the independent Compliance Certification Board.
- The exam has 120 multiple-choice questions in two hours: 100 scored plus 20 unscored pretest items.
- Monitoring, Auditing, and Internal Reporting Systems is the heaviest domain at 20%, followed by Communication, Education, and Training at 18%.
- Initial exam fees are $350 for members and $450 for non-members through 2026, rising on January 1, 2027.
What CHRC Means (and What It Doesn't)
On this site, CHRC refers to one credential only: Certified in Healthcare Research Compliance. It is a professional certification for people whose daily work involves keeping clinical and biomedical research programs aligned with law, regulation, sponsor terms, and institutional policy. If you landed here searching the acronym and expected something from the human resources world, the cardiac rehabilitation world, or clinical research coordination, you are in the wrong place. Those are separate credentials with separate bodies and separate exams, and nothing on this page applies to them.
Several related questions people ask, such as what CHRC stands for and the meaning of the abbreviation, are covered in dedicated articles. This guide takes the broader view: what the credential is, how the exam is built, what it costs, and who it is designed for.
Who Governs and Who Issues the Credential
Two organizations matter, and it helps to keep them straight. The Health Care Compliance Association (HCCA) is the governing body associated with the certification and hosts the public information pages, the candidate handbook, and the detailed content outline. The credential itself is issued by the independent Compliance Certification Board (CCB), which sets eligibility rules, maintains the exam standard, and processes renewals.
This separation is deliberate. Certification bodies are structured so that the entity awarding the credential is independent from the entity selling education, which matters when you evaluate any training product that claims to be "official." HCCA's own materials state plainly that there is no official exam study guide and that its Research Academies are not exam-preparation classes. They are valuable professional education, but they are not a shortcut to passing. For a deeper look at what is and is not available, see the CHRC study guide.
The Exam: Format, Provider, and Delivery
The test is administered through PSI. The format is straightforward:
| Element | Detail |
|---|---|
| Total questions | 120 multiple-choice |
| Scored questions | 100 |
| Unscored pretest questions | 20, not identified to the candidate |
| Time allowed | Two hours |
| Language | English only |
| Book policy | Closed book |
| Delivery options | PSI test center (computer), remote proctoring, or paper-and-pencil at selected HCCA/SCCE events |
What the unscored items mean for you
Because 20 of the 120 items are unscored and unlabeled, you cannot tell which questions count. The practical consequence is simple: treat every question as scored, and do not spend disproportionate time agonizing over one item that feels unusually strange. A confusing question may well be a pretest item, but you cannot know that, so the right response is a reasoned answer and forward motion.
Passing standard
The passing criterion is established through an Angoff process based on the scored questions. A fixed numerical cut score has not been publicly verified, and the issuer materials located do not disclose a pass rate. That is worth stating clearly because many third-party pages assert specific percentages. Our articles on the CHRC passing score and the CHRC pass rate separate what the issuer actually says from vendor claims and informal estimates.
Rules on materials and devices
The exam is closed book, and reference materials and personal electronic devices are restricted under the proctoring rules for each delivery method. The current remote-testing FAQ expressly prohibits handheld calculators. Whether an on-screen calculator is offered was not verified, so plan on not needing one; the exam is conceptual and regulatory rather than computational. Check the issuer's exam information page before your appointment, since the rules differ between test center, remote, and paper formats.
The Seven Domains in the Official Outline
The Detailed Content Outline (DCO) divides the exam into seven domains. The percentages correspond to the published item counts out of 100 scored questions. The full breakdown is in our CHRC exam domains guide; here is the orientation.
| Domain | Weight |
|---|---|
| 1. Standards, Policies, and Procedures | 17% |
| 2. Compliance Program Administration | 15% |
| 3. Screening and Evaluation of Researchers, Employees, Physicians, Sponsors, Vendors, Contractors, and Others | 8% |
| 4. Communication, Education, and Training | 18% |
| 5. Monitoring, Auditing, and Internal Reporting Systems | 20% |
| 6. Enforcement, Discipline, and Incentives | 8% |
| 7. Investigations and Remedial Measures | 14% |
Domain 5: Monitoring, Auditing, and Internal Reporting Systems (20%)
The largest slice of the exam. Expect scenario thinking: what an auditor should do on discovering a problem, how reporting channels function, and how monitoring differs from auditing.
- Designing and interpreting audit and monitoring activities in a research setting
- Hotline and internal reporting mechanisms and how reports are handled
- Research billing and coverage analysis as an audit target
- Tracking corrective action through to completion
Domain 4: Communication, Education, and Training (18%)
Second-heaviest. This is less about memorizing regulations and more about how a compliance office gets requirements into the hands of researchers and staff.
- Who needs which training, and when
- Communicating expectations to investigators, coordinators, and leadership
- Measuring whether education actually changed behavior
Domain 1: Standards, Policies, and Procedures (17%)
The rulebook domain. The official outline names agencies including FDA, USDA, ORI, OCR, and OHRP, so candidates should be comfortable with what each oversees and how institutional policy translates their requirements.
- Which agency's rules govern which research activity
- Writing and maintaining policies that reflect current requirements
- Conflict of interest and research integrity standards
Domains 2, 3, 6, and 7 (15%, 8%, 8%, 14%)
Compliance Program Administration covers structure, oversight, and the role of the compliance officer. Screening and Evaluation covers exclusion checks and vetting of people and organizations. Enforcement, Discipline, and Incentives addresses consistent consequences and rewards. Investigations and Remedial Measures covers how to respond when something has gone wrong.
Eligibility: Work Experience and CEUs
CHRC is not an entry-level, no-experience credential. Candidates must satisfy two requirements, detailed in our CHRC requirements guide:
- Work experience: one year in a full-time compliance position, or 1,500 hours of direct compliance duties within the two years before applying, with duties related to the content outline.
- Continuing education: 20 CCB-approved CEUs in the 12 months before the exam, at least 10 of them live.
No separate degree or reference requirement was verified. An accredited-university pathway can fulfill the work-experience requirement for 24 months and the CEU requirement for 12 months, according to the current FAQ and a January 2026 support article.
Fees, Renewal, and the 2027 Fee Change
Current published fees, verified against the HCCA fee page, are as follows. For the full picture see the CHRC certification cost breakdown.
| Item | Member | Non-member |
|---|---|---|
| Initial exam application (current) | $350 | $450 |
| Eligible re-exam | $75 | $75 |
| Two-year renewal (current) | $145 | $265 |
| Initial exam (from January 1, 2027) | $375 | $475 |
| Renewal (from January 1, 2027) | $155 | $275 |
The fee page lists a $75 non-refundable application amount separately, but no extra $75 is added on top of the published initial totals. Older handbook extracts show renewal at $125 member and $245 non-member; those are outdated, and the current fee and FAQ pages take precedence. The 2027 figures are future rates, not what applies today.
Validity and renewal
The credential is valid for two years. Renewal requires 40 CCB CEUs earned within the renewal period, at least 20 of them live, plus an application, attestations, and the renewal fee. CEUs used for the initial exam do not carry forward, and excess renewal CEUs do not roll into the next period.
Where CHRC Fits in Research Compliance Careers
The credential is aimed at compliance professionals who work in or around research: academic medical centers, hospitals and health systems with research programs, universities with clinical research enterprises, research institutes, and organizations that interact with sponsors and funders. Titles vary widely, from research compliance officer to compliance analyst, auditor, or manager within a broader compliance department. Our CHRC jobs overview looks at the role landscape.
On compensation, be cautious. The 2026 Healthcare Compliance Compensation Survey covers the profession broadly, but a CHRC-specific salary premium has not been verified. Anyone telling you the credential adds a precise dollar amount is going beyond the evidence. For a careful treatment, read the CHRC salary guide and the ROI analysis, which separate job pay from any causal effect of holding the certification.
How CHRC Differs from Neighboring Credentials
People often weigh CHRC against other certifications, so it helps to know the distinction at a glance. Details on any credential other than CHRC belong to that credential's own issuer; treat this as orientation only.
- CHC (Certified in Healthcare Compliance) is the general healthcare compliance credential. CHRC narrows the focus to research settings.
- CIP centers on human subjects protection and IRB work, a narrower slice of the research landscape than the seven CHRC domains.
- CCRP in this context relates to clinical research professionals who conduct studies, a different role than compliance oversight.
The question to ask is whether your work is mainly running or protecting studies or overseeing compliance programs that cover research. CHRC aligns with the second.
Sequencing Your Preparation by Domain
Because HCCA provides no official study guide, your best structure is the DCO itself. Weight your time to the published percentages, and start with the heaviest domains so they get the most repetition. A reasonable ordering follows, tied to the exam blueprint rather than a generic schedule.
Domains 5 and 4 (38% combined)
- Audit versus monitoring, reporting systems, corrective action tracking
- Training design, audiences, and communication channels
Domains 1 and 2 (32% combined)
- FDA, USDA, ORI, OCR, and OHRP roles and policy translation
- Compliance program structure and officer responsibilities
Domains 7, 3, and 6 (30% combined)
- Investigation steps and remedial measures
- Screening and exclusion checks; consistent discipline and incentives
Practice and review
- Take the candidate-only 50-question practice exam and public sample questions
- Revisit weak domains using timed practice
Practice under realistic timing matters here: 120 questions in two hours leaves roughly one minute per item. The practice test on our main site lets you rehearse that pace, and the CHRC cheat sheet is useful for last-pass review. If you are wondering about difficulty, see how hard the CHRC exam is, and for scheduling, check the exam dates guide. You can also start with a full practice session to find which domains need the most attention.
Key Takeaway
Let the published weights drive your hours. Roughly two-fifths of the exam sits in Monitoring/Auditing and Communication/Training, so scenario fluency in those two domains pays off more than memorizing every agency detail.
Frequently Asked Questions
In this context it stands for Certified in Healthcare Research Compliance, a credential governed by HCCA and issued by the Compliance Certification Board. It is distinct from other credentials that happen to share the same acronym.
There are 120 multiple-choice questions in two hours. Of these, 100 are scored and 20 are unscored pretest questions that are not identified to the candidate.
The standard is set through an Angoff process on the scored questions. A fixed numerical cut score has not been publicly verified, and no official pass rate was located in the issuer materials.
Currently $350 for HCCA/SCCE members and $450 for non-members, with eligible re-exams at $75. Published rates rise to $375 and $475 on January 1, 2027.
HCCA states that no official exam study guide is available. Public sample questions and a candidate-only 50-question practice exam are offered, and Research Academies are professional education rather than exam prep.
For a related overview, see what CHRC certification is and the main CHRC certification page.