CCCS NCE guide

The Canadian College of Health Information Management is the certifying body for health information national certification examinations in Canada. CHIMA, Canada’s health information management association, is the examination host and responsible for delivering an online proctoring service to all candidates. 

Please read this Certified Classification and Coding Specialist (CCCS) national certification examination (NCE) guide in full before applying. 

Section 1: About the CCCS NCE 

The CCCS NCE consists of 45 questions (42 multiple choice questions and 3 case scenarios) and is 132 minutes in duration. Each correct question is worth one mark. 

A passing grade is based on the following requirement: 

• An overall grade of 70% or higher 

The examination covers six practice areas: 

Practice Area
Fundamentals
General medicine
Neoplasms
Interventions
Obstetrics and newborns
Iatrogenic disorders, trauma, and other related conditions and disorders

Re-examination 

A candidate who is unsuccessful in writing the CCCS NCE on the first attempt may re-write the examination twice more(for a total of three times). Regular pricing applies for subsequent attempts. The exam candidate must complete the entire examination each time. If a candidate has failed all three attempts, a further review will be conducted.

Section 2: Examination application  

Quick links 

Please review the following information before applying for the CCCS NCE: 

• About certification with the Canadian College of Health Information Management 
• Why certification matters 
• CCCS certification 
• National certification examination policies, rules & regulations 
• Canadian College of Health Information Management code of ethics 
• CCCS NCE eligibility and dates 

Submit application and payment 

In order to register for the CCCS NCE, candidates must submit an application and provide payment. Payment must be received on or before the application deadline. To access the CCCS national certification application, please follow these steps: 

1. Sign in to your CHIMA account, accessible in the top right corner of the screen 
2. Click on your name to access your dashboard 
3. Scroll down to ‘Canadian College of Health Information Management’ and select ‘Manage’ 
4. Navigate to ‘National certification applications’ and click learn more 
5. Navigate to ‘CCCS’ and select ‘Apply here’ 

Applicants are responsible for reviewing all information to ensure it is correct in both the application and the CHIMA membership profile. 

Application supporting documentation requirement 

This is a one-time submission to the Canadian College of Health Information Management. 

Application supporting documentation is required to be received on or before the application deadline.  

Experienced professional	Classification and coding specialty program graduate
Current resume	Transcript
Reference letter from the current employer outlining the candidate’s classification and coding work experience
Submit documentation to [email protected]

For transcript submission, choose from one of the following methods: 

CHIMA unable to request a candidate’s transcript from an institution as they contain personal information. It is suggested that candidates confirm their program’s policy for submitting transcripts to CHIMA. Candidates will not be notified of the receipt of their transcript. 

Section 3: Preparing for the examination

Studying

The following resources may help prepare candidates with writing the CHIM NCE:

Other study resources 

• ICD-10-CA/CCI Classification Primer by Joy Fletcher has practice questions with an answer key and highlights coding principles throughout the chapters 
• The Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) offers informational and educational resources on their website to assist coders

Meeting technology requirements 

CCCS NCE online proctoring guidelines

Section 4: Writing the examination 

Examination candidates are responsible for purchasing or arranging access to the following resources, which must be preinstalled on the computer prior to the examination date: 

1. Canadian Coding Standards (v. 2022) 

2. ICD-10-CA/CCI Folio (v. 2022) software 

IMPORTANT: Examination candidates are responsible for purchasing or arranging access to ICD-10-CA/CCI Folio software. The Folio software and Canadian Coding Standards must be preinstalled on the computer being used to access the examination. Examination candidates must not access any other websites or documents during the entire examination. 

Booking an examination date and time 

Approved candidates will receive an email from CHIMA to schedule an examination date and time. The time slots will be based on availability during eastern standard time business hours (Monday to Friday, with the exception of statutory holidays). This email is sent out 2–3 days following the application deadline. 

What to bring 

Important steps for examination day 

Due to COVID-19, many candidates will be writing from home with other household members present. We ask that you limit the number of people who are connected to the internet to ensure there are no interruptions to the examination.  

The following are six important steps that must occur the day of your examination:

Section 5: Receiving results 

Candidates will be able to view their grades by signing in to their CHIMA dashboard. Please select ‘Canadian College of Health Information Management’ and navigate to ‘Examination history’. Grades are posted approximately 20 business days* after the examination period ends. Candidates who passed will receive an official certificate from the Canadian College of Health Information Management and a welcome letter in the mail within 45 business days*. 

* At times, the College could run outside of these service level agreements due to extenuating circumstances.  

For those who pass, click here to see when you are required to pay your upcoming membership dues with the CHIMA.
For those who do not pass, your current membership with CHIMA will remain the same.

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Last updated 2022-10-24