How often must the CANS certification be renewed?

Before you commit to the CANS credential, it helps to know whether you earn it once or keep earning it. For a clinician around Morristown comparing programs close to home or in the larger market that surrounds the county, that answer decides how far ahead to plan.

A new exam, not credit hours, on a three-year cycle

O*NET OnLine publishes the renewal terms for this certification. Its entry lists renewal as required every 3 years, through re-examination and not through continuing educational units.

In plain terms, the listing sets a three-year cycle and names re-examination as the renewal route. Credit hours from a weekend course are not on its list of ways to renew.

What the listing leaves for you to confirm

The entry gives the cycle and the route. It does not say when the three years start counting, so that date is worth asking about. For that start date, rely on the written terms of the body that issues the credential.

If you hold other credentials, do not assume they renew the same way. A different certifying body sets its own terms. The NCCPA, for example, lays out its own process on its Become Certified page, and its home page leads to the rest of what that body publishes.

Plan for an exam every three years

Ask to see the renewal terms in writing, with the start date of the cycle. A clinician who plans for an exam every three years budgets differently from one who expects to renew with course credits, and the listing above points to the exam.