The other sections on this website, including the Exam Candidate Handbook, provide specific and detailed information about the Certified Clinical Documentation Specialist (CCDS) credential and its requirements. It is the candidate's responsibility to read and understand the contents of the handbook before applying for certification.
Note: The current version of the CCDS exam (published Feb. 2022) includes questions based on the following:
AHA Coding Clinic, through fourth quarter 2021
Fiscal year 2021 ICD-10-CM Official Guidelines for Coding and Reporting
Candidates must complete an online application by clicking here.To login to the application site, ACDIS members can use their regular ACDIS website login credentials. If you do not have a member login, please click the "Register" button.
Please have your education and work history information available prior to starting your application. If you don’t have that available and save a draft of the first page, you will receive an email from us with a link back to the application. In order to complete the application, you will need to click the “Start CCDS Application" button again. Don’t worry, all the information you did enter will be prefilled, all you will need to do is complete the rest of Page 1 and proceed to Page 2 of the application.
Prometric will send scheduling instructions to the candidate, and the candidate will schedule their own examination. Candidates have three months/90 days from the date their name is submitted to Prometric to schedule and take their exam.
Examination and appointment changes
If you wish to reschedule your exam, you must do so with the link provided in your Prometric approval email, or by contacting Prometric's automated voice response system at 800-864-5257 (in North America). We recommend using your email link as the Web is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
If your exam is 30 days or more away (not counting the exam date): You will not be charged a fee by Prometric.
If your exam is 5-29 days away (not counting the exam date): You will be charged a $35 reschedule/cancellation fee by Prometric.
If your exam is 4 days or less away (not counting the exam date): The fees for the exam are not refundable. If you wish to take the exam at a future date, you must reapply and repay the application fee.
Examination fee
The fee for the certification application process and examination is $280 for ACDIS members and $380 for non-members. An additional fee of $100 will be charged to international candidates. Payment may be made by credit card, personal check, or money order payable to HCPro, Inc. While fees are non-refundable, payment will be returned if the application is not approved. Please note that your ACDIS membership discount will be automatically applied when you log into the certification site with your membership login.
If a candidate fails the exam, they may take it again after waiting 90 days from the date of the failed exam. ACDIS will discount the exam fee to $150 for the first retake only. Subsequent attempts to pass the exam will be at full price.
