CMGT-BC Certification

CMGT-BC Certification: What It Is and Why the Timing Matters

CMGT-BC stands for Case Management Nurse - Board Certified, the designation awarded by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), part of the American Nurses Association enterprise, to registered nurses who pass the Nursing Case Management Certification examination. It validates that a nurse can coordinate care across settings, manage quality and outcomes, and promote health for the populations they serve. If you are new to the acronym, our explainers on what CMGT-BC certification is and what CMGT-BC stands for cover the basics.

What makes this credential different from most certification topics is its calendar. The ANCC has announced a phaseout of the program, which turns a casual "should I get certified someday?" question into a deadline-driven decision. The sections below cover the deadlines, the exam, the domains, the money, and the plan.

The Phaseout Timeline You Cannot Ignore

The ANCC has set a staged retirement for the Nursing Case Management certification. Each stage has different consequences for candidates and certificants:

Practically, this affects retake strategy. A retest requires at least 60 calendar days after your previous attempt, renewed eligibility, and no more than three attempts in 12 months, all subject to the final testing deadline. A candidate who fails late in 2027 may simply run out of runway. For a detailed look at scheduling, see CMGT-BC exam dates and deadlines.

Who Qualifies to Sit for the Exam

The ANCC sets four eligibility requirements, all of which must be met before you receive an authorization to test:

• Licensure: a current, active RN license in the United States or its territories, or an accepted international equivalent.
• Experience: the equivalent of two full years of full-time RN practice.
• Practice hours: at least 2,000 hours in nursing case management within the past three years.
• Continuing education: 30 hours of CE in nursing case management within the past three years.

The practice-hour requirement is where candidates most often stall. The hours must be in case management work itself, not general bedside nursing. Document your hours with employer verification early; do not wait until the week before the deadline. The full walkthrough is in our CMGT-BC requirements guide, and the official eligibility rules live on the ANCC Nursing Case Management page.

Exam Format and Testing Rules

The CMGT-BC exam is a closed-book, computer-based, multiple-choice test administered by Prometric at test centers. It is delivered in person; there is no remotely proctored version of the certification exam. (The ANCC offers readiness tests with different delivery options, but remote availability of a readiness test does not mean the certification exam can be taken from home.)

On-Site Rules to Plan Around

• Personal calculators and all paper or electronic resources are prohibited.
• A dry-erase board is supplied at the testing station for working through problems.
• Breaks are allowed, but the clock keeps running while you are away.
• You may mark questions and return to them before you submit.
• Because there is no penalty for wrong answers, never leave an item blank.

The 25 pretest items are indistinguishable from scored ones, so treat every question as if it counts. With 150 items in 180 minutes, you have roughly 72 seconds per question. That is workable for scenario-based items but leaves little slack for long deliberation, so pacing practice matters. For a candid look at the demands, read how hard the CMGT-BC exam is.

The Four Content Domains in Detail

The exam is built from the Nursing Case Management Board Certification Test Content Outline (effective October 23, 2024; updated September 8, 2025). The ANCC's rounded percentages add up to 101%, which is a rounding artifact; the published figures are 22/30/26/23. Scored items are allocated 27, 37, 32, and 29 out of 125. For a deeper breakdown, see our complete guide to the four CMGT-BC domains.

Care Coordination plus Quality Management account for more than half of the content (56%), so most candidates should weight their study time toward those two. That said, Professional Foundation questions on ethics and scope can be deceptively tricky because several answers may sound reasonable; the best answer is the one most aligned with case management standards and patient advocacy.

Scoring, Pass Rate, and What the Data Says

The CMGT-BC passing standard is a scaled score of at least 350 on a 500-point scale, set through the Modified Angoff method, in which subject-matter experts judge how a minimally qualified candidate would perform on each item. This is not a raw 70% cutoff, and you cannot convert your number of correct answers to a pass or fail by simple arithmetic. Different exam forms are statistically adjusted for difficulty. Our passing score guide unpacks this further.

A 66% first-time pass rate means roughly one in three first-time candidates did not pass. The cohort is small, so year-to-year swings are possible, and it is best read as a signal that the exam rewards preparation rather than as a precise forecast. See CMGT-BC pass rate: what the data shows for context, and use full-length practice tests to find out where you stand before you pay for a testing slot.

Fees and Registration Mechanics

The initial application fee is $395 for nonmembers or $295 for ANA members. Included in that price is a $140 administrative fee that is nonrefundable. Once your application is approved, you receive an authorization to test valid for 120 days, during which you schedule your appointment with Prometric.

• ANA membership pays for itself on the application fee alone, with $100 in savings, and it also lowers the renewal fee.
• Budget for the 30 CE hours and any review materials separately; they are not included in the fee.
• If you need to retest, a new application and fee apply, and the 60-day wait still governs.

Because the authorization window is 120 days, schedule your test center appointment as soon as you receive it. Seats near year-end deadlines can fill up. Full pricing, including renewal, is covered in our CMGT-BC certification cost breakdown.

Sequencing Your Study by Domain

Rather than studying topics in outline order, sequence them by weight and by dependency. Care Coordination comes first because it is the biggest domain and its concepts (assessment, planning, transitions) feed everything else. This sample plan assumes about eight weeks; compress or stretch it to match your authorization window.

Renewal: Keeping the Credential for the Long Term

CMGT-BC certification lasts five years. Because the exam is retiring, renewal is where most certificants will spend their time in the future, and the rules deserve attention up front.

Core Renewal Requirements

• An active RN license and certification in good standing
• 75 hours of specialty continuing education, at least 60 of which must be formally approved CE
• One additional professional-development category

The 1,000-practice-hour option is one of those additional categories; it is not a universal requirement. Renewal activities must occur within your five-year certification cycle and before you submit the application. Renewing by examination will no longer be an option once the exam retires. Renewal costs $350 for nonmembers, with ANA member pricing advertised as low as $250. The details are in the ANCC Certification Renewal Handbook, effective September 10, 2025 (Version 2, dated February 10, 2026).

Where Certified Case Management Nurses Work

Case management nurses are employed anywhere care must be coordinated across providers, payers, and settings. Common employers include:

• Hospitals and health systems: inpatient case management, utilization review, discharge planning, and readmission-prevention programs
• Health plans and payers: care management, utilization management, and complex-case programs
• Ambulatory and primary care: embedded care managers supporting chronic disease populations
• Home health, hospice, and post-acute providers: transitions and long-term planning
• Community and public health organizations: population health and social-needs coordination

Board certification can help demonstrate competence to employers, and some organizations favor or reward it, though policies vary by employer. Because compensation depends heavily on region, setting, and role, we address it separately in the CMGT-BC salary guide, and you can weigh the investment in is CMGT-BC worth it?. To browse role types, see CMGT-BC jobs.

Frequently Asked Questions