Credentials

FACHE Certification: Requirements, Exam and How the MHA Counts

What Is FACHE Certification and How Do You Earn It?

FACHE certification makes you a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives, ACHE's board certification in healthcare management. You need a master's degree such as an MHA, five years of healthcare management experience in a current leadership role, a year of ACHE membership, 36 continuing education credits, volunteer work and two references, and then you pass the Board of Governors Exam. ACHE charges a $250 application fee and a $225 exam fee. Your MHA meets the degree requirement, so the real wait is the five years of management experience.

Researched and edited by Taylor Rupe · Updated September 28, 2026

A senior executive sketches a rising chart on a flip chart for colleagues around a conference table — Photo: Vlada Karpovich / Pexels

What FACHE Certification Is

FACHE certification is the credential that makes you a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives. ACHE calls it board certification in healthcare management, and the letters go after your name the way a clinician’s do: Jane Smith, MHA, FACHE.

It isn’t a degree, and it isn’t something you earn in school. It’s a mid-career credential that checks four things at once: your education, how long you’ve led at the department level or higher, whether you’ve kept learning, and whether you know the field well enough to pass a six-hour exam. That’s why it tends to appear on directors, vice presidents and C-suite executives, not new graduates.

For an MHA student, FACHE matters for one simple reason. Your degree covers the education requirement for good. Everything else on the list comes from the career that follows.

FACHE Requirements From ACHE

ACHE lists six requirements you must meet before you apply:

Requirement	What ACHE asks for
Membership	One year as an ACHE Full Member; Student Associate time doesn’t count
Degree	Any master’s (MHA, MBA, MPA, MPH and others) or another post-baccalaureate degree
Experience	A current healthcare management position plus five years of healthcare management experience
Continuing education	36 credits in the past three years
Volunteering	Four activities in the past three years: two civic and two in healthcare
References	An interview with a current Fellow, plus a written reference from another Fellow or senior leader

The Experience Requirement Is the Hard Part

ACHE is specific about what counts. Your position has to be at the department director or department head level, with control of the department’s budget, planning and staffing and accountability to senior management. C-suite executives, vice presidents and directors qualify. Analysts, coordinators, program managers and project managers don’t, because their authority sits at the project or program level.

Two details catch MHA graduates. First, administrative fellowships, residencies and internships don’t count toward the five years. Second, clinicians in director roles qualify only if at least half their time goes to administrative work like budgeting and staffing. You’ll document it all with a current job description, an organizational chart and a résumé.

The Continuing Education Rules

Of your 36 credits, at least 12 must come from ACHE In-Person Education, such as the Congress on Healthcare Leadership or chapter panel discussions. Up to 24 can be ACHE Virtual Interactive Education, and up to 12 can be Qualifying Education from ACHE webinars or other professional organizations. One rule surprises people: college and university courses don’t count as Qualifying Education. So your MHA coursework won’t double as CE credit.

Volunteering and References

The volunteer rule asks for four activities in the past three years: two civic or community activities and two in healthcare. Board or committee service goes here, not under continuing education. The references need a current Fellow to interview you, plus a written reference from another Fellow or a senior leader. If you don’t know any Fellows yet, your local ACHE chapter is where you’ll meet them.

FACHE Certification Cost

ACHE publishes these fees:

Cost	Amount
Application fee (nonrefundable)	$250
Board of Governors Exam fee	$225
Exam retake for recertification, each attempt	$350
Member dues, years one and two	$160 a year
Member dues, years three to five	$265 a year
Member dues, year six and Fellows	$345 a year
Student Associate dues	$75 a year

Membership dues run every year you’re a member, so they’re the biggest cost over time. Joining as a Student Associate during your MHA gets you into ACHE’s community, but ACHE doesn’t count Student Associate time toward the one-year membership requirement. The clock starts when you’re a Full Member.

The Board of Governors Exam

Once ACHE approves your application, you register for the Board of Governors Examination in Healthcare Management. You have two years from approval to pass it. When you do, you’re a Fellow.

The exam has 230 multiple-choice questions. Only 200 are scored. The other 30 are pilot questions mixed in throughout, and you won’t know which ones they are. You get six hours. Questions cover ten domains:

Domain	Share of exam	Scored questions
Healthcare	15%	30
Management and Leadership	13%	26
Finance	12%	24
Human Resources	12%	24
Laws and Regulations	9%	18
Quality and Performance Improvement	9%	18
Business	8%	16
Healthcare Technology and Information Management	8%	16
Professionalism and Ethics	8%	16
Governance and Organizational Structure	6%	12

How Hard Is the FACHE Exam?

It’s broad more than it’s deep. The Healthcare domain alone runs from the continuum of care to digital health, population health and social determinants of health. Finance covers operating and capital budgets, reimbursement methods, revenue cycle and bond financing. Human Resources reaches into labor law and collective bargaining.

That breadth is where an MHA helps. If your program covered finance, human resources, health law and quality improvement, you’ve already studied much of the outline. If you spent years in one corner of health care, say supply chain or nursing, expect to study hardest in the domains you haven’t touched since school. ACHE offers review courses, study bundles, flashcards and a competencies self-assessment, and several local chapters run study courses and study groups.

Keeping FACHE: Recertification Every Three Years

FACHE isn’t permanent by default. Fellows recertify every three years, and the application with payment is due between January 1 and December 31 of the year the credential expires. Every requirement must be complete when you apply.

You have two ways to meet the education part. The usual one is 36 continuing education credits since your last certification, under the same mix rules: at least 12 In-Person, up to 24 Virtual Interactive and up to 12 Qualifying. The alternative is to retake and pass the Board of Governors Exam, at $350 per attempt. Either way, you also need four new volunteer activities, two civic and two healthcare-related.

Miss the December 31 deadline and you lose the credential, though ACHE lets you reinstate it once you finish the requirements. ACHE also offers waivers for unemployed Fellows and a one-time waiver for Fellows over 60 who’ll retire within five years.

A Realistic Timeline From MHA to FACHE

Here’s how the pieces fit for a typical early-career graduate:

During the MHA. Your degree completes the education requirement. Join ACHE as a Student Associate if you want the network, knowing it won’t count toward tenure.
At graduation. Switch to Full Membership. Your one year of tenure starts here. A fellowship or first management job follows, but ACHE won’t count fellowship time toward experience.
Years in management. Build five years of healthcare management experience and reach a department director level role or higher. Collect CE credits and volunteer activities as you go, since both look back three years.
Apply. With every requirement met, submit the application and $250 fee, then pass the exam within two years of approval.

If you already lead a department, the math is different. Five years of management experience plus a finished master’s leaves only the membership year, CE credits, volunteering and references, and you can build those while you study. That’s the situation executive MHA programs are built for.

MHA Programs That Fit the FACHE Path

Any master’s satisfies ACHE, so accreditation isn’t a FACHE rule. But the programs most aligned with the executive path are usually CAHME-accredited. This site tracks 143 CAHME-covered programs at 105 schools, with a median estimated tuition of $34,545 (published per-credit rate times credits, before fees, among those with an estimate).

For experienced managers, executive formats match FACHE’s experience bar:

Program	Experience expected	Cost
Columbia Executive MHA	At least five years in a health-related industry	$49,890 for 2026-2027 (three semesters)
Cornell Executive MHA	At least 5 years of professional work experience	$93,316 flat-rate tuition
Trinity University Executive MSHA	Current healthcare employment with management or supervisory experience	$65,000 total tuition
Texas State Executive MHA	5+ years of management experience can earn prior learning credit	$20,080 per program

The University of Iowa EMHA track (minimum 5 years of full-time work experience) and the Rush University Executive Track (five years of relevant health care experience) set the same bar.

If you’re earlier in your career, a lower-cost CAHME program such as the University of Phoenix competency-based MHA, at $10,800 in estimated tuition, still covers the degree requirement. Browse the full CAHME-accredited MHA list, confirm any program with the CAHME checker, or compare executive MHA programs.

Is FACHE Worth It?

FACHE doesn’t open a job the way a license does. The BLS notes that certification isn’t required for medical and health services managers. What it does is show, in four letters, that you’ve led at the department level for years, passed a broad exam and kept up with education. For people competing for vice president and C-suite roles, where every candidate has a master’s, that signal is the point.

It also has a running cost: $345 a year in Fellow dues plus recertification every three years. If your next few years are in roles below the director level, you can’t earn it yet anyway. Focus on the job, keep your CE and volunteer records from the start, and apply when you qualify. The careers guide shows the path from fellowship to executive, and the MHA requirements guide covers getting into the degree that starts it.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Much Does FACHE Certification Cost?

ACHE charges a $250 nonrefundable application fee and a $225 exam fee. You also pay ACHE membership dues, which start at $160 a year for the first two years of Full Membership and reach $345 a year for Fellows.

Is FACHE a Doctorate?

No. FACHE is a professional credential from ACHE, not an academic degree. It requires a master's or other post-baccalaureate degree as one of its eligibility conditions.

Can You Get FACHE Right After Your MHA?

No. ACHE requires five years of healthcare management experience and a current position at the department director level or above. Administrative fellowships, residencies and internships don't count toward that experience.

How Long Is the FACHE Exam?

The Board of Governors Exam has 230 multiple-choice questions, 200 of them scored and 30 unscored pilot items, and you get six hours to finish.

Do Graduate Courses Count as FACHE Continuing Education?

No. ACHE lists college or university courses among the activities that aren't eligible for Qualifying Education credit. Your 36 credits have to come from ACHE education and other qualifying professional education.

Does an MBA or MPH Count for FACHE?

Yes. ACHE accepts any master's degree, naming the MHA, MBA, MPA and MPH as examples, or another post-baccalaureate degree. Bachelor's and associate degrees don't qualify.

How Often Do You Recertify FACHE?

Every three years. You need 36 continuing education credits and four volunteer activities since your last certification, or you can retake and pass the Board of Governors Exam for $350 per attempt instead of the education requirement.