Eligibility at a Glance

Eligibility Criteria and Requirements

To meet the eligibility criteria for the CDMS^® Certification exam, applicants must possess both the educational and the employment requirements as outlined below. Additionally, those who are applying must abide by the principles and ethical requirements of the Code of Professional Conduct for Certified Disability Management Specialists. Complete details on the certification program—including the application process, acceptable employment experience, exam content, and fees—are outlined in the CDMS Certification Guide. 

EDUCATION

• A Bachelor's degree in any discipline, or RN state licensure

 EMPLOYMENT

• At the time of application, applicants must be able to attest that a minimum of 2080 hours within the past five years of their documented work experience aligns with at least 2 of the 4 domains/practice areas. All employment experience, within the past five years, may be considered by The Commission™ in determining your eligibility for certification but you do not need to enter five years’ worth of employment into the application. You only need to enter as many employment entries into the application that will meet one of the above requirements. Please do NOT enter your entire work history into the application. Part-time employment experience will be pro-rated based on a 37-hour full-time work week.
• Experience must focus on the provision of direct administrative, preventative or case management services to individuals experiencing short or long-term health events. This includes working with individuals who have been impacted by their ability to maintain their economic standard of living and/or are receiving wage replacement benefits from a private, local, state or federal disability wage replacement system.
• Only paid employment is accepted as a valid fulfillment of the employment criteria.
• Unpaid internship, unpaid preceptorship, unpaid practicum, and unpaid volunteer activities are NOT acceptable employment experience.

Please reference the CDMS^® Certification Guide linked above for complete details on acceptable employment experience.

APPLICATION & FEES

• Applicants must complete the online application and submit it with the appropriate fees no later than 5pm ET on the date of the application deadline. The fee is $430, which includes the application fee AND exam fee. 

AUDITS

• All applicants are subject to an audit to validate education and/or licensure and work experience.

SELF-EMPLOYED? Self-employed applicants must complete the CDMS Self-Employment Verification Form, providing information for 3 different purchasers of their service and upload the form to their online application.