Maintenance submission

Maintenance application and instructions

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Please review the following reminders before accessing the online maintenance application. 
  • Every application is subject to a random audit.  If audited you will need to submit a copy of the CE certificate and Conference/Lecture description/agenda for each activity listed.
  • For all applications, you are required to update and upload a copy of your license or license verification from the licensing board that includes your name, licensing state, license type, license number, and expiration date, and the website if it is from a verification portal. Sign in and click on "Update Profile", on the right click on "Professional info" to update your license information. 

NCC policies and reminders for Core, Legacy Core, and Subspecialty Certifications.

CORE CERTIFICATIONS

  • Continuing Competency Assessment—You must take your assessment in order to submit your application
  • If filing on your maintenance due date—you must submit your application by midnight central standard time.
  • If you fail to submit on time, you will be subject to reinstatement that allows you to come back into the system without testing for up to one year from your original maintenance due date
  • If you do not have enough CE you can extend.  This request must be made by your maintenance due date. You will get another additional 90 days to extend your filing date.  This does not extend your maintenance period.
  • All Continuing Education must be in accordance with your education plan, must meet requirements for both total hours and the specific hours in each core competency area, and must be earned after you have taken the assessment
  • You can use the same CE for multiple certifications if applicable but you cannot use the same CE twice to maintain a single certification in the same maintenance cycle  
  • All CE must be accredited by an agency recognized by NCC
  • All CE activities must be coded to a content category within your specialty. Failure to do so will result in your application being deemed incomplete
  • If your application is incomplete for any reason, you will be notified and you will be subject to $10 reprocessing fee.
  • For NCC CE module users, your modules are automatically entered into your maintenance application and properly coded once you successfully complete the module
  • There are no refunds for any maintenance, reinstatement, or extension fees.
  • Online submission doesn't automatically update your maintenance. Your application must be reviewed. Applications usually take 3-5 days to process but it can take up to two weeks to complete the review process depending on the volume of applications received. 

LEGACY CORE MAINTENANCE

Legacy Core Maintenance is for Certifications that are no longer being offered by NCC.  You are not required to take the assessment and must submit the 45 CE hours required along with your maintenance application every 3 years.  

SUBSPECIALTY CERTIFICATES

  • If filing on your maintenance due day—you must submit your application by midnight central standard time.
  • If you fail to submit on time, you will be subject to reinstatement that allows you to come back into the system without testing for up to one year from your original maintenance due date
  • If you do not have enough CE you can extend. This request must be made by your maintenance due date. You will get another additional 90 days to extend your filing date. This does not extend your maintenance period
  • You can use the same CE for multiple certifications, if applicable to each of them, but you cannot use the same CE twice to maintain a single certification in the same maintenance cycle  
  • All CE activities must be coded to a content category within your specialty. Failure to do so will result in your application being deemed incomplete.
  • If your application is incomplete for any reason, you will be notified and you will be subject to $10 reprocessing fee.   
  • For NCC CE module users, your modules are automatically entered into your maintenance application and properly coded once you successfully complete the module.
  • There are no refunds for any maintenance, reinstatement, or extension fees.
    • Online submission doesn't automatically update your maintenance. Your application must be reviewed. Applications usually take 3-5 days to process but it can take up to two weeks to complete the review process depending on the volume of applications received. 

Common Questions

The maintenance application states I have no current certification but I know I am currently certified. Why am I getting this message?

The reason you are getting this message is that you are signing into the NCC website with a temporary account you created at some time in the past and not to an account associated with your unique NCC ID number.  Email contact us to request correct sign-in credentials.

Why doesn't the Continue button work at the bottom of the Contact Hours page?

    The most common reasons for this are that:
  • You are trying to submit more than one year out from your maintenance due date.  The earliest you can submit is one year from your current due date.
  • You have not completed the required hours.  You must meet the total hours required and the total hours required in each of the specified core competency areas.  If you have met the total hours but not in the specified areas, your application cannot be submitted until you earn the required CE in the required codes. 
  • You are trying to enter CE activities earned prior to taking the assessment. Only CE earned after taking the assessment (for core certifications) can apply.

 Preparing to submit the application

  • Gather the required information; license information and expiration date, CE documentation, and payment method (MasterCard, VISA, American Express, or e-check)
  • All CE activities must be assigned a specialty code within the application (NCC CE modules are automatically coded)—use the Is my CE Acceptable or Specialty Coding Brochure tool to look these codes up.
  • If using CE activities such as preceptorship, authorship, or presenter -- along with the specialty code, you will need the program/activity name, date of the program, number of hours, and sponsoring or accrediting agency (see How do I list my CE activities). This applies only to core and core legacy certification and only if you have baseline hours (hours that can be assigned to any core competency) in your plan.
  • The application will take approximately 15 minutes to complete but there is no time limit.
  • Unless you have chosen alternate maintenance, you do not need to submit copies of your Continuing Education documentation. If you are audited or using alternate maintenance, you will need to produce the certificates which include the CE certificate and the Conference/Program Agenda that includes the lecture descriptions. More about audits can be found at the following link: AUDITS
  • You can go in and out of your online maintenance application as often as you like, as long as you don't submit your application.
  • You can enter CE as you earn it if you would like to track activities as they occur.

During the application

  • You must sign in to the NCC website with your email and password to access your application.  Once you sign in, most of your information will be pre-entered, eliminating your having to enter the information including certifications and subspecialty certifications you hold.
  • Alert messages will let you know if you fail to enter required information or if you entered expired information, i.e., license, etc, or activities that fall outside your current period of certification.
  • All CE activities must be coded to your specialty, select a code by clicking on the button next to each entered activity - do not put specialty codes in the title or accreditation information.  There is a more information link on the application if you need further information about coding.  
  • For NCC CE Module users —online modules will appear automatically on the application and are specialty coded by NCC - do not manually add your NCC CE modules.
  • You will be able to review all entered information including your listed CE prior to submitting the application.

After application submission

  • You will receive an email confirmation of your application as well as a receipt.
  • You will be able to access a receipt at any time in the Order History section of your account.
  • Once your application has been approved, you will be notified by email and you will be able to download your maintenance certificate and card directly from the website in the Certification section of your account.
  • To track when your application is approved, go to your account and see if your certificate is updated.  It will appear here first.
  • Once your application is approved, you can send complimentary press releases about your achievement of maintenance to anyone you desire.  The press release is not an indication that your application is approved.
  • Once you have received notice your application is approved and your new maintenance due date is updated in your NCC website account, you can take the assessment (core certifications only) for the next cycle.  It is recommended that you take it as soon as possible.
  • Do not request verification of certification until you see your certification updated in your account. 
Access your maintenance application

Maintenance Pre-approval

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If you are unsure that your continuing education activities will meet your NCC maintenance requirements, you can ask NCC to pre-approve your CE activities. This is optional. You can submit your CE activity, choosing the code you feel best applies.  NCC will review and approve or correct the code if the CE activity is applicable to maintenance. Any approved CE activity will be automatically uploaded to your online maintenance application on the NCC website with the appropriate specialty code. This means you won't have to re-enter them into your online maintenance application at the time you submit your application and pay your maintenance fee.

Preapproval is not required for submission of a maintenance application and is not part of the maintenance process. You must complete your online maintenance application and pay the maintenance fee to maintain your NCC certification or certificate of added qualification.

Learn more about maintenance preapproval 


Update your biographical profile

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As part of your maintenance application, you will be asked to provide information regarding your professional background and current employment.  This information is for internal NCC purposes only and helps us to better understand our certificants and how to serve them. Employment is not a requirement of maintenance and there is an option in the maintenance application "not currently employed" that when clicked bypasses the employer data.  

You may review and update the information in your profile at any time:
Name and personal information
Professional information
Employment information

Official documentation for your credential

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Both a Maintenance certificate and card are available for download from your account free of charge. An official printed maintenance card is available for a fee of $35 which includes First Class mail delivery. This can only be delivered to a street address—no PO Boxes or military addresses.