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ASCP Certification Maintenance Program (CMP): Points, Deadlines and Fees

To keep a time-limited ASCP credential active, you complete the Credential Maintenance Program (CMP) every three years: earn the required continuing education (CE) points, allocate them to the right areas in your ASCP account, and submit a declaration with the applicable fee before 11:59 p.m. Central Time on your expiration date. Most credentials, including MLS and MLT, need 36 points; your ASCP membership is a separate thing and doesn't renew your credential.

CMP points required for your credential

Every total covers one three-year cycle, and the area points are part of the total, not extra.

Credential Total What the points must include
MLS and MLT (ASCP or ASCPi) 36 2 each in blood banking, chemistry, hematology and microbiology; 1 safety; 1 ethics; 26 related
PBT (ASCP or ASCPi) 9 2 phlebotomy; 1 safety; 1 ethics; 5 related
MLA (ASCP) 9 2 in your certified area; 1 safety; 1 ethics; 5 related
Other 36-point categories: BB, C, CG, CT, H, HT, HTL, M, MB (ASCP or ASCPi) 36 8 in the credential's subject; 1 safety; 1 ethics; 26 related
CTgyn (ASCPi) 36 8 gynecologic cytology; 1 safety; 1 ethics; 26 related
Specialists: SBB, SC, SCT, SCYM, SH, SM, SMB (ASCP or ASCPi) 36 10 in the specialty; 1 safety; 1 ethics; 24 related
DLM (ASCP) 36 10 laboratory management; 1 safety; 1 ethics; 24 related
PA (ASCP) 60 15 advanced anatomic pathology (such as cancer specimen examination and staging); 20 anatomic pathology; 1 safety; 1 ethics; 23 related
DMLI (ASCP) 150 73 formal CE with accredited or approved sponsorship in clinical pathology, immunology or career-related subjects; 1 safety; 1 ethics; 75 related. No more than 30 points may be non-supervised CE
Qualifications: QBRS, QIA, QIHC 8 3 in the qualification's subject; 1 safety; 1 ethics; 3 related
QLS 8 4 laboratory safety; 1 ethics; 3 related (the 4 safety points replace the usual 1)

Key:

  • Safety means laboratory or patient safety, such as quality control or quality assurance.
  • Ethics means medical ethics, such as HIPAA, compliance, confidentiality, IRB, harassment or microaggressions.
  • Related means your lab specialty, management, education or other related laboratory areas. MLS, MLT and MLA pages also name immunology and molecular diagnostics here.

Subjects: BB/SBB blood banking · C/SC chemistry · CG cytogenetics · CT/SCT cytology · H/SH hematology · HT/HTL histology · M/SM microbiology · MB/SMB molecular biology · SCYM cytometry · QBRS biorepository science · QIA apheresis · QIHC immunohistochemistry.

Names: MLS Medical Laboratory Scientist · MLT Medical Laboratory Technician · PBT Phlebotomy Technician · MLA Medical Laboratory Assistant · HT Histotechnician · HTL Scientist in Histotechnology · CTgyn Gynecologic Cytologist · DLM Diplomate in Laboratory Management · DMLI Diplomate in Medical Laboratory Immunology · PA Pathologists' Assistant.

Hold a retired credential such as CLA, AT, DPT, I, NM, SLS or a legacy qualification? See older and legacy credentials below.

By Castleport Test Prep Editorial Team · Last verified November 1, 2026 against ASCP Board of Certification pages

Your deadlines and fees · Renewal checklist · My credential has expired

Your deadlines

Use the expiration date on your credential in your ASCP account. Your membership date doesn't control CMP. These submission dates apply to an active, time-limited credential; see the separate paths for expired credentials and voluntary participation below.

When What it means
90 days before expiration The earliest you can submit your declaration
At least 30 days before ASCP's recommended submit-by date. Review can take up to 30 days
Before 11:59 p.m. Central Time on the expiration date The hard cutoff. Missing it triggers the reinstatement fee

Source: Submit CMP Declaration and CMP Policies & Procedures.

Example: your credential expires January 31, 2029.

  • You can submit starting November 2, 2028.
  • Aim to submit by January 1, 2029.
  • Submit before 11:59 p.m. CT on January 31, 2029.
  • CE must fall within your current three-year renewal cycle. Use the exact cycle dates in your ASCP record; ASCP's January 2026–January 2029 example is stated by month.

Three things catch people out:

  • The cutoff is Central Time. ASCP lists submitting from another time zone as a reason it will not waive the reinstatement fee.
  • The 30 days is advice, not the deadline. You can still submit later, but a problem found during review leaves little time to fix it.
  • Filing early doesn't make the new dates show early. Your new cycle won't appear until the first day of the month you expire, even if you submitted 90 days ahead.

ASCP sends reminder emails one year, six months, three months, one month and one week before expiration. Missing them isn't an excuse ASCP accepts, so keep your account email current and check your spam folder.

CMP fees

Fees are paid when you submit and aren't refundable. These are the standard fees; the ASCPi reduced-fee exception is below.

Situation Certification (ASCP or ASCPi) Qualification
Renewing on time $110 $65
Renewing after expiration (application + reinstatement) $245 ($110 + $135) $125 ($65 + $60)
Each additional credential of the same type, same expiration date, submitted the same business day $20 $20

The $245 and $125 figures are the two published fees added together.

Fine print:

  • Reduced pricing for ASCPi: if you completed your medical laboratory education in a country on ASCP's eligible-country list and currently live in a listed country, the CMP fee is $35 and the additional reinstatement fee is $25 ($60 total if late). Education in a listed country alone does not qualify you if you now live outside the listed countries.
  • Qualification discount window: the QLS and other qualification pages also extend the $20 rate to qualifications that expire within three months of each other. The central fee page lists only matching dates, so confirm with ASCP before counting on the three-month rule.
  • Mixed credentials: neither page says a certification and a qualification together get the $20 rate.
  • CE costs: these amounts don't include whatever you pay for the CE itself.

Your CMP renewal checklist

Work through this for each credential you're keeping. It's our organizing checklist, not an ASCP form.

Done Step What to do
1. Confirm your credential and dates Note the exact credential, ASCP or ASCPi where applicable, and the cycle start and expiration dates in your ASCP record.
2. Copy your requirements Write down your total and every required area from the table above.
3. Fill the gaps Complete qualifying CE for any area that's short, inside your CE window. CE used for that credential's previous renewal cycle can't be reused.
4. Save proof Keep the proof required for each activity. Course certificates should show your name, the provider, title, date and credit hours; other activities need the documents listed below.
5. Get every activity into your transcript Check what's already there before adding anything, so you don't create duplicates.
6. Allocate and check every area Assign each activity to a CMP area and save. Check each required area, not just the total.
7. Submit and pay For an active, time-limited credential, file between 90 and 30 days before expiration if you can. For expired or voluntary cases, follow the separate instructions below. Save the payment confirmation.
8. Watch for the result Respond to any deficiency or audit notice. Save your electronic renewal letter when it arrives. Payment alone isn't approval.

Entering and allocating CE in your ASCP account

The path, from ASCP's instructions:

ASCP account → My Education → Check Progress → choose your credential → Credits & Progress

  • Allocating: pick the topic area for each activity from Allocate to Topic Area, then click Save Changes. The tracking bar updates as you go.
  • Courses that upload themselves: courses from ASCP, ASCLS, AAPA and American Proficiency Institute (API) can appear in your transcript automatically if you meet each provider's conditions. They still have to be allocated.
  • Everything else: use Add Non ASCP Credits. Enter the activity type, the specific title, sponsor, completion date, points and area, one activity per entry.

ASCP shows what an acceptable entry looks like and what isn't:

  • Acceptable: "Blood Culture Collection: Best Practices for Laboratory Professionals – 1 hour – 1 CMP point – Microbiology"
  • Not acceptable: "Lab Conference – 4 days – 32 CMP points"

Log each conference session separately.

When you're ready: Sign in to your ASCP account · Read ASCP's declaration instructions

After you submit

  • Review time: ASCP evaluates every declaration, which can take up to 30 days.
  • Status emails: you get an email each time your declaration's status changes, and you can check it anytime in your account.
  • Deficiencies: if ASCP finds a problem, fix it promptly. A deficient declaration left unresolved is deleted after 90 days, and you'd have to submit and pay again (CMP Policies & Procedures).
  • Once approved: you receive an electronic renewal letter with your new dates, plus instructions for an ASCP digital badge if you don't already have one.

What counts toward CMP points

ASCP doesn't review or approve individual courses. A course or program counts if it meets the criteria below, the provider assigns points or contact hours, and it relates to your credential area, lab safety, medical ethics or a related lab area. Other eligible activities use ASCP's published point awards and proof requirements. All activities must fall within your applicable CE window and meet your credential's allocation rules. Source: Guidelines for Earning CEs.

Activity Points Limits and proof
Formal CE course meeting ASCP's accepted credit or provider criteria: ACCME, ASCP CMLE, AACC ACCENT, ASCLS P.A.C.E., professional societies or universities, or organizations approved by state licensing boards 1 per contact hour (50–60 minutes) Certificate of participation
Webinar, podcast or online self-study that awards those credits, or comes from a professional society, university or state-board-accepted source 1 per contact hour Certificate of participation
Employer in-service, instrument training or vendor course 1 per contact hour The employer or vendor must assign the hours. Routine staff meetings and job orientation don't count. Keep a signed, dated employer letter on letterhead, a completion certificate or a signed attendance record
Lab-related college coursework 10 per quarter hour; 15 per semester hour No more than 50% of the points required for your credential. Official transcript
Earning another ASCP BOC credential 20 specialist or diplomate; 15 scientist or categorical; 10 qualification Can't count toward the new credential itself. ASCP verifies it in your customer record
Employer competency assessment on ASCP's form 2 per year Up to 4 per cycle. Employer completes, signs and dates the form
Clinical teaching of students in an accredited program 1 per year after at least 50 teaching hours that year Up to 3 per cycle. Employer completes, signs and dates ASCP's documentation form
Preparing and giving a presentation beyond your job duties, first time only 3 per presentation contact hour No more than 50% of the points required for your credential. Syllabus, program or organizational letter identifying the content, presentation duration and organization
Poster or exhibit at a lab professional meeting 2 per poster Up to 4 per year. Abstract, meeting program or brochure identifying the presentation
Peer-reviewed journal article you wrote 5 Copy with your name
Book you wrote / chapter, monograph or study guide 20 / 7 Title page and contents
Editing a book / a chapter 10 / 4 Page showing your name
Reviewing a book / chapter / article 5 / 2 / 1 Editor's signed, dated letter on letterhead confirming the review request
Doctoral dissertation / master's thesis 10 / 4 Copy with your name
ASCP BOC exam committee, work group or advisory board 3 per year ASCP letter identifying your role and service dates
Lab-related committee or board, national down to your workplace 3 per year Letter from the organization identifying your role and service dates
Accreditation inspector or paper reviewer meeting ASCP's listed ASCP/ASCPi accreditation criteria (CAP, Joint Commission, AABB, COLA, NAACLS and others) 3 per year Letter from the accreditor identifying your role and inspection dates

For DMLI, also follow its own rules on formal CE and the 30-point limit on non-supervised CE.

Keep a CE ledger

One line per activity makes allocation, submission and any audit much easier. Copy it into a spreadsheet or print it. Don't send records to us; they belong in your own files and your ASCP account.

Completion date Activity title Provider Points CMP area Where the proof is saved Entered and allocated?

Example: 36 points that still won't renew

This is a hypothetical MLS ledger, not an ASCP decision.

Area Required Allocated
Blood banking 2 2
Chemistry 2 2
Hematology 2 2
Microbiology 2 1
Lab or patient safety 1 1
Medical ethics 1 1
Related areas 26 27
Total 36 36

The total looks finished, but microbiology is one point short. The extra related point can't fill the gap. Here's how to fix it:

  1. Check for a mis-filed course. Look for a microbiology course that went into "related" by mistake, such as a 1-hour blood culture contamination webinar. If you find one, move it to microbiology and save.
  2. If there isn't one, earn the point. Complete a qualifying 1-hour microbiology activity inside your CE window. You'll finish with 37 points, which is fine.

Don't relabel an unrelated course to make the bar turn green; an audit checks the certificate against the area.

New from July 1, 2027: upload your proof

Starting July 1, 2027, every CMP declaration must include uploaded documentation for each CE activity you entered manually. Activities that arrived automatically from participating providers (ASCP, ASCLS, AAPA, API) don't need uploads. ASCP will keep doing random audits too. Source: Submit CMP Declaration – New CMP Documentation Requirement.

This changes how you file, not how many points you need. It applies to anyone completing CMP from that date, whatever their expiration date. It doesn't make CMP mandatory for anyone whose participation is voluntary. If your cycle runs past July 2027, save the required proof for every manually entered activity now. Documentation must be in English.

If your credential has expired

When a credential requiring mandatory CMP expires, it becomes inactive, and you can't list it after your name until it's reinstated. How you get it back depends on how long it has been expired (Expired Credentials, CMP Policies & Procedures).

Expired less than 10 years. Submit a complete CMP declaration and pay the application fee plus the reinstatement fee: the standard totals are $245 for a certification and $125 for a qualification. Eligible ASCPi holders use the reduced fees above.

  • Use CE already completed within the three years preceding your declaration submission.
  • ASCP's example: a declaration submitted March 15, 2026 can use CE from March 16, 2023 onward.
  • So the sooner you file, the more of your recent CE still counts.

Expired 10 years or more. ASCP's policy requires you to retake and pass the current exam.

  • Email 10yrexpired@ascp.org with your ASCP customer ID and the credential you want back.
  • If you're heading back to testing, here's how to register for an ASCP exam.

No exceptions on the fee. ASCP says it won't waive the reinstatement fee for any reason. That includes missed emails, payment problems, personal or medical circumstances, time-zone confusion, and ignoring deficiency notices.

Is CMP mandatory for your credential?

It depends on when, and as what, you were first certified (Participation in CMP). Retired credentials follow the legacy rules immediately below.

Your credential history CMP
ASCP technician, technologist or scientist certified January 1, 2004 or later Mandatory
ASCP specialist or diplomate certified January 1, 2006 or later Mandatory
ASCPi certified January 1, 2012 or later Mandatory
Any ASCP qualification, or PA(ASCP) Mandatory
Certified by NCA without ASCP certification in the same category before January 1, 2004 Mandatory
Certified before your category's start date above Voluntary. Your credential doesn't expire

Legacy credentials are ones ASCP no longer offers, such as AT, CLA, CLM(ASCPi), I, NM, HP, SI, SLS and SV.

  • CMP is voluntary for them, except DPT(ASCP) and legacy qualifications (QDP, QLC, QLI), where it's mandatory (Legacy Credentials).
  • That page lists each legacy credential's points. Most need 36, DPT needs 9 and the legacy qualifications need 8.
  • One caution: the QLI section currently lists donor phlebotomy as its subject area, so QLI holders should confirm their subject area with ASCP.

For voluntary CMP, use CE earned within the last three years and follow ASCP's participation instructions (CE time limits).

What "CM" means. The superscript after a credential, as in MLS(ASCP)CM, shows you're current in CMP.

  • A single ASCPi credential is written as MLS(ASCPi)CM. ASCP's stacked-credential examples use a different placement for additional credentials.
  • Qualifications are written without "(ASCP)", for example QIHCCM.
  • If you joined CMP voluntarily and stop, you lose the "CM" but keep your non-expiring credential.
  • If CMP is mandatory for you and you stop, the credential itself expires.

(Citation of Credentials)

Membership, state licenses and CMP aren't the same thing

People mix these up constantly, especially when they get a membership renewal notice with a different date.

  • ASCP membership is optional for CMP. The Board of Certification says credentialing and credential maintenance "does not grant or require membership" (ASCP BOC Mission & Vision). Paying dues doesn't renew your credential, and letting membership lapse doesn't change your CMP deadline.
  • A state license comes from your state, not ASCP. ASCP BOC isn't a licensing agency. It lists California, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, Montana, Nevada, New York, North Dakota, Tennessee, West Virginia and Puerto Rico as places that license lab personnel (State Licensure). Renew a license under that state's own rules. Completing CMP doesn't do it for you.
  • CMP is the maintenance process for time-limited ASCP BOC credentials that require it.

Holding more than one credential

  • One declaration per credential. File a separate declaration for each one you're keeping.
  • CE can do double duty. One activity can count for more than one credential if it meets each credential's requirement and falls within both applicable CE windows. A single 1-hour HIPAA module can cover the ethics point for both MLS and SBB, for example.
  • Discounts. See the fee table. Same expiration date and same business day are the safe conditions.
  • Matching your dates. ASCP is temporarily not accepting requests to synchronize credentials that expire on different dates. It says an updated process is planned by the end of 2026; check the synchronization page for current status.
  • Two credentials in the same area (such as BB and SBB): you choose which to maintain. Letting one lapse could mean reinstatement or re-examination later if a job requires it (Participation in CMP).

If you're audited

ASCP audits a percentage of declarations and tells you if yours is selected (CMP Audit Process).

  • What to send: documentation for every CE on your declaration, following the instructions in your notice.
  • Copies only: send copies, not originals, and in English.
  • If something falls short: ASCP's audit instructions allow replacement CE completed before your credential's expiration date. If you're reinstating an expired credential or participating voluntarily, follow your audit notice and your applicable three-year CE window.
  • Appeals: ASCP will consider a documented appeal for serious, incapacitating illness lasting more than one year, or an overseas military assignment lasting more than one year without online CE access. Financial hardship and family responsibilities don't qualify. An appeal is considered individually; it isn't automatic approval or a reinstatement-fee waiver.

ASCP's public pages don't say how long to keep records after renewal. Keeping them until your next declaration is approved is a sensible minimum.

Mistakes that delay renewal

  1. Counting the total and not the areas. MLS and MLT need 2 points in each of four disciplines, plus safety and ethics.
  2. Forgetting the ethics point. Every credential needs 1 point in medical ethics.
  3. Earning but not allocating. CE sitting in your transcript doesn't fill any requirement until it's allocated.
  4. Lumping a conference into one big entry.
  5. Going over the caps on competency assessments, teaching, posters, presentations or college credit.
  6. Reusing last cycle's CE. Each renewal cycle needs new activities for that credential.
  7. Waiting until the last week, then losing days to a deficiency notice.

Quick answers

Is the "certification maintenance program" the same as the Credential Maintenance Program? Yes. ASCP's official name is Credential Maintenance Program (CMP).

Do I need to pay for ASCP membership to renew? No. Membership is separate from CMP.

Does ASCP have to approve my course first? No. ASCP doesn't pre-approve courses. If it meets the CE guidelines and the provider assigns credit, it counts within your applicable CE window and allocation limits.

Do employer in-services count? Yes, if they're structured training with assigned contact hours and documentation. Routine staff meetings and orientation don't count.

Can I submit my declaration early? For an active, time-limited credential, yes, up to 90 days before expiration. Your new dates still won't appear until the first of your expiration month.

Sources

All pages and forms from the ASCP Board of Certification, checked November 1, 2026:

Last verified November 1, 2026: point requirements for the 28 current credential categories listed above; CE activity awards, limits and documentation, including the two linked forms; fees, deadlines, reinstatement, audit and participation rules; and the announced July 1, 2027 documentation requirement. ASCP can change these at any time. Your ASCP account and your credential's ASCP page are the final word for your own declaration.

For an overview of lab certification options, see our guide to medical laboratory certification.

Castleport Test Prep is an independent publisher. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by or approved by the American Society for Clinical Pathology or the ASCP Board of Certification. Credential names identify their subjects; trademarks belong to their respective owners.