You know this patient. The CLLP verifies you can lead the hospital.
Physicians hold the deepest clinical command of the chronically critically ill: the ventilator weaning, the infectious risk, the prognosis a family needs to hear. Leading the hospital built around these patients calls on a second body of knowledge: the CMS Conditions of Participation and patient criteria, reimbursement and case mix, survey readiness, workforce, and the strategic decisions a board holds its chief executive to. The CLLP™ examines that second body of knowledge against the same standard every candidate meets.
For physicians who lead, or intend to lead, an LTACH, the CLLP™ provides independent, examined evidence of command across all eight competency domains: the clinical ones a physician already owns, and the operational, regulatory, and financial ones the executive role adds.
Apply for CLLP™ CertificationA hospital built for the chronically critically ill.
Long-Term Acute Care Hospitals are licensed acute care hospitals, subject to the full CMS Conditions of Participation, built for patients who survive catastrophic illness and then need weeks or months of hospital-level care: often ventilator dependent, often colonized or infected with multidrug-resistant organisms, and carrying the weakness and cognitive impairment the ICU leaves behind. The payment rules, patient criteria, and quality reporting that govern them apply to this hospital type alone, and the operating model draws on acute care, rehabilitation, and long-term care at once. The CLLP™ is the credential built for the people who lead it.
- Prolonged mechanical ventilation and weaning as core clinical work
- Multidrug-resistant organisms, including CRE, MRSA, VRE, and Clostridioides difficile, as a standing infection prevention priority
- A CMS regulatory framework distinct from both skilled nursing and short-stay acute care
- Leadership decisions that carry directly into patient outcomes, regulatory standing, and financial sustainability
One examination. One standard.
Physicians sit the same examination as every other CLLP candidate, against the same standard. A medical degree does not shorten the path and a title does not substitute for it. The credential certifies command across all eight competency domains that define LTACH leadership practice, and it is earned rather than conferred.
Preparation is available through three tracks: Foundations, Practitioner, and Executive. Tracks are preparation, not credentials. Physicians may sit the examination without them.
Track selection reflects the accountability a leader holds today, not the discipline they entered through, and it does not affect which examination they sit or what the credential attests.
Every candidate, physician or not, sits the same examination and is held to the same passing standard. Clinical seniority brings deep command of the clinical domains. The examination measures the full scope of the role, including the operational, regulatory, financial, and human domains the executive seat adds.
Clinical authority is the foundation. Executive command is the credential.
The CLLP™ verifies the leadership, operational, regulatory, and financial competencies LTACH boards expect from those who run their hospitals. It is earned by examination, the same way for every candidate, and it attests to what the holder knows rather than the titles they have held.
Census development, reimbursement mechanics, case mix management, and the financial decisions that keep an LTACH viable, framed for the executive suite rather than the clinical rotation.
CMS Conditions of Participation, the LTACH patient criteria rule, site-neutral payment mechanics, and survey readiness: the regulatory command that defines an LTACH leader.
Interdisciplinary team development, workforce retention, succession planning, and the coaching capacity an organization needs to sustain high-acuity care under continuous pressure.
For physicians who want to lead the most complex hospitals in American healthcare.
The CLLP™ gives a physician's candidacy for LTACH leadership something a medical degree and a clinical title cannot supply on their own: independent, examined evidence of command across the full scope of the role. To a board, it signals a leader prepared for this environment by design.
Questions about the CLLP™? Contact us at info@LTACHLeadershipInstitute.org or visit CLLPcertification.org.