Help Build the Standard
Become a CLLP™ Subject Matter Expert
Experienced LTACH and post-acute leaders are building the first certification created specifically for long-term acute care hospital leadership. Lend your expertise at our upcoming virtual JTA workshop and earn the credential you help create. A limited number of SME grants are available for the first cohort only.
Shape the Credential From the Inside
A Subject Matter Expert (SME) is an experienced professional who helps build the Certified LTACH Leadership Professional (CLLP™) examination — defining what a competent LTACH leader must know and do, writing the questions that measure it, and setting the standard a candidate must meet to pass.
An examination is only as credible as the experts who build it. The CLLP™ is being created by the people who know long-term acute care best: practitioners and leaders who have run these hospitals and lived their realities. As an SME, you are one of those people.
This is hands-on, substantive work — and it is recognized accordingly.
The Recognition
Earn the Credential You Help Build
SMEs who complete the full development of the CLLP™ examination are awarded the CLLP™ credential by direct grant, in recognition of their work — without sitting the exam.
The reasoning is simple: an expert who writes the questions and sets the passing standard has already demonstrated mastery beyond what the examination measures. Requiring them to sit the exam they authored would be redundant. This is an established and accepted practice for founding the first examination of a new certification.
Your grant is recorded as part of the founding development of the credential — a distinction that marks you as one of the architects of the CLLP™.
The credential grant is governed by the Board-adopted SME Incentive & Eligibility Policy. Specific eligibility, recognition, and requirements are determined under that Policy.
Who We're Looking For
We are assembling expert panels that reflect the full breadth of the LTACH field. Strong candidates bring:
- Significant, current experience in long-term acute care hospital (LTACH) leadership — operations, clinical leadership, regulatory compliance, or financial management — or closely related post-acute care expertise.
- Deep, practical command of their area of the work.
- A perspective grounded in real, recent practice.
- Willingness to commit to the full development process.
We deliberately seek experts from across the field — different facility types, regions of the country, and career stages. A credential for the whole profession must be built by a panel that reflects the whole profession.
A Full-Participation Commitment
The Job Task Analysis (JTA) workshop establishes the foundational architecture of our examination development process by engaging Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) like yourself in a structured, collaborative, and evidence‑driven exercise. Over the course of the workshop, SMEs will participate in a series of targeted activities designed to precisely define and validate the job functions, competencies, and knowledge domains required for an LTACH Leadership Professional to perform successfully. SME service is a commitment to the entire development process, not a single session. SMEs are selected on the understanding that they will participate through every phase:
Job Task Analysis
Define the real tasks and responsibilities of LTACH leadership the credential should measure.
Blueprint Development
Determine how much weight each area carries on the examination.
Item Writing
Draft examination questions grounded in real LTACH leadership practice.
Item Review
Refine questions for accuracy, fairness, and relevance.
Standard Setting
Help establish the passing standard, guided by a psychometrician.
Most work happens in focused virtual sessions scheduled in advance. We do not engage single-phase or partial participants — the credential grant recognizes experts who see the work all the way through.
What to Expect
Confidentiality
Building a secure examination depends on discretion. Every SME signs a confidentiality agreement covering examination content before participating, and that obligation is permanent.
A Clear Conflict Rule
Anyone who develops, sells, or teaches CLLP™ exam-preparation materials cannot also write, review, or set the standard for exam content. The two roles are kept separate. If you are involved in education or mentoring and are unsure whether it creates a conflict, just ask — we will help you sort it out.
Respect for Your Time
Participation is virtual, scheduled ahead, and organized to make good use of the expertise you are donating.
How to Get Involved
Apply
Complete the short interest form below.
Review
We review your experience against the needs and composition of the development panels.
Confirm
If it's a fit, we reach out with the commitment, the schedule, and the confidentiality agreement.
Build
You join the panels, contribute your expertise, and earn your place as an architect of the CLLP™.
Because this work follows the examination development calendar, there may be a period between applying and being invited to a panel. We keep qualified applicants on file.
A Lighter Way to Contribute
Not Ready for a Full SME Role? Take a Blueprint Survey
Building the CLLP™ also relies on broad input from the field through short blueprint surveys — where LTACH leaders rate and comment on the importance of various leadership tasks. This is a light, one-time contribution, separate from the in-depth SME role, and it does not involve seeing exam questions.
Survey participation does not affect your eligibility to pursue the CLLP™. In recognition of your time, blueprint survey participants receive a certificate of participation, a credit toward CLLP™ recertification, and a 50% discount on the all-inclusive CLLP™ program fee if you choose to pursue certification.
Join the Blueprint Survey ListHelp Define Excellence in LTACH Leadership
Join the experts building the credential that will set the standard for the field.
SME Interest Form
The CLLP™ credential is administered by the LTACH Leadership Institute and governed by an independent Credentialing Board. SME participation and its recognition are governed by the Board-adopted SME Incentive & Eligibility Policy; specific eligibility, recognition, and requirements are determined under that Policy and may vary by activity. Blueprint survey participation is a separate role from SME service.