Part of the expanding PassProfessor catalog: The Registered Phlebology Sonographer (RPhS) is Cardiovascular Credentialing International’s specialty credential for professionals working in venous ultrasound (phlebology). The RPhS examination is a three-hour, computer-based examination of 170 questions — 150 scored and 20 unscored — built on CCI’s job task analysis and examination matrix, reported on a scaled range of 0 to 900 with a total scaled score of 650 required to pass. Candidates qualify through CCI’s published pathways for sonographers, advanced practitioners and physicians. PassProfessor’s RPhS program is in development at $59.
This program is part of the expanding PassProfessor catalog — join the notify list and we’ll email you when enrollment opens.
The RPhS names venous ultrasound — phlebology — as a specialty in its own right: the work is diagnostic, procedural and unforgiving of shallow preparation. PassProfessor’s RPhS program is in development as part of the expanding PassProfessor catalog, built on the examination matrix and qualification pathways CCI publishes at cci-online.org for the Registered Phlebology Sonographer examination. The program will be priced at $59 when enrollment opens.
Which cardiovascular credential is this?
This page covers RPhS — the Registered Phlebology Sonographer credential from Cardiovascular Credentialing International (CCI) — for professionals working in venous ultrasound (phlebology). Three clarifications. First, CCI’s cardiovascular credentials are distinct examinations with distinct eligibility pathways and distinct content matrices: RPhS is not the RVS, the RCS or the RCES, and experience or study toward one does not substitute for another’s blueprint. The RVS examines vascular ultrasound generally; the RPhS examines the venous system specifically, and candidates who hold the RVS will find one RPhS pathway written for them — the examinations themselves remain separate. Second, RPhS is a professional credential awarded by CCI on passing its examination; it is not a state license, and CCI states it does not endorse or recommend any third-party review course or material — this program is independent preparation. Third, eligibility is documentary: CCI approves an application against a named qualification pathway, with typed supporting documentation, before any examination date exists.
What will the program cover?
Practice mapped to the published outline, area by area. The program is being built on the certifying body’s own published content structure for this examination, organized around the areas the outline itself defines, as recorded in the table below. Preparation time lands where the examination itself puts the emphasis, instead of spreading evenly across ground the outline treats unevenly.
Results you can read by content area. Because practice will be organized by the outline’s areas, your results can be read area by area — a thin area shows while there is still time to repair it, instead of hiding inside an overall score.
Original questions, written from the outline outward. When the program opens, every question will be an original PassProfessor practice question written to the published outline and current authoritative sources for this field. None will be an actual examination item, a recalled item, or another provider’s material, and no question will ask you to recite a code, section number or citation — knowledge is tested, citations never are.
Timed practice at the real sitting’s shape. The program’s design includes sustained timed practice modeled on the recorded facts of the real sitting — its length and pace as set out in the fact table below — so pacing is trained rather than discovered on the day. That design is PassProfessor’s preparation choice; the real examination’s own facts stand in their own table.
The real exam at a glance
| Fact of record | Detail |
|---|---|
| Credential | Registered Phlebology Sonographer (RPhS) — CCI specialty credential |
| Awarding body | Cardiovascular Credentialing International (CCI) |
| Examination | Three-hour computer-based examination of 170 questions: 150 scored and 20 unscored, indistinguishable from scored items. Two hours and fifty minutes are allotted to the questions, plus ten minutes for the tutorial and post-exam survey |
| Question types | Traditional multiple-choice plus CCI’s innovative item types — multiple-response, hot-spot and drag-and-place items (see the format note) |
| Delivery | Pearson VUE test centers, year-round; a 90-day eligibility window opens when CCI approves the application |
| Scoring | Total scores reported on a scale of 0 to 900; a total scaled score of 650 is required to pass, set by a standard-setting study. CCI states the scaled score does not equal a number or percentage of correct answers |
| Results | Unofficial score report at the test center with pass/fail status and the percentage of questions answered correctly in each content area; official results letter, certificate and wallet card from CCI in approximately 15 business days |
| Examination fee | $365 USD, including a $100 non-refundable application-processing fee (CCI-published figure) |
| Maintenance | First renewal: fee only, no CEUs, due in the following year. Thereafter triennial: renewal fee plus 36 CEUs per cycle for registry-level credentials, 30 of them cardiovascular-related, as CCI publishes |
| Program price | $59 (PassProfessor program price, when enrollment opens) |
How will practice map to the outline?
| Content area | Share of the examination |
|---|---|
| Maintaining information, facility, and safety | 9% |
| Patient diagnosis | 27% |
| Performance of diagnostic testing | 36% |
| Conservative treatment and therapy of patients | 9% |
| Minimally invasive and invasive treatment of patients | 20% |
What does Maintaining information, facility, and safety cover? (9%)
The professional frame around venous practice: collecting patient identifiers; universal precautions and sterile technique; facility emergency protocols; equipment inspection and preventive maintenance; workspace and ergonomics — a career-length issue in sonography, examined as one; continuous quality improvement; and securing and archiving patient information. The safety and information duties are examined as the credential holder’s own work.
How should you prepare for Maintaining information, facility, and safety? Survey the area early, note where your reasoning breaks down, and return with focused practice rather than rereading. The work here rewards applied judgment in realistic situations, so pair every block of reading with timed practice, then examine why each wrong option was wrong. Keep a running list of the distinctions this area tests most finely, and revisit the area in mixed practice before you test, so competence does not depend on knowing the topic in advance.
What does Patient diagnosis cover? (27%)
More than a quarter of the examination on the diagnostic reasoning around the scan: triaging patient status; obtaining a comprehensive history, including social history; the pertinent physical examination; reviewing post-treatment status against past venous history; differential diagnoses, including comorbidity and medication effects; assisting in formulating the diagnostic and treatment plans; and analyzing patient data. CEAP classification, venous signs and symptoms, and risk factors are the working vocabulary of this area.
How should you prepare for Patient diagnosis? Start with the area’s core decisions and work outward to its edge cases. Preparation should alternate short reading blocks with timed questions on the same material, because retrieval under time pressure is the skill the sitting itself demands. Log every miss by cause — knowledge gap, misread situation, or wrong priority — since each cause has a different repair, and lumping them together hides the pattern your next study block should attack.
What does Performance of diagnostic testing cover? (36%)
The examination’s largest area and its technical core: confirming indications; positioning; selecting equipment and optimizing settings; selecting the transducer and optimizing frequency; performing abdominopelvic, lower- and upper-extremity venous duplex studies; documenting findings; and communicating unusual or abnormal findings. Venous anatomy, pathophysiology, hemodynamics and ultrasound physics are examined here as performance, not definitions.
How should you prepare for Performance of diagnostic testing? Treat this area as a set of decisions, not a set of facts: for each topic, ask what the practitioner must notice first, what must happen next, and what must never happen. Practise in timed blocks, review every error the same day, and return to the area after a gap of several days so that retention, not recognition, is what carries you.
What does Conservative treatment and therapy of patients cover? (9%)
The non-procedural management of venous and lymphatic disease: conservative treatments generally; compression therapy in its indications and limits; pharmaceutical therapy; and the treatment of lymphedema and lipedema. Small by weight and clinically decisive — it examines whether the candidate knows what management looks like when no procedure follows.
How should you prepare for Conservative treatment and therapy of patients? Build a one-page map of this area before drilling it: its central concepts, its recurring traps, and the situations in which its rules change. Then work timed practice against that map, correcting the map whenever a question exposes a gap in it. Finish the area with mixed practice alongside earlier areas, so the knowledge has to be selected, not merely recalled.
What does Minimally invasive and invasive treatment of patients cover? (20%)
A fifth of the examination on the procedural side of phlebology: confirming signed informed consent; visual sclerotherapy; assisting in ultrasound-guided procedures and in minimally invasive superficial venous treatment — phlebectomy, ablation, ligation; evaluating the patient before and after open surgical, superficial venous, and catheter-directed deep venous and abdominopelvic interventions; outcome measures; and discharge instructions. Complications of venous treatment run through the area.
How should you prepare for Minimally invasive and invasive treatment of patients? Survey the area early, note where your reasoning breaks down, and return with focused practice rather than rereading. The work here rewards applied judgment in realistic situations, so pair every block of reading with timed practice, then examine why each wrong option was wrong. Keep a running list of the distinctions this area tests most finely, and revisit the area in mixed practice before you test, so competence does not depend on knowing the topic in advance.
How is the RPhS examination scored?
CCI reports total scores on a scale from 0 to 900, and a total scaled score of 650 is required to pass. CCI is explicit about what that number is not: a scaled score does not equal the number or percentage of questions answered correctly. The number of correct answers needed to reach 650 was determined through a standard-setting (passing-score) study, and CCI reviews the passing score periodically with panels of experts from the specialty to assure its validity. Your score is based on the 150 scored questions; the 20 unscored questions are randomly distributed and unidentified, and exist so CCI can evaluate items for future examinations. At the test center you receive an unofficial report with your total score, your pass/fail status and a breakdown of the percentage of questions you answered correctly in each content area — that breakdown, not the scaled number, is the diagnostic tool for a candidate who must sit again.
Who can take the RPhS examination?
Every CCI applicant must hold a high school diploma or GED at the time of application, meet one of the credential’s qualification pathways, and provide typed documentation supporting the pathway claimed; CCI may request additional information, and processing a complete application takes a minimum of 15–20 business days. The RPhS is CCI’s specialty credential for venous ultrasound, and its pathways are deliberately wider than the registry credentials’: they reach sonographers, physician associates, nurse practitioners and physicians. This credential’s pathways are:
- RPhS1 — an active RVS or RVT credential, plus six months of full-time or full-time-equivalent diagnostic ultrasound employment experience in venous disease, plus 36 CEUs in the last four years documented in venous disease, ultrasound diagnosis, or vascular anatomy.
- RPhS2 — an associate degree or equivalent college hours (62 semester hours) in health, science, natural science, nursing, engineering or a primary science, plus one year of diagnostic ultrasound employment experience in venous disease, plus the same 36 CEUs in the last four years.
- RPhS3 — a baccalaureate degree in one of those fields, plus six months of diagnostic ultrasound employment experience in venous disease, plus the same 36 CEUs in the last four years.
- RPhS567 — a valid license to practice as a Physician Associate or Nurse Practitioner, plus six months of diagnostic ultrasound employment experience in limited or complete venous ultrasound studies.
- RPhS5 — a valid license to practice medicine, plus certification through the American Board of Venous and Lymphatic Medicine or an active RVS, RVT or RPVI credential, plus performance or direct supervision of a minimum of 150 venous studies within the two years before application.
- RPhS6 — a valid license to practice medicine, plus performance or direct supervision of a minimum of 200 venous studies within the two years before application.
- RPhS7 — a valid license to practice medicine, plus completion of a residency or fellowship including specialized clinical training in phlebology ultrasound performance and interpretation, with performance or direct supervision of a minimum of 200 venous ultrasound studies during the training program.
Once approved, CCI issues an Authorization to Test and a 90-day eligibility window opens; the examination is then scheduled with Pearson VUE. CCI also operates a pre-application process for criminal matters ($50, non-refundable) for applicants who need a determination before applying. One dated change belongs in every RPhS plan: effective February 1, 2027, CCI moves this examination to window testing in February and August each year, as the exam guide details.
How should you use this page while the program is in development?
- Join the notify list today. Enrollment is not open yet, and the notify list is how you hear the moment it is. While you wait, read the exam guide — it walks the outline area by area and lays out eligibility, scoring and study planning in full.
- Study from the official outline now. The published outline quoted on this page is the syllabus; organizing your reading by its areas and weights is useful work today, before any practice program opens.
- When the program opens, survey every area first. Early practice should touch each area, so your first area-by-area picture of yourself is honest.
- Drill the area that costs you. Let results, not preferences, set the next block — outlines reward the candidate with no thin area.
- Finish with timed, mixed practice. Sit full timed practice at the real pace, and test when practice is consistently strong across areas.
Frequently asked questions
What is the RPhS credential? The Registered Phlebology Sonographer: CCI’s credential for professionals working in venous ultrasound (phlebology), awarded on passing CCI’s 170-question examination after qualifying through one of CCI’s published pathways.
How many questions are on the examination? 170 questions in a three-hour sitting: 150 scored and 20 unscored. Two hours and fifty minutes are allotted to the questions, with ten minutes for the tutorial and post-exam survey. The unscored questions are not identified.
What score do I need to pass? A total scaled score of 650 on CCI’s 0–900 scale. CCI states that scaled scores do not equal a number or percentage of correct answers; the standard was set by a standard-setting study and is reviewed periodically with specialty expert panels.
Does the examination include non-multiple-choice items? Yes. Alongside traditional multiple-choice items, CCI uses innovative item types — multiple-response, hot-spot and drag-and-place items. This program is question-based preparation for the knowledge those items examine; it does not reproduce the hot-spot or drag-and-place mechanics. The exam guide covers this in full.
How do I know if I am eligible? CCI publishes named qualification pathways combining education, credentials and experience, summarized in the eligibility section above, with a pathway tool on CCI’s site. You must also hold a high school diploma or GED and document the pathway you claim; CCI approves the application before your 90-day testing window opens.
Are these CCI’s actual examination questions? No. When this program opens, its questions will be original practice questions written by PassProfessor to CCI’s published examination matrix. We never use actual examination items, recalled items, or another provider’s material. CCI does not endorse third-party review materials, and this program claims no endorsement.
How long do I have to test once CCI approves me? Approval opens a 90-day eligibility window: CCI emails your Authorization to Test, typically within two business days of approval, and the examination is scheduled with Pearson VUE inside that window. One 90-day extension may be requested through your CCI account.
Is the RPhS the same as the RVS? No. The RVS — Registered Vascular Specialist — examines vascular ultrasound across arterial, venous, extracranial, abdominal and hemodialysis territories. The RPhS examines venous ultrasound specifically, including venous diagnosis and the conservative and procedural treatment of venous disease. They are separate CCI examinations with separate matrices; holding the RVS opens one RPhS eligibility pathway but does not exempt anyone from the RPhS examination.
I am a physician / physician associate / nurse practitioner. Is there a pathway for me? Yes — that breadth is a defining feature of this credential. CCI publishes pathways for licensed physicians (RPhS5, RPhS6 and RPhS7, differing in the credential held, the venous-study counts and residency or fellowship training), a pathway for licensed Physician Associates and Nurse Practitioners (RPhS567), and degree-and-experience pathways for sonographers (RPhS1, RPhS2 and RPhS3). The eligibility section above summarizes each as CCI publishes it.
When will enrollment open? The program is in development. Join the notify list on this page and we will email you when enrollment opens at the $59 program price.
Disclaimer
PassProfessor is an independent exam-preparation provider; this program is not endorsed by, affiliated with or sponsored by CCI. The credential name is used on this page as a factual reference to the certifying body’s examination. This program is examination preparation only: examination details on this page are drawn from the official sources recorded in the companion guide and are current as of November 2026; the certifying body’s official publications govern if anything here differs from them. The credential is awarded by CCI alone when all of its requirements are complete; this program confers no credential or license.