What are Bundle Payments - Interesting and Simple Video

CPHIMS Sample Practice Questions

The questions below are not exactly what is asked in CPHIMS . I use to solve questions collected through various sources and some I framed on my own just for practice.

1.       Which of the following levels of care is based on the needs of the provider or caregiver?

a.       Home care

b.      Continuous (crisis) care

c.       General inpatient

d.      Respite care

2.       An organization that negotiates with vendors for preferential pricing of products and services on behalf of its membership is a

a.       GPO.

b.      PPO.

c.       PPS.

d.      APC

3.       A CIO has been asked to give an IT strategic plan update to the Board of Directors. Which of the following is the BEST approach when presenting a report?

a.       slide presentation with a hard copy of the executive summary

b.      slide presentation with a hard copy of the IT strategic plan

c.       oral presentation with a hard copy of the executive summary

d.      oral presentation with a hard copy of the IT strategic plan

4.       The two factors which seem to be the most important determinants of health are:

a.       Income and social status

b.      Education and literacy

c.       Employment and working conditions

d.      Social environments and social support networks

5.       Corporate planning focuses on:

a.       The organization’s vision and mission

b.      Future program scope

c.       Organizational effectiveness

d.       All of the above

6.       There are several activities which are essential to effective strategic planning. They include:

1)      CEO defined vision, mission, and values

2)      defined roles and responsibilities

3)      adequate consultation, discussion, and feedback

4)      indicators that will be measured and monitored

a.       1, 2, and 3

b.      1, 2, and 4

c.       2, 3, and 4

d.      All of the above

7.       You are the CEO of a hospital and a situation has occurred in your organization that may be cause for legal action. No legal action has been taken to date, but there is a concern that action might be taken soon.

What would be your first responsibility?

a.       apprise the organization’s legal adviser of the situation

b.      ensure documentation is complete and secured

c.       call in the client’s family and ensure them that the situation is under control

d.      call in the coroner and/or police

8.       Which among the following is a clinical messaging standard

a.       SNOMED

b.      HL7

c.       HCPCS

d.      ICD

9.       CPOE stands for

a.       Computerized patient order entry

b.      Computerized physician order entry

c.       Common procedure order entry

d.      Computerized prescription order entry

10.   An organization has released some budget to start a new IT project. Among the following which would be the first step the organization would follow

a.       Statement of Work

b.      Request for proposal

c.       Request for Information

d.      Work breakdown structure

Certified Professional in Health Information Management System (CPHIMS) Exam Preparation:

The very fact that you have visited this blog is indicative enough that you have a fair idea about

• What is CPHIMS?
• Who is the parent organization that started this certification
• The benefits of CPHIMS
• The eligibility Requirements
• Fees, etc.

If not then please visit http://www.himss.org/health-it-certification/cphims.

The purpose of this blog is to share my experience and how I prepared for this certification. So before getting deeper in to that, I wanted to share few statistics on CPHIMS. The infographic below gives a good overview on CPHIMS certification. It answers some of the questions such as

- The total number of CPHIMS professional
- Who in general takes CPHIMS certification
- What is the pass percentage

Where & How did I take the exam?

I took the exam in India. The process is little lengthy compared to US. The registration process takes 2-3 weeks’ time. I assume that would be the case with all the locations except for US and Canada, I may be wrong. The CPHIMS certification exam is managed and conducted by Applied Measurement Professionals, Inc. (AMP) (http://www.goamp.com/Pages/default.aspx). AMP is a professional organization that provides certification to organizations, government agencies, professional associations and private industry with innovative assessment and management solutions. People who generally want to take the CPHIMS exam have this question where can I take the exam, is there an online scheduling system, what would be the cost? Actually GOAMP provides answer to all these questions. On the GoAMP website go to the candidate section, you will see three dropdowns

1. Select a Category: Healthcare
2. Select a Program: Healthcare Information & Mgmt. Systems Society
3. Select an Examination: Certified Professionals in Healthcare Info. & Mgmt. Systems

Once you make the above selections, you will be redirected to the Healthcare Information & Mgmt. Systems Society page. There you can Register for the Examination, Reschedule an already registered examination, locate testing centres and various other stuff. There is no chronological order in terms of viewing the information however if you want to take the exam then you have to first ‘Register for this Exam’. If you are a new user then create an account else enter as an existing user to schedule the exam. Note: If you are a HIMSS member with active membership then do not forget to provide your HIMSS ID while registering, the examination fee is less for HIMSS member.

The ‘locate testing centres’ link provides you the list of test centres in various countries. At present there are 34 countries other than United States where this test is being conducted through goAMP. So based on you requirement you can identify the testing centre where you would like to take the exam. Note: Check the eligibility requirement before taking this exam. You need to meet certain criteria to appear for the exam refer candidate handbook for more information. Make sure that you meet all the requirements else your effort will go in vain.


CPHIMS Exam Content

The CPHIMS Examination is structured as follows:

• Composed of 115 multiple-choice questions. A candidate’s score is based on 100 of these questions. Fifteen (15) are ‘trial’ or ‘pretest’ questions that are interspersed throughout the examination. These 15 questions are equally important as you would not be able to distinguish between the ‘trial’ and ‘actual’ questions. So you do not have any option but to attempt all the 115 questions. 
• Time allowed is two (2) hours to complete the CPHIMS Examination. The questions are categorized by the following cognitive levels:

o   Recall (RE): The ability to recall or recognize specific information

o   Application (AP): The ability to comprehend, relate or apply knowledge to new or changing situations

o   Analysis (AN): The ability to analyze and synthesize information, determine solutions and/or evaluate the usefulness of a solution

The certification is categorized into 3 broad sections

1. General
2. Systems
3. Administration

Note: Go through the candidate handbook to get better understanding on the exam content.

CPHIMS Examination Preparation and CPHIMS Questions

The method of preparation and amount of time spent preparing for the CPHIMS Examination can be driven by the candidate’s preferred study style, level of professional experience or academic background. The exam is structured to test candidates knowledge of healthcare industry, IT, Management & Leadership. Most of the questions asked in the exam are completely application of knowledge. Someone having a good exposure in healthcare industry is definitely advantageous.

The questions are multiple choice with just one answer or multiple answers. Questions with multiple answers are confusing as all the options might look right. One has to be very careful while answering these questions. There are few questions that are very straight forward and rather very easy. You can also expect analytical and mathematical questions – where in you have to do some calculation to get the answers. Believe me those are really very tricky!

I have got around 8 years of experience as Business Analyst in US Healthcare but still I found the certification to be very professional and difficult. On a scale of 1 to 10 with one being least difficult and 10 being most difficult, I would rate the certification at 8. This can vary from person to person. 

I referred the following documents and resources for my preparation

• CPHIMS Review Guide, First Edition. Now the Second Edition is available. I didn’t use edition 2 however happen to go through it. It is revised and has additional information which was not there in the first edition. 
• BABOK – for ‘Systems’ section 
• Managing healthcare Information system - Karen A. Wager, Frances Wickham Lee, John P. Glaser 
• PMBOK 
• Information Systems for HC Management - Austin and Boxerman’s 
• HIMSS Library - http://www.himss.org/ResourceLibrary/?navItemNumber=17397
• Google and YouTube where of great help. 
• LinkedIn – Join the CPHIMS group, people share their experience regarding this certification.

I bought the CPHIMS Self-Assessment Examination (SAE), A Self-Assessment Examination (SAE) for the CPHIMS Examination is an online tool created by HIMSS to simulate the CPHIMS Examination. This tool is available for purchase at http://store.lxr.com/dept.aspx?id=49.

The SAE has 100-questions and is developed using the same procedures as the CPHIMS Examination, and conforms to examination specifications in content, cognitive levels, format, and difficulty. However, the questions presented in the SAE are different from the questions contained on the CPHIMS Examination.

There are lot of resources available these days, the HIMSS eLearning Academy has come up with online training options and based on your requirements you can enrol to any of the plan. For more information and the upcoming schedule, visit http://himss.learn.com

On LinkedIn lot of people have referred about David Lovison's CPHIMS Self Test App. It’s available on iTunes for $13. I haven’t used the app but I have seen good reviews, people seemed satisfied with the app.

I wish there was a shortcut to success, but there isn't any. One has to be disciplined and study regularly to go through every section of the guide or as mentioned on the candidate handbook. I prepared for 2-3 months before appearing for the exam. One important point that I want to make is just going through the ‘Review Guide’ is not enough you have to go through other reference materials and should have a good understanding of the healthcare Industry. The questions in the Review Guide and SAE are really useful it sets the perspective however the questions asked in the real exam are very different.

D-day! Do’s & Don’ts
Since it's a professional certification it's ok to be anxious. I was worried too. Keep Calm and take the Exam!

• You can ask the instructor at the test centre for a Paper, basic calculator & pencil. 
• 115 Questions in 120 minutes; ideally you will have 1.04 minutes for each question but it is difficult to predict how much time you going to spend on a question. Some of them are very simple might take just 5-10 seconds to answers some might take 2-3 minutes. So you have to balance the time accordingly. 
• Whenever I felt I have spent 30+ second on a question and was not sure about the answer I use to mark it and write it down on a paper to visit it later and move to the next one. Generally mathematical questions took some time to resolve. 
• If you feel you are getting nervous take deep breathes and relax. This isn't the end of the world.

United States - Healthcare market landscape

The infographic below is divided into four broad segments:

- Expenditure
- Workforce and Infrastructure
- Trends in 2014
- Information Technology

This is an Analysts perspective - I read somewhere that people love infographics, so here's something that is fun to go through and easy to understand.   

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are solely those of the author, however the findings presented above is the result of thorough analysis and research.

HIPAA - Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)

Part A

Historically, providers and administrators of healthcare services have respected an individual’s right to privacy and have implemented measures to protect personal information. However, widespread use of digital technologies and the Internet for obtaining, transmitting and storing information has increased concern regarding personal privacy issues. Specifically, individuals want to be sure that only those persons with legitimate need are able to access and handle individually identifiable health information.

To address these concerns, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was passed and enacted in 1996. This law is primarily intended to guarantee the portability of health insurance when a worker changes jobs. The act further includes wide-ranging provisions for the security and privacy of patient health information. The specific objectives of the act follow:

• Improving portability and continuity of health insurance coverage in the group and individual markets
• Combating waste, fraud and abuse in health insurance and health care delivery
• Promoting the use of medical savings accounts
• Improving access to long-term care services and coverage
• Simplifying the administration of health insurance

Since the enactment of HIPAA, government entities have begun establishing complex guidelines and regulations for organizations that access or use information related to individual patient health. Although many of these guidelines and regulations are currently in effect, many others are still being finalized. Also, a number of existing guidelines are being revised.

In general, organizations currently comply with HIPAA by:

• Complying with established standards and requirements for the electronic transmission of certain health information
• Maintaining reasonable and appropriate administrative, technical and physical safeguards and enforcing specific task methodologies and procedures that protect individually identifiable patient health information. However, because many regulations are still pending, no specific process or piece of equipment can be labeled HIPAA-compliant.

More information in next post

RFID and Its Applications in Healthcare

Introduction
After making its mark in the manufacturing and retail marketing, Healthcare is considered as the next home for Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). Although in its infancy, RFID has great potential in healthcare to significantly reduce cost, and improve patient safety and medical services. It is a disruptive technology that has broad applicability across the healthcare industry. With RFID, healthcare organizations (HCOs) can automate inefficient manual processes to help increase operational efficiency and improve the quality of patient care delivery. RFID enables HCOs to positively identify patients, accurately track mobile assets and patients, and optimize supply chain inventory management and logistics.

RFID Technology - Overview

RFID System Information Flow

RFID System Information FlowRadio Frequency Identification (RFID) is an automatic identification method, relying on storing and remotely retrieving data using devices called RFID tags or transponders. An RFID system may consist of several components: tags/transponders, tag readers, antenna, and middleware/application software.

The purpose of an RFID system is to enable data to be transmitted by a mobile device, called a tag, which is read by an RFID reader and processed according to the needs of a particular application. The data transmitted by the tag may provide identification or location information, or specifics about the product tagged. The use of RFID in tracking and access applications first appeared in 1932, to identify aircraft as friendly or unfriendly ("identify friend or foe" (IFF)). RFID quickly gained attention because of its ability to track moving objects. As the technology is refined, more pervasive and possibly invasive uses for RFID tags are in the works.

In a typical RFID system, individual objects are equipped with a small, inexpensive tag. The tag contains a transponder with a digital memory chip that is given a unique electronic product code. The interrogator, an antenna packaged with a transceiver and decoder, emits a signal activating the RFID tag so it can read and write data to it. When an RFID tag passes through the electromagnetic zone, it detects the reader's activation signal. The reader decodes the data encoded in the tag's integrated circuit (silicon chip) and the data is passed to the host computer. The application software on the host processes the data, and may perform various filtering operations to reduce the numerous often redundant reads of the same tag to a smaller and more useful data set. RFID tags are of two types:

Passive RFID: A passive RFID tag does not have any battery, and harvests all of its power from the radio interrogation of the RFID reader. This provides enough power to respond to the reader. This yields a fairly low-cost device, but the read ranges are also fairly low (about 20 feet at maximum. in best operating conditions).

Active RFID: Active RFID tags have an attached battery so that they can respond to an RFID reader with more power. This is a more expensive tag than a passive RFID tag, but it also has a much longer maximum read range (up to 300 feet.).

Potential Uses of RFID in Healthcare

RFID is just beginning to make its way into health care, with several inventory management applications and an early implementation of patient bracelets that include RFID tags. Many future applications are likely. These include:

• Patients and Staff Tracking: RFID tags will allow the hospital to keep track of patient and staff location. For patients whose movements must be restricted, alerts can be sounded if they wander too far. It will ensure patient safety. Staff tracking will help in optimal utilization of resources and faster response to critical events.


• Asset Tracking: RFID tags will ensure traceability of hospital assets. It will reduce time to find assets, increase responsiveness and decrease idle time or staff waiting time. It will also increase utilization of the resource and will reduce thefts.


• Lab and pathology samples: Tissue and serum samples will be tagged as they are collected and tracked through the diagnostic and pathology labs.


• Blood Banking: Blood drawn in a blood bank will be collected in a tagged container and tracked through the system. It will help in better blood products management.


• Medical alert implants: Small, active RFID devices with substantial amounts of memory could be implanted in people with medical conditions. A paramedic with an interrogator
  would get instant information about pre-existing conditions, blood type, drug allergies, and so on.


• Pharmaceutical inventory and Medication delivery: Counterfeit drug prevention.


• Operating Room and Intensive Care Unit Management


• Cleaning/ Disinfection/ Sterilization Process

RFID Landscape

Conclusion
Healthcare organizations are investing in RFID solutions today to better understand the viability of the technology and to figure out how to leverage RFID to solve real problems within their organization. RFID in healthcare, although in its infancy, may have great potential to reduce operating costs and improve medical services and patient safety. The experience of manufacturers and retail marketers in implementing RFID can be consulted, but it cannot be transferred to hospitals without modification. The success of an RFID project depends on its strategy, the implementation process, the characteristics of the technology, the organizational context, and the stakeholders, who certainly include physicians and nurses. The value of a new technology is rooted in business, not in the technology itself.

References:
RFID: from Supply Chain to Patient Safety – Raj Veeramani, Director, UW E-Business Consortium

RFID applications in hospitals: a case study on a demonstration RFID project in a Taiwan hospital

RFID Journal

Technology Foresight: Electronic Tags - RFID Will Track Everything by Robert Mittman

Bearing Point-Alliance Report

www.google.com