The Certified Professional in Healthcare Risk Management (CPHRM) is an exclusive certification offered by the American Hospital Association for health care risk managers. This premier certification proves that the health care risk manager has the core skills and knowledge needed to excel in their unique position.
Who Offers the Certified Professional in Healthcare Risk Management Certification?
The American Hospital Association offers different certification programs for health care professionals, including the CPHRM exam. The American Hospital Association offers advocacy, research, services and performance improvement support for health care professionals and organizations. For example, they provide advocacy for key health care risk management issues, such as health care reform, quality and safety. The CPHRM is one of six distinct exam programs offered by the American Hospital Association.
What are the CPHRM Exam Requirements?
The CPHRM exam is designed for health care risk management professionals whose main duties include preventing, reducing and controlling losses to people and organizations. Regardless of the health care organization, these professionals work with countless other team members in order to accomplish their objectives. Their duties may include data analysis, report creation, risk evaluation, accident investigation, finance trending and claims management. To be eligible for CPHRM exam, a candidate must have the appropriate education, health care or risk management experience. For education or health care experience, they must have a bachelor's degree with five years of experience, or an associate's degree with seven years of experience or a high school diploma with nine years of experience. All candidates must have at least 3,000 hours of risk management experience. Otherwise, they must have spent at least 50 percent of their time at a recent job performing risk management related duties.
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What is the Content of the CPHRM Exam?
The CPHRM exam is comprised of 110 multiple-choice questions. However, the candidate's score is based on only 100 of these questions because there are 10 pretest, non-scored questions. Two hours are given to complete the exam, which is divided into five major categories. First, there are questions regarding staff, patient and clinical safety. For example, questions will ask the candidate how to evaluate patient safety, staff awareness and potential risks. Other questions will ask the candidate how to promote a culture of patient safety or educate others how to reduce risks. The second category is risk financing, which asks questions regarding liability, probability and financial losses. The third category, legal and regulatory, asks questions about compliance, reporting and patient confidentiality. The fourth category, health care operations, asks questions about conducting risk assessments, data collection and staff guidance. The final category, claims and litigation, contains questions concerning claims, billing and data collection management.
How to Prepare for the CPHRM Exam?
The American Hospital Association offers a CPHRM Exam Prep course that is intended to help candidates prepare through focusing on the five main content areas. However, the exam prep course is not designed to explain the fundamental concepts of health care risk management. Fortunately, the American Hospital Association's website offers a downloadable Candidate Application and Handbook that contains key terms, learning goals, sample exam questions and the complete content outline.
In hindsight, health care risk management professionals play an important role in safeguarding the legal and financial interests of people and organizations. Obtaining a Certified Professional in Healthcare Risk Management accreditation is a must for anyone seeking a career in health care risk management.