HIMSS CAHIMS Certification Exam Syllabus

A. Healthcare Environment

• A.1. Recognize basic characteristics, interrelationships and services of different types of healthcare organizations (e.g., hospitals, clinics, physician practices, ambulatory centers, community health organizations, healthcare payers, regulators, research and academic)
• A.2. Identify and differentiate among major clinical and business departments and functions found in healthcare organizations
• A.3. Differentiate basic roles of healthcare information and management systems professionals
• A.4. Identify and differentiate roles of governmental, regulatory, professional and accreditation agencies related to healthcare
• A.5. Recognize trends in healthcare technology (e.g., telemedicine, patient portals, wearable devices, population health)

B. Technology Environment

• B.1. Differentiate characteristics of applications (e.g., clinical, administrative, financial) and clinical technologies commonly used in healthcare
• B.2. Recognize basic characteristics of the information and communication technologies that support the healthcare environment (e.g., diagnostic imaging, data warehouses, data models, infrastructure, servers, web services)

• A.1. Identify basic clinical vocabulary/terms frequently represented in healthcare informatics (e.g., dosage frequency, dosage routes, body systems)
• A.2. Identify basic healthcare IT vocabulary/terms frequently represented in healthcare informatics (e.g., LAN, SMS, VPN)
• A.3. Identify basic clinical metrics frequently represented in informatics (e.g., average daily census, turnaround time, adherence, barcode medication administration)
• A.4. Identify and support opportunities to optimize clinical effectiveness and efficiencies
• A.5. Understand various data visualization techniques (e.g., tables, graphs, charts)
• A.6. Maintain clinical content and decision-support tools

A. Analysis

• A.1. Identify and differentiate fundamental concepts of systems development (e.g., systems development lifecycle or SDLC, rapid application development, extreme programming)
• A.2. Identify and differentiate fundamental IT project management methodologies (e.g., Agile, waterfall) and components (e.g., needs analysis, gap analysis, defining an prioritizing requirements)
• A.3. Identify and differentiate fundamental concepts of process improvement (e.g., DMAIC, PDCA)
• A.4. Describe business and clinical processes utilizing standard visualization tools such as Gantt charts, fishbone, swimlane
• A.5. Conduct basic data analysis and interpretation
• A.6. Understand the basic elements of common business documents such as RFPs, RFIs, proposals, SLAs, change requests, NDAs, etc.

B. Design

• B.1. Identify functional requirements of software, hardware and network solutions
• B.2. Develop the documentation of compliance with applicable industry, regulatory and organizational standards
• B.3. Identify basic business continuity planning concepts (e.g., RPO, RTO, BCA, scheduled and unscheduled downtime procedures)
• B.4. Collect and compile information to assist in evaluation of existing and emerging technologies
• B.5. Understand basic data management concepts (e.g., data types, metadata, data dictionary, field formats

C. Selection, Implementation, Support and Maintenance

• C.1. Facilitate solution selection activities (e.g., evaluating functional requirements vs proposals, demonstrations, site visits, reference checks)
• C.2. Understand characteristics of various training and support methods (e.g., computer based learning, classroom training, train the trainer, at-the-elbow support from superusers)
• C.3. Understand the interrelationships between scope, schedule, budget, and quality for solution implementations
• C.4. Maintain healthcare information systems (e.g., operate, upgrade)
• C.5. Gather, input and help analyze data for problems and trends (e.g., error reports, help desk logs, performance metrics, network monitoring)

D. Testing and Evaluation

• D.1. Identify and differentiate accepted testing methodologies (e.g., unit test, integrated test, stress test, acceptance test)
• D.2. Identify and differentiate internal controls to protect resources and ensure availability and integrity during testing (e.g., security audits, versioning control, change control)
• D.3. Verify deliverables against contractual terms or design specifications
• D.4. Gather and compile data to support that expected outcomes have been realized (e.g., return on investment, benchmarks, user satisfaction)

E. Privacy and Security

• E.1. Describe the organizational policies and procedures to ensure confidentiality, privacy, security, availability, and integrity of data
• E.2. Use specific procedures to identify, escalate, and mitigate potential privacy/security risks and breaches
• E.3. Administer user access controls according to established policies and procedures
• E.4. Audit physical, technical, and administrative controls to ensure safeguards are in place to protect assets (e.g., servers secured, unattended computers, two-factor authentication)
• E.5. Identify and differentiate organizational roles (e.g., information security, physical security, compliance) responsible for managing vulnerabilities
• E.6. Maintain data management controls (e.g., data ownership, criticality, security levels, protection controls, retention and destruction requirements, access controls)

• A.1. Assess the organizational environment (e.g., corporate culture, values and drivers)
• A.2. Understand components of an IT strategic plan (e.g., process maturity and growth, gap analysis, quality improvement, organizational alignment, roles and responsibilities, performance measurement)
• A.3. Gather and compile metrics to monitor and assess specific organizational performance indicators
• A.4. Monitor, assess and report on key performance indicators of systems effectiveness
• A.5. Comply with legal and regulatory standards
• A.6. Understand and comply with the organization‘s ethical business principles
• A.7. Prepare and deliver business communications (e.g., presentations, reports, project plans)
• A.8. Maintain awareness of emerging industry trends
• A.9. Identify and recommend strategies to mitigate organizational risk
• A.10. Maintain effective and ethical working relationships with internal and external stakeholders (e.g., clinicians, vendors, partners)
• A.11. Identify and provide data to support recommendations for decision makers
• A.12. Understand and support organizational change management processes
• A.13. Understand individual and team roles, responsibilities and job descriptions