CPHIMS or CHDA? Information systems or data analysis

Both are health informatics certifications, but they measure different work: CPHIMS is for people who build and run healthcare information systems, CHDA for people who analyse their data and turn it into reports and decisions.

In short: if your day is implementing and supporting systems, projects, security and vendor selection, your certification is CPHIMS. If your day is extracting, cleaning and analysing data, building reports, dashboards and quality measures, it is CHDA. For people who do both, each complements the other.

The comparison

	CPHIMS	CHDA
Full name	Certified Professional in Healthcare Information and Management Systems	Certified Health Data Analyst
Awarded by	HIMSS	AHIMA
Field	Healthcare information systems: the system life cycle, clinical informatics, management and leadership.	Health data analysis: acquisition, analysis, interpretation, reporting and data governance.
Eligibility	Bachelor's + 5 years of information and management systems experience (3 in healthcare), or graduate degree + 3 years (2 in healthcare), or 10 years of experience (8 in healthcare).	RHIT or RHIA credential, or a bachelor's degree or higher. AHIMA recommends (but does not require) 3 years of healthcare data experience.
Exam	100 questions in two hours.	142 questions (121 scored, 21 unscored pretest) in three and a half hours.
Delivery	At Pearson VUE test centres, or online with remote proctoring.
Renewal	Every 3 years: 45 hours of continuing education and the renewal fee, or retaking the exam.	Every 2 years: continuing education units (CEUs) and the recertification fee.
Fees	Differ for members and non-members; current figures on the HIMSS site.	$259 for AHIMA members, $329 for non-members (when checked).

What each exam measures

CPHIMS: four domains

Healthcare and technology environments (25%)
Clinical informatics (20%)
Healthcare information and management systems (30%): analysis, design, selection, implementation and support, testing, privacy and security
Management and leadership (25%)

CHDA: six domains

Foundational knowledge of analytics in healthcare (14–16%)
Business needs assessment (11–15%)
Data acquisition (14–18%)
Data analysis (22–25%)
Data interpretation and reporting (18–22%)
Data governance (8–10%)

Who each one is for

CPHIMS fits you if you:

Implement, support and improve hospital information systems and the electronic health record.
Lead technology projects in a health facility, or take part in system selection and vendor contracts.
Are heading for leadership roles in health IT.

CHDA fits you if you:

Extract data with SQL or reporting tools and build dashboards.
Work on quality measures, regulatory reporting, revenue analytics or population health.
Come from health information management (HIM) or statistics and want to prove your analytical skills.

Should I take both?

If your work combines systems and data, such as running an EHR project and then building its reports, the two complement each other. Start with the one closest to your daily work, since each body counts experience differently. CPHIMS itself has questions on data quality, standards and decision support, so what you study for it helps later.

Sources

HIMSS, CPHIMS Candidate Handbook (May 2024): eligibility, exam, domains and weights, renewal.
AHIMA, CHDA certification page at ahima.org: eligibility, exam, fees, recertification.
AHIMA, CHDA exam content outline (November 2023): domains and weights.

Try exam-style questions

A 20-question trial exam with an explanation for every option and a score per domain. Free, no payment method needed.

Start the trial exam

Read also: CPHIMS guide · CPHIMS or CAHIMS?

Facts checked against the official sources on 1 October 2026; the awarding bodies may change them, so confirm before applying. An independent site, not affiliated with or endorsed by HIMSS. CPHIMS® is a registered trademark of HIMSS.