The CPHIMS exam guide

What the CPHIMS® certification is, who can sit for it, what the exam looks like, its domains, and how to prepare in 8 weeks.

What is CPHIMS?

CPHIMS stands for Certified Professional in Healthcare Information and Management Systems. HIMSS awards it to experienced professionals in healthcare information systems and their management. It shows you understand the healthcare environment, clinical informatics, the system life cycle from analysis to security, and management and leadership in the field.

Who is it for?

• IT staff in hospitals and other healthcare organizations.
• Health and clinical informatics specialists, including nurses, pharmacists and physicians who moved into informatics.
• Project managers and systems analysts in healthcare, and staff of health IT vendors and consultancies.

Eligibility

You need one of three:

• A bachelor's degree + 5 years of information and management systems experience, at least 3 of them in a healthcare setting.
• A graduate degree or higher + 3 years of experience, at least 2 of them in a healthcare setting.
• 10 years of experience, at least 8 of them in a healthcare setting.

Experience means work in systems analysis, design, selection, implementation, support and maintenance, testing and evaluation, privacy and security, information systems, clinical informatics or management engineering. A healthcare setting is broad: a provider, a healthcare consulting firm, a vendor, a government office, an academic institution, a payer or public health.

The exam

• 100 multiple-choice questions; the score is based on all 100.
• Two hours.
• At Pearson VUE test centers worldwide, or online from home or work with remote proctoring (OnVUE).
• Three cognitive levels: recall, application to new situations, and analysis of situations and solutions.
• No penalty for guessing, so answer every question.
• Exam questions are the copyrighted property of HIMSS and may not be copied or shared.

The four domains and their weights

An 8-week study plan

One to one and a half hours a day, ordered by weight:

1. Weeks 1-2: Healthcare Information and Systems Management (30%): analysis, design, selection and implementation, testing, privacy and security.
2. Week 3: Healthcare and Technology Environments (25%): types of organizations, payment models, laws, technical infrastructure.
3. Week 4: Management and Leadership (25%): projects, budgets, governance, change management, people.
4. Week 5: Clinical Informatics (20%): decision support, medication safety, quality, documentation.
5. Week 6: review the questions you missed, and acronyms.
6. Week 7: two full mock exams (100 questions in two hours) and a look at each domain's score.
7. Week 8: your two weakest domains, light review, and rest on the last two days.

Exam tips

• "What should you do FIRST?" The order is usually assess, plan, act, evaluate; the option that analyzes or gathers information is usually right.
• Read the last line first to know what is asked, then note your role in the scenario (CIO? project manager?).
• The key word (FIRST, BEST, MOST, PRIMARY, NOT) separates two close options.
• In hospital scenarios, patient safety comes before the elegant technical fix.
• Time: about 72 seconds a question. Flag hard ones and come back.

Read also: CPHIMS or CAHIMS? · CPHIMS or CHDA?

Source: the HIMSS CPHIMS Candidate Handbook (May 2024 edition). This site is independent and not affiliated with HIMSS; CPHIMS® is a registered trademark of HIMSS.