Management and Leadership: what the CPHIMS exam asks

The domain that asks what a manager should do: strategy, people, projects, vendors, money and risk.

What does this domain cover?

• Strategy: taking part in the organization's strategic planning, reading its culture and drivers, and writing an IT strategic plan that serves the organization's goals.
• Forecasting technical and information needs by tying resources to business needs.
• Measuring performance: service level agreements, indicators, benchmarks, user satisfaction.
• Policies and compliance: policies and procedures for information and systems management, legal and regulatory standards, ethical business principles.
• Communication: presentations, reports, project plans; leading meetings, building consensus, resolving conflict; presenting data analyses to decision makers.
• Risk management: assessing and reducing risk in internal and external processes.
• People: roles, responsibilities and job descriptions, staff competency, education for the function, keeping skills current.
• Change management in support of an implementation.
• Projects and portfolios of projects.
• Vendors and partners: contracts, cost, schedule, support, maintenance, performance.
• Money: the budget and financial risk.

What do the questions look like?

A situation, a role and a question such as "what should you do FIRST?" or "what is the BEST response?". Several options are reasonable actions. The right one usually assesses before acting, involves the people affected, and stays in line with the organization's goals.

How should I study it?

• Project management basics: scope, schedule, cost, quality, and how progress is measured against the plan.
• Finance basics: kinds of cost, the budget, return on investment.
• Change management: why people resist, and the steps of leading a change.
• Service management: what a service level agreement promises and how it is measured.
• Read your role in the scenario first. A CIO, a project manager and an analyst do not give the same answer.
• The usual trap: the option that acts at once. Assess, plan, act, evaluate is the order the exam rewards.

How this site files its questions under this domain

• Management and Leadership

Free practice questions from this domain

• The RACI matrix for assigning responsibilities
• Earned value management: SPI and CPI
• Sunk cost and opportunity cost
• Build versus buy
• Incident management versus problem management in ITIL
• Kotter’s model for leading change
• Diversity and inclusion in informatics teams

The content areas follow the outline of exam topics in the HIMSS CPHIMS Candidate Handbook (May 2024 edition), described in our own words.

Questions about the exam: CPHIMS guide · Exam cost · Eligibility · Passing score · Renewal · Exam day · How long to study · Is it worth it?

The four domains: Healthcare and Technology Environments · Clinical Informatics · Healthcare Information and Systems Management ·

Facts checked against the HIMSS candidate handbook and the HIMSS site on 9 October 2026; HIMSS may change them, so confirm on its site before you apply or pay. An independent site, not affiliated with or endorsed by HIMSS. CPHIMS® is a registered trademark of HIMSS.