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Celebrating the profession and promoting its goals
To call attention to risk management’s critical role in patient care, ASHRM sponsors Healthcare Risk Management Week each year. The 2006 observance is set for June 19-23.
“Healthcare Risk Management Week is set aside to celebrate us, the risk management professionals, who work diligently every day of the year to bring our shared vision of safe and trusted health care closer to reality,” says ASHRM President Peggy Martin.
“The theme this year spells out the acronym ‘SAND,’ reflecting our organization’s goals of Safety, Advocacy, Networking and Development,” she explains. “Safety for our patients, Advocacy for our profession, Networking for disseminating the best practices and expertise we have to offer, and Development for ourselves to gain new knowledge and use our current knowledge in service to our patients and colleagues.”
“How appropriate that SAND is also a vital ingredient in building materials,” Martin adds. “Risk managers are often in the position of bringing people, policies, best practices and expert opinions together to help create a firm foundation for safer health care while safeguarding the fiscal stability of our organizations.”
Safety leaders to report. During ASHRM’s June 22 audio conference/Webcast, “Key Safety & Quality Initiatives: Reports from AHRQ, NQF & IHI,” industry leaders will share updates on their organizations’ national safety and quality efforts.
In the interest of encouraging wider appreciation of patient safety thinking, ASHRM members are encouraged to invite co-workers to join them in attending the program. Chapters may also choose to incorporate the audio conference/Webcast into their activities.
A report on the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)’s safety and quality initiatives will review its publicly available resources. Also, AHRQ will recap its work in promulgating regulations of the Patient Safety and Quality Act of 2005. William B. Munier, acting director of AHRQ’s Center for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety, will represent AHRQ.
National Quality Forum (NQF) Senior Vice President Melinda Murphy will share an overview of their efforts to enhance strategic alliances to coordinate the quality movement. NQF activities include endorsement of performance measurement consensus standards and education and recognition of health care leaders. NQF also has endorsed the Patient Safety Taxonomy developed by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO).
Audio conference/Webcast attendees also will learn about early findings from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI)’s 100,000 Lives Campaign from Campaign Manager Joe McCannon. He will introduce Tamra Merryman, vice president of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Health System’s Center for Quality Improvement and Innovation, who will present a case study on the development of one IHI initiative: Condition H rapid response teams.
Activities create interest. Successful engagement of co-workers in the risk management cause during Healthcare Risk Management Week requires some planning. A number of suggestions for activities can be found in calendar format at www.ashrm.org/riskweek. Here are some highlights:
* Contact local civic leaders, including mayor and governor, seeking official recognition of the week. Use the sample proclamation provided on the ASHRM Web site.
* Create letterhead, notecards, table tents or other promotional pieces using ASHRM’s Healthcare Risk Management Week logo.
* Solicit volunteers to accompany you as “risk managers for a day.”
* Share laminates with risk management tips on one side, your name and contact info on the other.
Helping recognition. Again this year, ASHRM has commissioned special commemorative items for risk managers to use in promoting their cause. Exclusive 2006 “SAND”-motif logo items include a beach mug (featuring its own beach), lapel pins, sticky notes, pen, seascape poster and more – all highlighting the goals of Safety, Advocacy, Networking and Development.
Details on the Web. For details about Healthcare Risk Management Week, including local activities, sample proclamation, the audio conference/Webcast, tip cards and commemorative gifts, visit www.ashrm.org/riskweek or call (312) 422-3980.
ASHRM leaders weigh in on Patient Safety Act
When the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005 was signed into law last July, ASHRM leaders celebrated its passage.
The act’s stated purpose is to provide for the improvement of patient safety and to reduce the incidence of events that adversely affect patient safety. Implementation goals include:
* Encouraging providers to identify and correct medical errors and threats to patient safety by ensuring that their work with patient safety organizations (PSOs) cannot be used against them in court or disciplinary proceedings (protection from discovery);
* Encouraging aggregation of non-identifiable cases by and among PSOs, including through a network of databases;
* Identification and rapid dissemination of safety improvement strategies.
The act supports goals including voluntary participation, the establishment of PSOs to work with providers to share event data, confidentiality and privilege protections for participating providers who contract with PSOs, and the creation of a network of patient safety databases (composed of non-identifiable data) by the Secretary of Health and Human Services.
ASHRM’s leaders and Advocacy Task Force have monitored its implementation to identify implications and opportunities for the profession.
In March, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) hosted three open meetings to gather input from the field to discuss the act. ASHRM President Peggy Martin, board members Mary Anne Hilliard and Terie Zimmerman, and Advocacy Task Force Chair Bruce Lane attended the meetings and emphasized the following points:
* The structure of the PSOs, and the protections they afford, will enable risk managers to have access to information otherwise unavailable or guarded under attorney-client and work product privilege;
* Minimum standards of practice must exist for the collection and analysis of events;
* There is a desire to share a lot of information in exchange for good information from PSOs about opportunities for improvement (ASHRM supports reasonable controls on the submission of data to ensure its credibility, reliability and integrity);
* The PSO should demonstrate at least basic competencies of its staff performing clinical, technical and analytical functions;
* The PSO must accept data in the most efficient way possible, thereby ensuring a reasonable cost structure;
* There must be stringent technological and human firewalls to protect information shared with a PSO (ASHRM does not support the creation of PSOs tied to an accreditation or regulatory body);
* The protections afforded PSOs may be incongruent with those provided other reporting entities (state, federal, JCAHO). This could result in an additional burden on those reporting and could suppress participation.
The full text of ASHRM comments is available at www.ashrm.org/advocacy.
“Throughout its history, ASHRM has been a leader on the use of investigations to get to the root causes of errors,” says ASHRM Executive Director Elizabeth Summy. “We have encouraged the development of non-punitive cultures to promote reporting, and we have led the way in the development of disclosure practices that support patients and their families while recognizing the impact on our medical professionals. Our members are skilled in understanding lessons learned from their experience with claims and litigation management.”
Time to become a CPHRM?
This is the first in a series of articles describing the Certified Professional in Healthcare Risk Management (CPHRM) furnished by the AHA Certification Center.
As the workplace becomes more specialized, professional certification is playing an increasingly important role. Certification is becoming a standard from information technology specialties to air traffic control and even culinary arts. Hospitals have long relied on certification for providers of direct patient care, but certification is no longer limited to physicians and nurses.
All health care professionals exert an impact on the quality of hospital services. Health care risk managers have a unique and specialized body of knowledge that makes certification valuable. Recognizing a need and with support of personal membership groups, the American Hospital Association established a Certification Center in 1998. The AHA Certification Center now offers four programs. The Certified Professional in Healthcare Risk Management (CPHRM) Program is one of them.
CPHRM program approaches critical mass for recruiting professionals
Because new certification programs take time to gain acceptance, you may not have noticed the CPHRM during its formative years. If so, the time to reconsider has arrived. More than 1,000 health care risk management professionals are certified. As this number continues to grow, the CPHRM credential will have increasing importance in employment decisions. Inundated with applications, human resource professionals will use the credential for recruiting and screening applicants.
Actually, that is already starting as the following responses to a recent online survey of certificants suggest:
* “The CPHRM is a requirement of employment as a risk manager.”
* The CPHRM “demonstrates a body of knowledge to superiors who often do not understand the scope of our profession.”
CPHRM credential is based on real world tasks
Eligibility requirements, which provide alternate pathways, reflect combinations of education and experience expected of a competent health care risk manager. More importantly, the CPHRM Examination was developed based on a study of actual responsibilities of risk managers. This study is being repeated in 2006 to ensure that the examination remains current and relevant. Content areas currently covered on the CPHRM Examination with weightings are:
* Loss Prevention / Reduction – 30 percent
* Claims Management – 22 percent
* Risk Financing – 13 percent
* Regulatory / Accreditation Compliance – 16 percent
* Operations – 12 percent
* Bioethics – 7 percent
The CPHRM Candidate Handbook and Application, available through the AHA Certification Center’s Web site, provide a more detailed breakdown of tasks identified as being performed regularly in practice and important to competent practice.
Test items are written by practicing risk managers
ASHRM members write, edit and select test items for the CPHRM Examination. Before beginning, item writers are trained by the AHA Certification Center’s measurement consulting firm Applied Measurement Professionals, Inc. (AMP). Items are reviewed redundantly and edited as indicated before being placed on an examination. Further, new test items are pre-tested to ensure their clarity.
Test items are designed to be practical rather than academic. A high percentage of test items focus on application of knowledge or analysis – characteristics of practicing the profession. A recent online survey of CPHRMs demonstrates that this attention to detail is working. A few comments follow:
* “Years of experience were the best education for the broad scope of the examination.”
* “I am pleased that I took the time and exerted the effort to obtain this certification as it has increased my knowledge and my ability to perform my job well.”
* “It [the CPHRM] is the only certification that directly applies to health care risk management.”
Examinations are convenient and confidential
The CPHRM Candidate Handbook (including an application form) is available through the AHA Certification Center’s Web site. Examinations are administered on computer at AMP Assessment Centers in more than 150 locations in the United States. In addition, a special paper-and-pencil or laptop administration is scheduled for Nov. 1 immediately following the closing session of ASHRM’s Annual Conference & Exhibition in San Diego.
Scores are confidential permanently. Not even ASHRM staffmembers know who participated until CPHRMs are recognized. At the request of a new certificant, the AHA Certification Center announces CPHRM status to the certificant’s CEO, human resources director and supervisor and maintains a list of current CPHRMs on its Web site. ASHRM also recognizes the achievement in the ASHRM Forum newsletter.
Continuing professional education can lead to renewal
For most certificants, the CPHRM Examination is a one-time event. Certification can be renewed every three years by submitting evidence of having completed 45 contact hours of continuing professional education during the period. Most risk managers find this requirement minimal – fewer hours than they would acquire anyway.
The CPHRM Self-Assessment Examination is available for practice.
If taking a test makes you nervous, think about starting with the CPHRM Self-Assessment Examination. This 100-question exercise was designed and constructed to parallel the CPHRM Examination, but administration is different. After registering, a candidate may take the Self-Assessment Examination at home or in the office all at once or spread over 90 days. Feedback about each test item is immediate – not only is the correct answer presented but an explanation is also provided. The cost is $115 for ASHRM members.
A smaller first step is to take the free five-question self-assessment demo through the AHA Certification Center’s Web site.
Visit the AHA Certification Center’s Web site
Comprehensive information and applications for both the CPHRM Examination and the related Self-Assessment Examination are available on the AHA Certification Center’s Web site (http://www.aha.org/certification).
NEW CPHRMS
The Certified Professional in Healthcare Risk Management designation provides a credential that verifies a broad-based knowledge of risk management. Certification elevates professionals in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
Congratulations to recent CPHRM achievers:
Judy Anderson, Tempe, AZ
Nancy Avalone, Cross River, NY
Mariann Carroll, Bethpage, NY
Barbara Laine Cluster, Oxford, OH
Dana L. Garay, Lubbock, TX
Sandra Gorski, Cambridge, MA
Marilyn J. Heger-Guy, Ocean Shores, WA
Kelly Holt, Louisville, KY
Mary Lou Huber, Wheaton, IL
Marc Luis Jacobskind, Hollywood, FL
Leslie Ann King, San Francisco
Peggy Martin, Providence, RI
Michael McCann, Olive Branch, MS
Doris Ann McVey, Phoenix
Jan Morgan, Lubbock, TX
Charles J. Norek, Palo Alto, CA
Kimberly Ohman, Scottsdale, AZ
Mike Personett, Dallas
Patricia S. Phelps, Dearborn, MI
Monica J. Santoro, Westbury, NY
Sandra Lynn Smith, Tampa, FL
John Benjamin Smither III, Louisville, KY
Sheila M. Stieritz, Abington, PA
Lynne W. Trent, Austin, TX
Linda S. Wagner, Standish, CA
Merill Ann Weinstein, Gulfport, FL
Andrea Westfall, Spencer, WV
Paula M. White, St. Charles, IL
Tammy Willis, Glendale, AZ
Gloria B. Ybarra, Greeley, CO
The CPHRM designation is awarded based on participants meeting eligibility requirements and passing an examination.
For details about the designation, download the CPHRM Candidate Handbook from the AHA Certification Center via www.aha.org/certification or call (312) 422-3715.
Preparing for the CPHRM Exam
* The CPHRM Examination Study Guide (3rd Edition) covers exam content in a flexible format to meet the needs of anyone who has not yet purchased a study guide or does not plan to take a CPHRM Examination Preparation Course. Content was adapted from the Risk Management Handbook for Health Care Organizations (4th Edition). Also, practice tests are included. The study guide is available for purchase at (800) 242-2626; request item 178836.
* An online tool is available for preparing for the CPHRM Exam. Created by the AHA Certification Center (the people who created the exam), the Self-Assessment Exam (SAE) simulates the actual exam in format and content. The test offers rationales for correct and incorrect options, as well as several score reports that highlight the exam topics that they scored well in and those that need improvement. For details about the SAE, contact the AHA Certification Center at (312) 422-3713.
Application, test appointment can be done online
Online application for the Certified Professional in Healthcare Risk Management
(CPHRM) credential allows candidates who pay by credit card to apply for the examination and schedule an appointment to test in one visit. This tool may be used for computer-based testing only.
The steps are easy: 1) visit www.goAMP.com, 2) click on “Candidates,” 3) select the “Healthcare” category, 4) select the “AHA Certification Center” program, 5) select the CPHRM examination application, 6) select “Register for Exam,” 7) log-in as a new user to create a certification profile, and 8) follow the prompts to enter application information, eligibility and payment information, then schedule the exam.
ASHRM UPDATE
Interest Networks provide specialized information
ASHRM’s Patient Safety Interest Network and Risk Financing & Claims Administration Interest Network deliver timely content and resources tailored according to risk managers’ primary needs, whether they are focused on patient safety efforts or on traditional risk management issues of risk financing and claims administration. ASHRM members may choose to supplement their regular ASHRM membership with either or both of the ASHRM Interest Networks for an annual membership fee of $25 for each Interest Network. Join by using the ASHRM membership form and selecting the Interest Network options near the bottom. For details, visit www.ashrm.org, e-mail ashrm@aha.org or call (312) 422-3980.
Learners set their own pace with online risk financing program
Learners can work at their own pace with ASHRM’s online education program, “Risk Financing for Risk Managers.” The program’s first course, “Fundamentals of Health Care Risk Financing,” addresses basic elements of risk financing. It explains how risk financing fits into the risk management process in an easy-to-navigate online environment with pre- and post-tests, examples of real-world risk financing situations, definition of terms, sample documents and more. The fee is $99. For program details, visit www.carelearning.com. Click on “Courses,” then select the Risk Management category. Payments must be made by credit card to CareLearning, not to ASHRM. Call ASHRM with questions at (312) 422-3980. This program is qualified for 1.2 contact hours of continuing education credit toward ASHRM designations of FASHRM (Fellow) and DFASHRM (Distinguished Fellow) and CPHRM renewal (Type Code: 3; Content Code: 3).
Audio conference examines ethics and risk management
Risk managers serve their institutions as well as patients, and therefore may be well advised to take an active role in the formulation of ethical policies and deliberations at their facilities. One way to do this is through membership on ethics committees. In ASHRM’s April 11 audio conference, “The Intersection of Ethics and Risk Management: Practical Considerations,” risk managers who serve on ethics committees shared their first-hand insights. The program also covered ASHRM’s Code of Professional Ethics and Conduct. To purchase a CD recording of the program, visit the Education section’s Audio Conferences Web page. (Note to those working toward the Certified Professional in Healthcare Risk Management designation: Ethics content is included in the CPHRM exam.)
ASHRM’s 2006 advocacy agenda posted on the Web
Advocacy is a key goal in ASHRM’s strategic plan. The design and implementation of a responsive advocacy agenda can help support ASHRM’s vision, mission and members. To review this year’s agenda, visit the Resources section, Advocacy page at www.ashrm.org/advocacy.
Adjustments help ensure delivery of e-News
ASHRM’s weekly e-News is a popular benefit of membership and the easiest way to stay up-to-date on risk management news, members-only products and program discounts, information on educational offerings, and more. As long as ASHRM has a current e-mail address (which members can confirm by checking the online Member Directory at www.ashrm.org), e-News is delivered to the e-mail server for that address every Friday. Increased e-mail security, however, may prevent some members from receiving this service. Members who are not receiving e-News may contact ashrm@aha.org or (312) 422-3985 for assistance.
ON THE MOVE
Monica C. Berry, BSN, JD, DFASHRM, CPHRM, to director, Patient Safety & Risk Management Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood, IL.
Michelle Hoppes, RN, MS, AHRMQR, DFASHRM, to chief executive officer, Patient Safety and Risk Solutions, Auburn, CA.
John C. West, JD, MHA, DFASHRM, to clinical risk management and patient safety specialist, Risk Management and Patient Safety Institute, based in Chattanooga, TN.
Make sure your peers know where to find you now. Send notices for On the Move to ashrm@aha.org. Member contact details may be found in the ASHRM member directory at www.ashrm.org.
