CHAP Healthcare Operations & Management 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which staffing model assigns a fixed number of nursing staff regardless of patient census fluctuations?
- Fixed staffing (Correct answer)
- Flexible staffing
- Float pool staffing
- Agency staffing
Correct answer: Fixed staffing
Fixed staffing maintains a constant number of staff regardless of patient volume, which can be inefficient during low-census periods.
Question 2: A healthcare administrator reviews the accounts receivable aging report and finds 45% of balances are over 90 days old. This primarily indicates a problem with:
- Patient satisfaction
- Revenue cycle management (Correct answer)
- Clinical quality
- Staff scheduling
Correct answer: Revenue cycle management
High percentages of aged receivables signal breakdowns in billing, collections, or denial management within the revenue cycle.
Question 3: Under the Stark Law, which of the following physician referral arrangements is generally prohibited?
- Referrals to independent labs with no financial relationship
- Referrals to an entity in which the physician has an ownership interest (Correct answer)
- Referrals for Medicare-covered services to non-profit hospitals
- Referrals to specialists in the same medical group
Correct answer: Referrals to an entity in which the physician has an ownership interest
The Stark Law prohibits physicians from referring Medicare/Medicaid patients to entities where the physician or immediate family member has a financial relationship, unless an exception applies.
Question 4: A hospital's case mix index (CMI) increased from 1.45 to 1.62 over one year. What does this most likely indicate?
- Fewer patients were treated
- The hospital is treating more complex or resource-intensive patients (Correct answer)
- Reimbursement rates decreased
- Outpatient volume increased
Correct answer: The hospital is treating more complex or resource-intensive patients
A rising CMI indicates the facility is treating patients with higher acuity and complexity, which typically results in higher reimbursement under DRG-based payment systems.
Question 5: Which scheduling approach is most appropriate for a physician practice with highly variable same-day appointment demand?
- Wave scheduling
- Double-booking
- Open-access scheduling (Correct answer)
- Cluster scheduling
Correct answer: Open-access scheduling
Open-access scheduling reserves slots for same-day appointments, reducing patient wait times and accommodating unpredictable demand.
Question 6: What is the primary purpose of a charge description master (CDM)?
- Track patient diagnoses
- List all billable services and their associated charges and codes (Correct answer)
- Manage physician credentialing
- Monitor infection control outcomes
Correct answer: List all billable services and their associated charges and codes
The CDM (chargemaster) is a comprehensive list of all services, supplies, and procedures that a facility bills, along with associated charges and billing codes.
Question 7: A healthcare manager wants to reduce patient wait times in the emergency department. Which process improvement tool would best help identify and eliminate non-value-added steps?
- SWOT analysis
- Value stream mapping (Correct answer)
- Balanced scorecard
- Fishbone diagram
Correct answer: Value stream mapping
Value stream mapping visualizes the entire patient care process to identify bottlenecks and waste, making it ideal for streamlining ED workflows.
CHAP Healthcare Operations & Management 2
Which staffing model assigns a fixed number of nursing staff regardless of patient census fluctuations?