CMM Healthcare Information Systems 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which federal law primarily governs the privacy and security of electronic protected health information (ePHI) in the United States?
- HITECH Act
- HIPAA (Correct answer)
- ACA
- MACRA
Correct answer: HIPAA
HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) establishes national standards for protecting PHI, including ePHI.
Question 2: In an EHR system, a 'problem list' is best described as:
- A list of all medications the patient is taking
- A chronological log of patient encounters
- An ongoing record of a patient's active and inactive diagnoses (Correct answer)
- A list of pending laboratory orders
Correct answer: An ongoing record of a patient's active and inactive diagnoses
A problem list is a core EHR component that tracks a patient's active, inactive, and resolved health conditions over time.
Question 3: What does the term 'interoperability' mean in the context of healthcare IT?
- The ability of a system to recover from downtime
- The capacity of different systems to exchange and use health information (Correct answer)
- The process of encrypting patient data at rest
- The ability to run multiple applications on one server
Correct answer: The capacity of different systems to exchange and use health information
Interoperability refers to the ability of different HIS platforms to share, interpret, and use electronic health data seamlessly.
Question 4: A medical practice wants to submit claims electronically to payers. Which standard transaction format is required under HIPAA?
- HL7 FHIR
- X12 837 (Correct answer)
- SNOMED CT
- ICD-10-CM
Correct answer: X12 837
The X12 837 transaction set is the HIPAA-mandated standard for submitting electronic healthcare claims to insurance payers.
Question 5: Which of the following best describes a 'health information exchange' (HIE)?
- A software module that manages appointment scheduling
- An organization that enables sharing of patient health information across facilities (Correct answer)
- A federal clearinghouse for Medicare claims
- A database that stores only lab results
Correct answer: An organization that enables sharing of patient health information across facilities
An HIE is an organization or platform that facilitates the electronic sharing of clinical data among healthcare providers, payers, and patients.
Question 6: Which cybersecurity practice involves giving users only the minimum system access necessary to perform their job duties?
- Multi-factor authentication
- Role-based access control
- Least privilege principle (Correct answer)
- Data masking
Correct answer: Least privilege principle
The least privilege principle restricts user access rights to only what is strictly required for their role, reducing security risk.
Question 7: When implementing a new EHR system, which strategy involves running the old and new systems simultaneously for a period to ensure reliability?
- Big bang implementation
- Phased rollout
- Parallel conversion (Correct answer)
- Pilot testing
Correct answer: Parallel conversion
Parallel conversion runs both the legacy and new systems concurrently, allowing comparison and reducing risk during the transition period.
CMM Healthcare Information Systems 2
Which federal law primarily governs the privacy and security of electronic protected health information (ePHI) in the United States?