CPHIMS Cheat Sheet 2026

The 30 highest-yield CPHIMS facts, distilled from real exam questions. Print it, save it as a PDF, or study it here — free, no sign-up.

1. A new CMIO and CIO have conflicting visions for the EHR optimization roadmap. What is the MOST effective resolution strategy? → Co-develop a unified roadmap prioritized by patient care and operational outcomes
2. Which of the following BEST describes the role of a clinical informatics professional during system downtime? → Ensure downtime procedures are in place, practiced, and support safe patient care
3. An IT leader notices that two departments have conflicting priorities for a shared system upgrade. What is the BEST approach? → Facilitate a structured negotiation aligned to organizational priorities
4. A healthcare organization's IT governance model should prioritize which principle when approving new technology investments? → Alignment with strategic organizational goals
5. In the SDLC, which activity ensures that system documentation remains current after the system goes live? → Maintenance and operations
6. A hospital CIO wants to ensure IT investments deliver measurable value. Which governance practice BEST supports this goal? → Establishing a portfolio management process with defined metrics
7. What does 'audit logging' primarily provide in a healthcare information security context? → A record of who accessed or modified patient data and when
8. In the SDLC, 'scope creep' refers to? → Unauthorized expansion of project requirements
9. In a healthcare data governance program, a 'data steward' is PRIMARILY responsible for: → Managing the quality, definitions, and appropriate use of data within a specific domain
10. Which encryption standard is currently recommended by NIST for protecting data at rest in healthcare systems? → AES-128 or AES-256
11. Which post-implementation evaluation method collects structured feedback from end users about system performance and satisfaction? → User satisfaction surveys
12. A hospital performs a vulnerability scan and discovers an unpatched operating system on a workstation accessing the EHR. What is the BEST immediate action? → Isolate the workstation from the network and apply the security patch promptly
13. The primary goal of computerized physician order entry (CPOE) in clinical settings is to: → Reduce medication errors caused by illegible handwriting and transcription
14. A CPHIMS professional is asked to justify an infrastructure upgrade. Which document best communicates business value to executive leadership? → Business case with cost-benefit analysis
15. A hospital board asks the CIO to present IT's strategic contribution. Which reporting framework is MOST appropriate? → IT Balanced Scorecard aligned to organizational goals
16. What document formally defines the criteria that must be met before a healthcare IT system transitions from testing to production? → Go-live readiness checklist
17. Which type of testing deliberately pushes a system beyond its normal operational capacity to identify breaking points? → Stress testing
18. Which of the following is a characteristic of a Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) that distinguishes it from an HMO? → Members can see out-of-network providers at higher cost without a referral
19. FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) differs from HL7 v2 primarily because FHIR: → Is based on modern web standards like REST and JSON/XML
20. Which testing phase verifies that the system performs acceptably under expected and peak load conditions? → Performance/load testing
21. Which healthcare data exchange framework uses RESTful APIs and JSON/XML to enable modern, internet-based interoperability between health systems? → HL7 FHIR
22. In the context of the SDLC, what is the primary purpose of a data conversion plan? → To migrate existing data accurately into the new system
23. A project sponsor for an EHR implementation is BEST described as: → The executive who champions the project and provides resources
24. Which of the following best describes 'smoke testing' in healthcare IT system deployment? → A preliminary test to confirm basic functions work before deeper testing begins
25. During system implementation, which activity ensures that data migrated from a legacy system to a new EHR is complete, accurate, and properly formatted? → Data conversion validation
26. Which approach to EHR governance BEST ensures that clinical documentation templates remain clinically relevant and do not contribute to note bloat? → Establishing a formal template review and retirement process with clinical ownership
27. A phishing email tricks a hospital employee into revealing their EHR login credentials. Which type of attack does this represent? → Social engineering
28. When building a healthcare analytics report, stratifying patient outcomes by age, gender, and race PRIMARILY supports: → Health equity analysis to identify and address disparate outcomes
29. Which procurement document is used to solicit proposals from vendors for a hospital's new health information system? → Request for Proposal (RFP)
30. A health system wants to prevent unauthorized USB devices from connecting to clinical workstations. Which control BEST addresses this risk? → Endpoint device control software