CPHRM CPHRM 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which healthcare risk management strategy involves transferring risk to a third party through contractual indemnification and hold-harmless agreements?
- Contractual risk transfer (Correct answer)
- Risk avoidance
- Risk retention
- Loss prevention
Correct answer: Contractual risk transfer
Contractual risk transfer shifts financial responsibility for losses to another party—such as a vendor or contractor—through indemnification clauses.
Question 2: A patient safety officer proposes adopting a 'just culture' model. This model primarily distinguishes between:
- Human error, at-risk behavior, and reckless behavior when determining accountability (Correct answer)
- Licensed and unlicensed personnel for disciplinary purposes
- Clinical and administrative staff in incident reporting
- Intentional harm and accidental harm for criminal prosecution
Correct answer: Human error, at-risk behavior, and reckless behavior when determining accountability
Just culture differentiates three behavioral categories—human error, at-risk behavior, and reckless behavior—to apply appropriate accountability and system responses.
Question 3: The 'duty to warn' obligation for mental health providers most directly conflicts with which other professional obligation?
- Patient confidentiality (Correct answer)
- Mandatory reporting of child abuse
- Informed consent requirements
- Duty to provide emergency care
Correct answer: Patient confidentiality
The Tarasoff duty to warn identifiable third parties of serious threats creates direct tension with the provider's obligation to maintain patient confidentiality.
Question 4: Which accreditation standard requires hospitals to maintain a written policy for identifying and resolving conflicts of interest among leadership?
- Joint Commission Leadership standards (LD) (Correct answer)
- CMS Conditions of Participation — Medical Staff
- HIPAA Security Rule administrative safeguards
- OSHA bloodborne pathogen standard
Correct answer: Joint Commission Leadership standards (LD)
TJC Leadership chapter standards require organizations to have processes identifying and managing conflicts of interest among governing board members and executives.
Question 5: An 'incurred but not reported' (IBNR) reserve is established to account for:
- Losses that have occurred but have not yet been reported as claims (Correct answer)
- Claims currently in litigation awaiting trial
- Losses paid during the current policy year
- Premiums collected but not yet earned by the insurer
Correct answer: Losses that have occurred but have not yet been reported as claims
IBNR reserves fund the anticipated cost of incidents that have already occurred but have not yet been reported to the risk department or insurer.
Question 6: A credentialing coordinator must re-verify practitioner credentials at least every how many years under Joint Commission standards?
- 2 years (Correct answer)
- 1 year
- 3 years
- 5 years
Correct answer: 2 years
TJC Medical Staff standards require re-credentialing and re-privileging of practitioners at least every two years.
Question 7: Which risk treatment option is MOST appropriate when a healthcare service carries extremely high liability exposure and cannot be adequately controlled through mitigation?
- Risk avoidance by discontinuing the service (Correct answer)
- Risk retention through a captive insurer
- Risk transfer to a fronting carrier
- Loss reduction through clinical protocols
Correct answer: Risk avoidance by discontinuing the service
When a service presents unacceptable risk that cannot be sufficiently mitigated or transferred, risk avoidance—ceasing the activity—eliminates the exposure entirely.
CPHRM CPHRM 5
Which healthcare risk management strategy involves transferring risk to a third party through contractual indemnification and hold-harmless agreements?