MHA Master of Healthcare Administration MCQ 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A hospital's case mix index (CMI) increased from 1.4 to 1.6 over one year. This change most likely indicates:
- The hospital is treating less complex patients
- The hospital is treating more complex or resource-intensive patients (Correct answer)
- Nursing staff levels decreased
- Outpatient volumes increased
Correct answer: The hospital is treating more complex or resource-intensive patients
A higher CMI reflects a greater proportion of complex, high-acuity cases, which generally leads to higher reimbursement under DRG-based payment.
Question 2: The primary purpose of a Certificate of Need (CON) program is to:
- License individual healthcare practitioners
- Control healthcare costs by regulating capital expenditures and facility expansions (Correct answer)
- Certify hospital compliance with infection control standards
- Authorize Medicare participation
Correct answer: Control healthcare costs by regulating capital expenditures and facility expansions
CON programs require state approval before hospitals can add beds or services, aiming to prevent duplication and control costs.
Question 3: Which leadership theory suggests that effective leaders adapt their style based on the readiness and maturity level of their followers?
- Transformational leadership
- Transactional leadership
- Situational leadership (Correct answer)
- Servant leadership
Correct answer: Situational leadership
Situational leadership theory (Hersey & Blanchard) holds that no single leadership style is best; leaders adjust based on follower development level.
Question 4: Under HIPAA, which type of information is classified as Protected Health Information (PHI)?
- Aggregate de-identified statistics
- Patient name combined with diagnosis (Correct answer)
- Anonymous survey responses
- General public health statistics
Correct answer: Patient name combined with diagnosis
PHI includes individually identifiable health information such as a patient's name paired with a medical condition.
Question 5: A health system wants to reduce 30-day readmission rates for heart failure patients. The MOST evidence-based intervention is:
- Increasing ICU bed capacity
- Implementing structured discharge planning with post-discharge follow-up calls (Correct answer)
- Hiring additional hospitalists
- Switching to a capitation payment model
Correct answer: Implementing structured discharge planning with post-discharge follow-up calls
Structured discharge planning combined with telephonic post-discharge follow-up is consistently shown to reduce heart failure readmissions.
Question 6: In healthcare strategic planning, a SWOT analysis examines:
- Staffing, Workflows, Outcomes, and Technology
- Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (Correct answer)
- Systems, Workflows, Operations, and Throughput
- Safety, Workforce, Objectives, and Targets
Correct answer: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats
SWOT analysis evaluates internal Strengths and Weaknesses alongside external Opportunities and Threats.
Question 7: The concept of 'never events' in healthcare quality refers to:
- Procedures that should never be billed to insurance
- Serious, largely preventable adverse events that should never occur in a healthcare setting (Correct answer)
- Emergency visits that never result in admission
- Clinical trials that were never completed
Correct answer: Serious, largely preventable adverse events that should never occur in a healthcare setting
Never events are serious reportable events—such as wrong-site surgery—that are considered preventable and should not occur.
MHA Master of Healthcare Administration MCQ 3
A hospital's case mix index (CMI) increased from 1.4 to 1.6 over one year.
This change most likely indicates: