I Want To Find Out If I'm More Than Just Certifiable!

Besides, why would anyone choose to devalue his or her future recruitment, retention or engagement opportunities, wherever they may occur, just because an otherwise highly-qualified healthcare finance professional is afraid to take a simple test?

THE POWER OF FIVE

Can you get all five of the following questions right? If you can, then you are more than Certifiable. What's more, your can find out if you're more than Certifiable in as little as 5 minutes. Based on the respective syllabi and Self-Study Guides through 2008, just these 5 questions represented the following proportions on the following HFMA certification exams:

• Core Examination = 27%
• Accounting & Finance Specialty Examination = 72%
• Managed Care Specialty Examination = 45%
• Patient Financial Services Specialty Examination = 31%
• Physician Practice Management Specialty Examination = 36%

This shows just how much overlap there is between the Core and specialty exams, which is why you should take both the Core and a specialty exam at the same sitting, especially if you work in one of these 4 settings. If you are a generalist in healthcare finance, and especially if you're a CPA or MBA candidate, consider taking the A&F exam at the same time that you take CORE.

New for 2009-2010 will be one or two additional certification readiness self-tests in each of the specialty areas, starting with Managed Care, PFS and Physician Practice Management. A self-test for Accounting & Finance will come later; for the time being, however, if you find the financial content of CORE easy, then passing the A&F exam will not be that much harder.

Even if you fail one or both the first time out (and many of us do), be sure you've left yourself enough time to retake any failed exams by 12/31/10. It is unlikely that such generous overlaps among these 5 questions will remain to this extent starting on tests commencing 1/1/11; however, the amount of overlap also suggests that these 5 questions will remain good barometers of being more than just certifiable for quite some time in the future./P>

Each of the five questions is asked one at a time. Click the hyperlink of the answer you feel best addresses the question asked; each question has only one right answer and three distractors. Be aware that, from a psychometric benchmarking standpoint, a true distractor cannot be too similar to the correct answer, because it throws off RPB statistics. What you need to know is that each question's 3 distractors are not intended to confuse you or to be partially correct -- they're simply intended to distract you from selecting the correct answer. Therefore, do not over-analyze any single question; if you know the content area, let your experience be your guide, as the correct answer to every question should be easy to spot.

To make it easier for the question-writer, don?t attempt the same question more than twice. If you can?t get the question right from your two best answers, you obviously don?t know that concept, and by all means THEN you should crack the books. The chapter references for the respective 2007-08 Self-Study Guides are provided for your convenience after each incorrect answer. (Note that chapter numbering for these generalized questions will likely change slightly from cycle to cycle, but will always be covered in the respective Guides.) This is also a general test-taking strategy: don?t attempt to answer any question that you can?t narrow down to your two best guesses; rather, go to the next question on your test and come back to it later, where perhaps other exam questions [known as question stems] or their possible answers [both the correct answer and its distractors] may provide a clue for the stuck question(s).

And if you don?t know the answers, it doesn?t matter. It?s only 5 questions.

Your responses will be kept confidential and will not be shared with anyone except on a non-identifiable, aggregate basis. If you?re ready to start, click the link below. Good luck!