by Dianne Baker, CPHIMS, Board Member and Chairperson - Marketing and Communications

In 2015, our Southern California Board established a new Professional Development Committee and outlined several objectives to facilitate professional advancement for our Members.  In alignment with the HIMSS National professional development initiatives, our Chapter Board also set a goal to support and expand the professional certification of our Chapter Members.

In November, our HIMSS SoCal Chapter hosted full-day CPHIMS and CAHIMS Review Courses at National University in Costa Mesa. The events generated significant interest and we had oversold events with many members on a waiting list to attend. 

The HIMSS National organization offers two Healthcare Information & Management Systems professional certifications at the Certified Associate level (CAHIMS) and Certified Professional level (CPHIMS). The CAHIMS is geared toward mid-level healthcare IT professionals with less than five years of experience, working as systems analysts, IT/IS managers, and IT/IS consultants, as well as nurses and senior staff. Candidates must have fundamental knowledge of organizational and technical environments, and be able to analyze, design, select, implement, support, maintain, and test healthcare information systems (ISs). They must also know how to protect privacy and manage security, manage vendor relationships, and support management and teams.

The next step in the career pathway is the CPHIMS, which recognizes seasoned professionals in healthcare IT. This certification covers many of the same topics as the CAHIMS but emphasizes analysis, management, and leadership skills. Passing the CPHIMS examination demonstrates mastery of a well-defined body of knowledge considered important to competent practice in today's healthcare information and management systems field. CPHIMS-certified professionals have met the highest standards of practice and are among the elite in a critical field of healthcare management. CPHIMS certification is fast becoming an industry standard by which individuals are assessed for new positions or promotion.

Although still a small number, a wide range of professionals currently hold CPHIMS certification with nearly 30 percent of certification holders being CIOs or directors or VPs of IT/IS. Our Southern California Chapter currently ranks #6!  To learn more about the CPHIMS certification and current Statistics, please visit CPHIMS By The Numbers on the HIMSS National website.

The CPHIMS training session and examination was led by our local chapter certified CPHIMS/CAHIMS review course trainers - James Brady and Sam King, both Past Chapter Presidents. Sam is now Senior Director of Professional Development at HIMSS National. Sam and Jim led an engaging, educational and at times, even entertaining, review of the course materials in preparation for the afternoon’s exam. Of the 33 members registered for the CPHIMS review, 27 attendees took the exam with 25 Chapter members passing and achieving their CPHIMS credentials! Of the 12 members registered for the CAHIMS review, 12 attendees took the exam with 10 Chapter members passing and achieving their CAHIMS credentials!

Our Chapter now has 110 CPHIMS Certified and 24 CAHIMS certified members. Our growing list of credentialed members can be found find on our website at Fellowship and CPHIMS. We are proud of this important achievement by our members and there will be a special presentation to newly credentialed members at our upcoming Annual Healthcare IT Conference on January 26^th at UCLA. 

To support additional Members in attaining their Certifications, our Chapter is planning future CAHIMS and CPHIMS sessions. More information may be found on our website at Events & Education.

We encourage our members to take advantage of these local opportunities to engage and advance your professional development!

Sam King, Sri Bharadwaj, and James Brady, teaching the CAHIMS and CPHIMS Review Courses in November, 2015.

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