10 free, exam-style Certified Professional in Health Care Risk Management (CPHRM) practice questions with answers and explanations. No signup required. Work through them below, then take the full free CPHRM practice test to study every exam domain.
A nurse on a busy med-surg unit has been bypassing the barcode scanning step during medication administration to save time. Other nurses on the unit have admitted to doing the same when the unit is short-staffed. No patient harm has occurred. Applying Just Culture principles, the MOST appropriate initial response is to:
Correct answer: B - Coach the nurse and address the system pressures that incentivized the workaround
Dr. Patel is retiring after 25 years of practice and her current claims-made professional liability policy will terminate on her retirement date. To protect her against future malpractice claims arising from care she provided during her career, she should obtain:
Correct answer: C - Extended Reporting Period (tail) coverage
A medical malpractice claim against Dr. Chen is settled for $7,500 paid by the hospital's insurer on Dr. Chen's behalf. The hospital's risk manager believes the settlement was made for nuisance value and that Dr. Chen committed no negligence. Regarding National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) reporting, the hospital must:
Correct answer: C - Report the payment within 30 days, as any payment made on a practitioner's behalf is reportable
A plaintiff's attorney serves a subpoena duces tecum on the medical records department requesting the complete medical record of a patient who is suing a competing physician. The subpoena is signed by the attorney, not by a judge, and is not accompanied by a patient authorization or notice that the patient has been informed. The records custodian's MOST appropriate action is to:
Correct answer: B - Decline to produce the records and require either patient authorization, satisfactory assurances of patient notice, a qualified protective order, or a court order
During a surgical procedure, a sponge count is incorrect at closure. The surgical team performs an immediate intraoperative X-ray, locates the retained sponge, and removes it before the patient leaves the OR. The patient experiences no clinical consequences. Under The Joint Commission's definition, this event:
Correct answer: B - Does not meet the definition of a sentinel event because the event did not reach the patient in a way causing death, permanent harm, or severe temporary harm requiring intervention to sustain life
A 34-year-old uninsured patient presents to the emergency department reporting severe chest pain. The triage nurse asks the on-call cardiologist to come in for evaluation. The cardiologist refuses, stating that the patient should be transferred to the county hospital because she 'doesn't take charity cases' and her partner will be on call tomorrow. Which federal law has MOST clearly been implicated by the cardiologist's refusal?
Correct answer: B - The Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA)
A hospital's board of trustees is being sued by a group of former employees who allege that the trustees, acting in their governance capacity, made misrepresentations during a recent restructuring that caused financial harm to the employees' retirement plans. To respond to this claim, the hospital should look PRIMARILY to which line of insurance coverage?
Correct answer: C - Directors' and Officers' Liability Insurance (D&O)
Following an unexpected patient death, the risk manager submits an incident report into the hospital's Patient Safety Evaluation System (PSES) for subsequent reporting to the hospital's contracted Patient Safety Organization (PSO). Six months later, the patient's family files a wrongful death suit and their attorney serves a discovery request for the incident report. Federal Patient Safety Work Product (PSWP) privilege under PSQIA is MOST likely to protect this incident report from discovery if:
Correct answer: B - The information was collected, maintained, or developed for reporting to the PSO and was not also maintained separately for an external mandatory reporting obligation
A defective infusion pump malfunctions during a chemotherapy infusion, contributing to a patient's death. The hospital has identified the device manufacturer. Under the Safe Medical Devices Act (SMDA), the hospital must report this event:
Correct answer: C - To both the device manufacturer AND the FDA, within 10 work days of becoming aware of the event
A risk manager learns that an employee in the billing department accessed the electronic medical records of 612 patients without any work-related justification over a six-month period, viewing demographic information, diagnoses, and insurance details. After conducting a HIPAA breach risk assessment, the hospital concludes that the four-factor analysis does not demonstrate a low probability of compromise. The hospital's notification obligations include:
Correct answer: B - Notifying the affected individuals and HHS within 60 days, and notifying prominent media outlets serving the affected jurisdiction
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