Foundation Insight: Hospital Executive Helps Shape CFCHE Certification with CIOs’ Needs in Mind
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7.18.17 By Candace Stuart, Director of Communications & Public Relations |
CFCHE program details at chimecentral.org/cfche
Pamela Banchy knows a thing or two about professional certifications. Banchy, CIO and vice president of clinical informatics at Western Reserve Hospital in Cuyahoga Falls, OH, holds three certifications, including the CHIME Certified Healthcare CIO (CHCIO) designation she earned about two years ago. Her experience made her an ideal contributor to the preparation of a similar exam for CHIME Foundation members.
“I know what goes into achieving CFCHE,” she said, referring to the newly launched CHIME Foundation Certified Healthcare Executive program. Attributes like a passion for the industry. Initiative. Leadership. Superb knowledge. Outstanding professional and organizational skills. “Certification tells me that you have gone above and beyond.”
CFCHE is modeled after CHIME’s CHCIO initiative but is specifically geared to assess the knowledge of an experienced healthcare IT industry employee. Banchy and four other CHIME CIO advisors, along with several CHIME Foundation member representatives, developed the exam to test for the kind of deep healthcare IT knowledge that CIOs want from industry partners. The exam uses the same standards, item writing protocols, validation and reviewing processes as the CHCIO exam. It consists of 100 multiple choice questions, including scenario-based and independent questions.
As a CIO who has gone through the CHCIO experience, Banchy said she will view industry representatives who earned a CFCHE in a different light compared with their peers. “In a way, (CFCHE) is complementary,” she said. Whether for CIOs or industry representatives, the CHIME certification process sets a high bar for exam takers and assesses not just knowledge but the ability to apply that knowledge in the context of healthcare. When faced with some of healthcare IT’s thorny problems, those who pass the exam will have a deep well from which to draw solutions.
“They will have something different to offer me as a consumer,” Banchy said of CFCHE-designated representatives. She expects certified representatives will be aware of the challenges a CIO faces and be a collaborator as they work through those challenges. “I would reach out to someone who had certification.”
The CHIME Foundation launched the CFCHE program June 23. The exam will be offered at CHIME in-person events, and will make its debut Sept. 15 at the second annual CHIME Partner Education Summit (CPES17) in Chicago. It also will be available at local Kryterion testing centers across the country, beginning in August.
More information on eligibility requirements is available here. To register, click here.