CPHQ Assessment 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which type of assessment is performed BEFORE implementing a new clinical process to proactively identify potential failure points?
- Root cause analysis (RCA)
- Failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) (Correct answer)
- Sentinel event review
- Utilization review
Correct answer: Failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA)
FMEA is a prospective risk assessment tool used proactively before a process is implemented to identify potential failure modes and their effects.
Question 2: When assessing data reliability in a quality measurement project, 'inter-rater reliability' measures:
- How consistently the same rater scores over time
- How consistently different raters assign the same scores (Correct answer)
- Whether the instrument measures what it intends to measure
- Whether results can be generalized to the population
Correct answer: How consistently different raters assign the same scores
Inter-rater reliability measures the degree to which two or more independent raters agree when evaluating the same data or observations.
Question 3: A quality director reviews readmission data stratified by race and ethnicity. This assessment practice is BEST described as:
- Benchmarking
- Health equity assessment (Correct answer)
- Utilization management
- Risk stratification
Correct answer: Health equity assessment
Stratifying quality metrics by race and ethnicity is a core component of health equity assessment to identify disparities in outcomes across patient populations.
Question 4: In assessment methodology, a Likert scale instrument is MOST appropriate for measuring:
- Length of hospital stay in days
- Patient attitudes and perceptions (Correct answer)
- Laboratory numeric results
- Binary yes/no compliance
Correct answer: Patient attitudes and perceptions
Likert scales are designed to capture attitudes, opinions, and perceptions along an ordered response continuum, making them ideal for patient experience assessments.
Question 5: Which assessment framework uses the domains of Structure, Process, and Outcome to evaluate healthcare quality?
- PDSA cycle
- Donabedian model (Correct answer)
- Six Sigma DMAIC
- Baldrige framework
Correct answer: Donabedian model
The Donabedian model, foundational in healthcare quality, organizes quality assessment into three domains: structure (resources), process (care delivery), and outcome (results).
Question 6: A quality team uses a tracer methodology during accreditation preparation. What does this assessment approach involve?
- Tracing medication costs through the supply chain
- Following a patient's care experience across the organization to evaluate system performance (Correct answer)
- Tracking staff credentials through HR files
- Monitoring laboratory specimens from collection to result
Correct answer: Following a patient's care experience across the organization to evaluate system performance
Tracer methodology, used by The Joint Commission, follows an individual patient's care journey across departments to evaluate how systems and processes interact.
Question 7: When assessing the validity of a quality indicator, 'face validity' means:
- The measure correlates with a gold standard criterion
- The measure appears to assess what it intends to at face value to subject matter experts (Correct answer)
- The measure produces consistent results over time
- The measure predicts future outcomes accurately
Correct answer: The measure appears to assess what it intends to at face value to subject matter experts
Face validity is the most basic form of validity — it reflects whether a measure appears, on its surface, to assess the intended concept to knowledgeable reviewers.
CPHQ Assessment 3
Which type of assessment is performed BEFORE implementing a new clinical process to proactively identify potential failure points?