CPHRM CPHRM 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which legal theory holds a hospital liable for negligent acts of independent contractor physicians based on the patient's reasonable belief that the physician was a hospital employee?
- Ostensible agency (apparent authority) (Correct answer)
- Respondeat superior
- Corporate negligence
- Vicarious liability
Correct answer: Ostensible agency (apparent authority)
Ostensible agency holds hospitals liable when patients reasonably believe an independent contractor physician is a hospital employee, typically due to hospital representations.
Question 2: A risk manager reviewing a workers' compensation program notices a high frequency of low-severity musculoskeletal injuries among nursing staff. The BEST first response is to:
- Conduct an ergonomic assessment and implement a safe patient handling program (Correct answer)
- Increase workers' compensation insurance coverage limits
- Terminate employees with repeated injury claims
- Transfer all nursing staff to sedentary administrative roles
Correct answer: Conduct an ergonomic assessment and implement a safe patient handling program
Ergonomic assessment and safe patient handling programs directly address the root cause of musculoskeletal injuries common among nursing staff.
Question 3: Under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), a hospital with an emergency department must:
- Provide a medical screening examination to anyone who presents regardless of ability to pay (Correct answer)
- Transfer all uninsured patients to public hospitals immediately
- Notify the patient's insurer before initiating emergency treatment
- Obtain a deposit before performing a medical screening exam
Correct answer: Provide a medical screening examination to anyone who presents regardless of ability to pay
EMTALA mandates that covered hospitals provide a medical screening examination to all individuals presenting to the ED regardless of their financial status.
Question 4: Which component of the risk management process involves assigning likelihood and impact scores to identified risks?
- Risk analysis (Correct answer)
- Risk identification
- Risk treatment
- Risk monitoring
Correct answer: Risk analysis
Risk analysis evaluates identified risks by estimating their probability and potential severity of impact, often producing a risk score or rating.
Question 5: A hospital implements a rapid response team (RRT) primarily to address which patient safety risk?
- Failure to rescue deteriorating patients before cardiac or respiratory arrest (Correct answer)
- Delays in surgical case scheduling
- Medication reconciliation errors at discharge
- Healthcare-associated infection transmission
Correct answer: Failure to rescue deteriorating patients before cardiac or respiratory arrest
RRTs are designed to identify and intervene on clinically deteriorating patients early, preventing failure-to-rescue outcomes such as cardiac arrest.
Question 6: The National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) requires healthcare entities to report:
- Medical malpractice payments made on behalf of a licensed healthcare practitioner (Correct answer)
- All patient complaints filed against physicians
- Adverse events meeting sentinel event criteria
- HIPAA breaches affecting more than 500 patients
Correct answer: Medical malpractice payments made on behalf of a licensed healthcare practitioner
Federal law mandates that entities making malpractice payments on behalf of practitioners report those payments to the NPDB.
Question 7: A risk manager quantifies the 'pure premium' for a self-insured retention layer. Pure premium is calculated as:
- Total incurred losses divided by the number of exposure units (Correct answer)
- Total premium paid minus administrative expenses
- Expected loss ratio multiplied by reinsurance limit
- Frequency rate times average severity per claim
Correct answer: Total incurred losses divided by the number of exposure units
Pure premium represents the actuarial cost of losses per unit of exposure, calculated by dividing total incurred losses by exposure units.
CPHRM CPHRM 4
Which legal theory holds a hospital liable for negligent acts of independent contractor physicians based on the patient's reasonable belief that the physician was a hospital employee?