CPHQ, CQAUR help advance your career
Scope out both for best match
If you’re not already recognized as a Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality (CPHQ) or don’t hold the Certified in Quality Assurance and Utilization Review (CQAUR) credential, give them serious consideration. They are the two accreditations available to quality assurance and quality improvement professionals, and each can help you get a job and advance your career once there.
The CPHQ is offered by the Healthcare Quality Certification Board (HQCB) of the National Association for Healthcare Quality (NAHQ) in San Gabriel, CA, and the CQAUR is offered by the American Board of Quality Assurance and Utilization Review Physicians (ABQAURP) in Tampa, FL. Choosing which to go for depends upon your eligibility and the certification’s suitability to your professional development.
Examine both carefully, looking at the type of service you deliver or hope to deliver and the type of facility you work for. If all other factors are equal for two applicants, the one holding a credential better-related to the job description will be hired and considered for future advancement.
"J" Luna-Parker, RN, BS, puts both the CPHQ and CQAUR credentials after her name and is the founder of Medical Weight Control, a company in Rancho Cucamonga, CA. "I acquired my CQAUR credential first, before the CPHQ was available. I belonged to NAHQ at the time, but the certification wasn’t available."
Hospital Peer Review asked Luna-Parker which of her two credentials is more valuable when it comes to getting a job or advancing a career. "That’s a double-edged sword. My opinion is that if a nurse interviews for a job with a physician, the ABQAURP certification is more valuable, because doctors are at the helm of that organization. If she interviews, on the other hand, with a director of nursing or another nonphysician professional, that practitioner will favor the CPHQ certification, because RNs administer that board. In the same way, if you routinely report to a physician in your job, his opinion of you is higher if you have the ABQAURP certification. And the CPHQ certification has clout when you’re in a position where you report to an RN or another nonphysician professional. Having both certifications has served me very well."
"The CPHQ is the better known certification and has the broadest appeal," says Julia A. Rieve, RN, BSHCM, CCM, CPHQ, FNAHQ, president of CQI-A Healthcare Management Consulting Services Company of Oakland, CA. "It’s the one nursing professionals focus on. The designation is universal and widely accepted. I run into professionals with the other credential very rarely."
Risk management, financial aspects included
The next HQCB examination for CPHQ accreditation is scheduled for Nov. 8. (See information about the exam, p. 78.) It accurately reflects the continuum of care as well as the different types of positions requiring an understanding of quality. "I see more and more case managers who are responsible for utilization and quality as well as risk management and the financial aspects of care," says Rieve. "Those professionals are seeking the CPHQ certification now."
The content of the all-day CPHQ exam focuses on the history of total quality management. There are questions on:
• utilization review;
• infection control;
• quality leadership;
• quality assessment standards;
• benchmarking;
• plans of care and critical pathways;
• medical staff credentialing and physician profiles;
• organizationwide monitoring and evaluating;
• risk management;
• data management;
• regulatory requirements;
• departmental planning.
Certification helps in getting fellowship
The CPHQ is not required for NAHQ fellowship, but it advances one’s chances of obtaining one of the 14 fellowships in NAHQ. "One of the things the selection board looks at is how well the applicant has advanced himself through the credentialing process," says Rieve, a member of that board.
Each year the NAHQ publishes The Guide to Quality Management, the study book for the CPHQ exam. It is 305 pages, costs $75 for members and $100 for nonmembers, and includes a glossary and sample test questions for each chapter. "The book is well-written," says Rieve, "and can be used for reference far beyond preparation for the exam."
Anyone involved with quality improvement initiatives should consider at least the CPHQ designation. There are currently more than 6,300 CPHQs in the United States. More than a thousand candidates took the exam last November, and 784 passed. (See table on p. 79 for breakdown of exam-takers.)
The CQAUR is a viable alternative, however. The ABQAURP offers the credential to physicians, nurses, and allied health care practitioners, such as lawyers and insurance company executives.
No trouble getting a job’
"The CQAUR exam is rigorous, as is NCQA’s," says Maryann Martin, RN, CQAUR, CEO of Medical Management Development Associates in San Diego. "I acquired my ABQAURP certification in 1981. At that time, it was the only certification there was for quality assurance and utilization review. After I received my CQAUR certificate, I had no trouble getting a job."
Anne Lane, RN, education director of ABQAURP, says the board has been in operation since 1977. "We have about 7,000 certified physicians, nurses, and other health professionals in quality assurance/utilization review and risk management. Most of the HMOs are requiring the CQAUR of their top-level officials."
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