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Beyond Traditional Credentials

Innovative Pathways to Professional Voluntary Certification

Friday, October 27, 2023
10:15 AM – 11:15 AM MT
Location: Broadmoor Hall E

    Main Contact/Presenter(s)

  • Mike Niederpruem

    Vice President, Certifications
    AHIMA | American Health Information Management Association, Illinois, United States

    • Presenter(s)

  • Mary Rehm, ICE-CCP, CAE

    Certification Consultant
    Rehm Partners LLC
    North Branch, Minnesota, United States

Learn how one certification program is introducing a norms-referenced examination as an additional pathway to become credentialed in health information management.

In 2022, AHIMA explored additional pathways to its Registered Health Information Administrator (RHIA®) certification program as a means to support the growing needs in industry to fill open roles.

Eligibility requirements for the RHIA include the successful completion of a baccalaureate-level program accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education (CAHIIM). Program directors from the academic programs sought a norms-referenced exam that would allow them to better track their students’ predictive success on the certification program.

To fill both the needs of the industry and the academic programs, AHIMA studied ways in which norm-referenced and criterion-referenced exam programs could be developed and linked and provide additional pathways to certification.

Learning Objectives:

  • Describe the governance and policy implications involved with introducing a norm-referenced assessment in conjunction with a professional certification program.
  • Describe the design elements to consider when developing a norm-referenced assessment for the purpose of certification.
  • Describe how to collect stakeholder feedback and engagement in developing programs that are intended to meet specific needs of employers and academic programs as part of a certification program.
  • Design a norm-referenced assessment that links to a criterion-referenced exam program to allow for a predictive measure for examinees, and a possible additional path to certification.
  • Plan a standard setting process that is appropriate for setting performance levels in a norm-referenced assessment while indicating the cut score for a predictive “pass” mark on a certification exam, and the risks involved with this process.