Having achieved CompTIA Healthcare IT Technician status, I’m looking at the possibilities of identifying another healthcare information certificate or certification.  Research led me to an article authored by Ed Tittel, a familiar name in the ranks of certification authors, titled “Top 5 IT Certifications in Healthcare.”  Along with CompTIA’s Healthcare IT Technician, he identifies the Certified Professional in Health Information Technology (CPHIT) as a certification worth considering.  Like CompTIA’s offering, this certification does not require that you take a course in order to become certified.  For those “cost conscious” people like me seeking certifications, not having that requirement is a good thing since it enables me to “self-study” and still obtain certifications.

The certification was created by Health IT Certification, LLC.  According to information provided on its website, the “certification process has been developed by a team of both knowledgeable experts, as well those with a background in psychometrics, to ensure that the certification process is valid and role-based.”  If the exam that I took after taking their free “Mini-Course on the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Program” is an indication of the rigor associated with their CPHIT certification exam, success in passing the exam could be quite a challenge.

I would encourage readers to take this free course and complete the computer based exam at the end of the course.  While barely successful (achieving a score of 72 where 70 is required to pass), I did obtain a “Certificate of Completion” that is suitable (once printed) for framing.

The next step will be for me to determine if there is funding at my College to pay the cost of taking the certification exam.  At a cost of $495 for the exam, plus an annual certification maintenance fee of $100, I have serious doubts as to whether funding is available given the State of California budget crisis.  Nevertheless, it doesn’t hurt to ask.  If the answer is “yes,” then I’ll have to deal with another issue.  That is the apparent lack of curriculum for self-study.