DHCA Doctor Exam case studies
DHCA Doctor Exam · Put your knowledge to work in context.
The DHCA Doctor Exam is a professional certification assessment for health care administrators who want to demonstrate doctoral-level command of the field. Candidates typically already hold a graduate degree in health administration, business, public health, or a clinical discipline, and work in hospital leadership, clinic management, health system operations, payer organizations, or population health roles. The exam is structured around eight competency domains: leadership and governance, health policy law and ethics, finance and reimbursement, quality improvement and patient safety, information systems and analytics, strategic planning and operations, human resources and organizational behavior, and population health management. Expect multiple-choice items that test applied judgment rather than isolated recall - scenario stems describing a budget shortfall, an adverse event, a governance dispute, or a community health need, with options that differ by degree of appropriateness. The DHCA Doctor Exam case studies are 5 cases and about 2,273 words.
1The 3 AM Diversion Decision
You are the administrator of a 220-bed community hospital. It is 3:00 AM on a Saturday.
553 words, about 3 min2The Grant That Comes With Strings
A regional foundation offers your nonprofit community health center a 600,000, three-year grant to expand behavioral health services. The grant covers 70% of the program cost in year one, 50% in year two, and 0% in year three.
447 words, about 2 min3The Dashboard That Looks Fine
You are the quality director. Your hospital's sepsis mortality dashboard shows a rate of 9.1%, below the national benchmark of 11%.
435 words, about 2 min4The Nurse Who Won't Be Reassigned
A 15-year ICU nurse, widely respected and a preceptor for new hires, refuses a reassignment to the medical-surgical unit during a surge. She says her license and her patients are at risk because she has not worked med-surg in a decade and the unit is short-staffed.
418 words, about 2 min5The Readmission Penalty and the Housing Problem
Your accountable care organization's 30-day readmission rate for heart failure is 24%, well above the 19% benchmark, and the penalty is eroding shared savings. Analysis shows the highest-risk patients are concentrated in three census tracts with high housing instability and limited transportation.
420 words, about 2 min