CHAE study plan

Map each major internal audit standard (attribute and performance categories) to a one-sentence compliance test you could actually apply during an engagement.

Draft a model audit charter covering purpose, authority, independence, reporting lines, and unrestricted access to records.

Build a healthcare risk-assessment matrix scoring at least eight risk factors (billing compliance, PHI exposure, clinical quality, vendor oversight, etc.) on likelihood times impact.

Distinguish assurance, consulting, and advisory engagements and state which one fits three given hospital scenarios.

Design a quality-assurance and improvement program for an audit function, specifying supervision, workpaper review levels, and post-engagement client surveys.

Compare the seven elements of an effective healthcare compliance program and write two audit procedures that test each element.

Trace a whistleblower hotline complaint from intake through triage, investigation, documentation, and audit committee reporting.

Explain the fraud triangle and classify five healthcare fact patterns by the element (pressure, opportunity, rationalization) they illustrate.

Apply the physician self-referral statute to a compensation arrangement and name the specific exception that saves or sinks it.

Test an arrangement against the anti-kickback safe harbors, documenting each element that is met or missing.

Compare false claims liability theories (false certification, implied certification, reverse false claims) using a different healthcare example for each.

Outline corporate integrity agreement obligations and separate the compliance officer's duties from the independent review organization's duties.

List exclusion, screening, and repayment obligations triggered when an overpayment is identified.

Trace a single claim from scheduling through registration, coding, charge capture, adjudication, and denial, marking every point where an audit control applies.

Build a defensible sampling plan for 30 inpatient claims, stating population, method, sample size rationale, and error-evaluation rule.

Recalculate an MS-DRG payment by hand and identify a complication/comorbidity capture error that changes the payment.

Differentiate upcoding, unbundling, and medically unnecessary services using three coding examples with the documentation that would prove each.

Write findings in condition-criteria-cause-effect-recommendation format for two seeded errors.

Define revenue cycle key performance indicators (clean claim rate, initial denial rate, days in accounts receivable, write-off ratio) and set audit-trigger thresholds for each.

Draft audit steps to test provider credentialing and privileging files against payer enrollment requirements.

Map three clinical quality measures to concrete chart-audit criteria, including the exact documentation that satisfies each.

Explain how clinical documentation improvement programs interact with coding integrity and where an auditor should look for drift.

Walk through a root cause analysis for a patient safety event and identify the audit evidence that supports each causal statement.

Build a chart audit tool for a bundled care measure with at least eight elements and an all-or-none scoring rule.

Evaluate hand-hygiene observation data for sampling bias and recommend a corrected collection method.

Assess an ongoing professional practice evaluation process against governance expectations for peer review, thresholds, and escalation.

Map each HIPAA Security Rule safeguard family to a specific audit test procedure and the evidence that would satisfy it.

Design an access-log analytics test that detects snooping and minimum-necessary violations, specifying the query logic and exception thresholds.

Plan a duplicate-payment detection routine using claims data fields, including the matching keys and false-positive filters.

Evaluate audit trail completeness, retention, and tamper-resistance for an electronic health record system.

Assess how PHI flows to business associates and what audit evidence proves a business associate agreement is being honored.

Condense each domain into a single one-page summary sheet of decision rules, formulas, and frequently confused pairs.

Complete a 100-item timed mock exam under exam conditions and tabulate misses by domain and by error type.

Re-teach your two weakest objectives by writing a short explanation and three self-authored questions for each.

Rehearse a 15-minute verbal walkthrough of one integrated scenario linking a compliance failure to a billing error to a privacy breach.