C-RHI case studies
C-RHI · Put your knowledge to work in context.
The C-RHI (Certified Registered Health Information Technician) is a professional credential for health information technicians and related staff who manage patient records, data integrity, coding support, privacy, and quality reporting. Candidates typically work in hospitals, clinics, physician practices, payers, or vendor settings, or are students preparing to enter the field. The C-RHI case studies are 5 cases and about 3,283 words.
1Reconciling the MPI After a Health System Merger
Two hospitals complete a merger. Hospital A uses a legacy MPI with 214,000 records keyed on a 10-digit medical record number; Hospital B has 168,000 records keyed on a 7-digit number that overlaps numerically with A's sequence.
733 words, about 4 min2Sepsis Mortality Metric Disagreement Between Two Dashboards
A 400-bed hospital's quality department reports a risk-adjusted sepsis mortality index of 0.82 for the fiscal year, based on an administrative claims-derived model using principal diagnosis and present-on-admission flags. The same year, the clinical analytics team builds a sepsis dashboard using a sepsis-3 definition applied to vital signs, lactate, and culture results from the EHR, and reports an observed mortality of 19% against an expected 14%, an index of 1.36.
558 words, about 3 min3Coding Audit Finds a Pattern of Unsupported Secondary Diagnoses
An internal audit of 60 inpatient records from one hospitalist group finds that 14 records (23%) carry a secondary diagnosis of severe malnutrition supported only by a dietitian note written on day 3, with no provider documentation, no clinical indicators in the record, and no treatment beyond a standard diet order. In 9 of the 14, the malnutrition code increased the MS-DRG payment, with an average payment difference of $4,100 per case.
735 words, about 4 min4Small-Cell Suppression in a Public Quality Report
A regional health information exchange publishes a quarterly public report on 30-day readmission rates by hospital and by condition. One rural critical access hospital has 41 eligible discharges for heart failure in the quarter, with 9 readmissions (22%).
536 words, about 3 min5CDI and Coding Disagree on a Respiratory Failure Query
A 68-year-old patient is admitted with pneumonia and hypoxia. On day 2 the provider documents "hypoxia, likely secondary to pneumonia" and orders 4 L nasal cannula.
721 words, about 4 min