CHFM study guide
CHFM · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The Certified Healthcare Facility Manager (CHFM) credential is a professional certification for people who manage the physical environment of hospitals, clinics, and other care settings - facility directors, plant operations managers, safety officers, and engineers moving into those roles. It signals that a candidate can run day-to-day building systems while staying inside the regulatory and life-safety framework that makes healthcare different from commercial facility management. The CHFM study guide has 5 sections and about 1,851 words.
01Planning, Design, and Construction
In planning and construction, the facility manager translates clinical and operational needs into a functional program, protects the capital budget, and safeguards ongoing operations and life safety during the work. Know the sequence of a capital project: strategic/master plan → facility condition assessment and space-needs analysis → functional (programming) plan → schematic design → design development → construction documents → bidding/procurement → construction → commissioning → activation and occupancy.
379 words, about 2 min02Operations and Maintenance
Operations and maintenance questions test whether you can run a planned, documented, risk-based program. Know the work-order types: corrective (reactive), preventive (time- or meter-based), predictive (condition-based, e.g., vibration analysis, thermography), and emergency.
335 words, about 2 min03Financial Management
The operating budget covers recurring expense - labor and benefits, supplies, utilities, purchased services, maintenance contracts - and is managed monthly through variance analysis against budget, often flexed to volume. The capital budget covers assets above the organization's capitalization threshold with a useful life beyond the current year, funded from operations, debt, philanthropy, or grants.
381 words, about 2 min04Regulatory Compliance
Hospitals face layered requirements. CMS Conditions of Participation (42 CFR 482.41, Physical Environment) are federal conditions of payment and incorporate a specific edition of NFPA 101 (currently the 2012 edition) plus NFPA 99 and other referenced codes.
397 words, about 2 min05Risk Management and Life Safety
The EOC plan addresses six areas: safety, security, hazardous materials and waste, fire safety, medical equipment, and utilities. The organization performs an annual, proactive risk assessment of each area, sets measurable objectives, and the multidisciplinary EOC committee monitors performance and reports to the governing body.
359 words, about 2 min