CPHIMS key terms

A federal regulation that sets national standards for protecting individually identifiable health information and governs how covered entities may use or disclose protected health information. It also grants patients rights over their records.

A federal regulation requiring covered entities to implement administrative, physical, and technical safeguards to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of electronic protected health information.

A group of doctors, hospitals, and other providers that voluntarily coordinate care for a defined population and share in savings or losses tied to quality and cost performance.

A payment and delivery model that rewards providers for improving patient outcomes and controlling costs rather than for the volume of services delivered.

A classification system that groups inpatient hospital stays into categories with similar resource use and cost, used by Medicare and other payers to set fixed payment amounts per discharge.

The electronic exchange of health information among disparate organizations, or an organization that provides the infrastructure and governance for that exchange.

The federal agency that administers Medicare, Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program, and related quality and payment programs, and issues many regulations affecting healthcare IT.

The CMS program, formerly called Meaningful Use, that uses payment incentives and penalties to encourage eligible hospitals and professionals to adopt certified EHRs and exchange health information.

A standard for exchanging healthcare data using modular resources and modern web technologies such as RESTful APIs, designed to support mobile apps, interoperability, and incremental implementation.

A widely used messaging standard for transmitting clinical and administrative data between systems, characterized by segment-based messages that are often customized locally through implementation guides.

Software that receives, translates, routes, and monitors messages between disparate systems, allowing them to exchange data without direct point-to-point connections.

A database or service that assigns a unique identifier to each patient and links records from multiple systems to help prevent duplicate or fragmented records.

A centralized database that stores clinical data from multiple source systems in a patient-centric form, supporting queries, reporting, and decision support across the enterprise.

A defined set of rules and protocols that lets one software application request data or functionality from another, enabling integration without exposing internal implementation details.

An authentication method that lets a user log in once and gain access to multiple applications during a session, reducing password fatigue while centralizing access control.

A documented set of procedures that describes how an organization will maintain or restore critical operations during and after a disruption, including manual workarounds and communication plans.

The subset of continuity planning focused on restoring IT infrastructure, applications, and data after a major failure, often guided by recovery time and recovery point objectives.

The delivery of computing resources such as servers, storage, and applications over a network on demand, typically under shared-responsibility and pay-as-you-go models.

Technology or workflow tools that provide clinicians, staff, or patients with knowledge and person-specific information at the right time to enhance health and healthcare decisions.

A system that lets clinicians enter orders for medications, tests, and other services electronically, replacing handwritten orders and enabling immediate checks against rules and reference data.

A preconfigured group of orders and related guidance for a common clinical condition or procedure that clinicians can review, modify, and activate as a unit.

The reduced responsiveness and desensitization that occurs when clinicians receive too many warnings, many of which are irrelevant, causing important alerts to be overlooked.

A process that uses technology such as barcode scanning and electronic records to verify the right patient, drug, dose, route, and time at administration, and to document the result.

A structured study of how care tasks, information, and roles flow through a clinical process, used to identify bottlenecks and to design technology that fits real practice.

A method in which representative users attempt realistic tasks with a system while observers record problems, to evaluate effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction before or after deployment.

The ability of systems to exchange data and interpret its meaning consistently, which requires shared terminologies, code sets, and data models rather than only technical connectivity.

A quality measure calculated from data extracted from electronic health records and other systems, used for reporting and improvement without separate chart abstraction.

A secure online application that lets patients view parts of their record, communicate with care teams, request refills, and manage appointments.

A centralized office that standardizes project practices, provides templates and coaching, and tracks project portfolios to improve delivery consistency across an organization.

A financial metric that compares the net benefit of an investment to its cost, often expressed as a percentage or ratio, used to justify and prioritize projects.

The full lifetime cost of owning and operating a system, including purchase, implementation, training, support, maintenance, upgrades, and eventual retirement.

A structured approach to helping individuals and teams adopt new processes and technology, addressing communication, training, resistance, and reinforcement so benefits are realized.

A formal document that asks vendors to propose solutions against stated requirements, evaluation criteria, and contractual terms, so an organization can compare bids fairly.

A contract or agreement that defines expected service levels such as uptime, response times, and support responsibilities, along with remedies when targets are missed.

The decision rights and accountability framework that determines how IT investments, priorities, risks, and standards are approved, overseen, and aligned with organizational strategy.

Uncontrolled expansion of project requirements without corresponding adjustments to time, budget, or resources, often leading to delays and unmet expectations.

A structured justification for a proposed initiative that documents the problem, options, costs, benefits, risks, and recommendation, used by leaders to decide whether to fund it.

The planned transition of a new system or module into operational use, typically supported by readiness checks, command centers, super users, and contingency plans.