ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES / HOW TO REPORT / ON-LINE REPORTING TOOL
Achieving an HFMA certification demonstrates a level of professional competence that is measured by meeting certain experiential and professional requirements. HFMA certified members are granted current status for a period of three years from the June 1 closest to the date of attaining Certified Healthcare Financial Professional (CHFP) status. Certified members with the CHFP status are then required to show evidence of maintaining the designation every three years. CHFP's earning the FHFMA designation have a rolling 3 year maintenance cycle. For an overview of certification maintenance requirements, check this out. For more detailed information, read below.
Reporting Period
CHFPs and FHFMAs must show evidence of maintaining their designation every three (3) years and by the "Good thru" date in their member record. The reporting period ends on the "Good thru" date and begins June 1 three (3) years prior to the "Good thru" date.
Requirements for Certification Maintenance
The HFMA Board of Directors requires that all CHFPs and FHFMAs complete continuing education activities to demonstrate they are maintaining their technical and professional competence. These activities must be self reported in the HFMA on-line edcuation tool, described below. Failure to meet the maintenance requirements by May 31 of the "Good thru" year will result in removal of the designation on September 1 of the "Good thru" year. The designation will then need to be re-earned by successfully completing the two requisite exams and meeting all otehr requirements to becaome a CHFP, including submission of a CHFP application.
Active Membership
To retain your designation, you must remain an active HFMA member. Failure to remain an active member will result in removal of the designation by September 1 in the year in which the membership was not renewed. The designation will then need to be re-earned by successfully completing the two requisite exams and meeting all other requirements to become a CHFP, with this being confirmed through submittal of a CHFP application and appropriate fee.
Review Your CPE/EDU Points- Click here to run a current report
Continuing Education Requirement
The Board of Examiners (BoE) has specified the following maintenance requirements:
- 90 contact hours total in eligible programs over the three-year reporting period
- Minimum of 20 contact hours per maintenance reporting year (6/1 through 5/31 for the three years prior to the "Good thru" date)
- Minimum of 50% of the total contact hours (45 hours) must be in healthcare finance. The remaining contact hours may be from attending eligible programs and professional activities that contribute to the development of business and/or technical skills.
Calculating Contact Hours
- A contact hour is defined as 50 minutes of continuous programming, excluding breaks, meals and social functions. To calculate contact hours, do the following: (1) Add the total length of education program (in minutes) less breaks, meals and social events; (2) Divide the total by 50; (3) Round down to the nearest whole number.
Activities Eligible to Certification Maintenance Requirement
Activities that contribute toward professional development are eligible toward the HFMA certification maintenance requirement. The following document lists eligible topics that may be covered during an edcuation event, as well as the types of eligible activities. Some activities have a maximum amount of contact hours that can be reported for the three-year reporting cycle.
Reporting Eligible Education Activities
Certified Members must use the on-line reporting tool to record activities for the certification maintenance requirement. Hard copy documentation is no longer accepted.
- Activities that need to be reported include HFMA chapter education program attendance, participation in non-HFMA professional organization conferences/workshops, presenting at meetings, authoring or reviewing publications and proctoring HFMA certification exams, among other education activities
- Activities that do NOT need to be reported are those sponsored by HFMA National and for which you received a CPE letter from HFMA National.
- Directions for Reporting Education Activities and Viewing Report. Certified members ONLY have access to this tool.
Certified members are personally responsible for self reporting eligible activities in the on-line system available here. The chapter does not have this responsiblity. Total contact hours toward the certification maintenance period are a combined total of CPE that HFMA has on record PLUS the contact hours you self report.
- HFMA reserves the right to request that proof of attendance and participation in any reported educational activity be provided to validate reported hours. Certified members should retain for one year documentation of an activity that would validate attendance at it and eligibility for maintenance for one year past the end of their June 1 renewal date.
- Members must keep their records current for all education activities they attend, including local chapter educational events.
- Members are responsible for ensuring the accuracy and completeness of their records. Members with deficiencies will be required to eliminate that deficiency by September 1 of the year in which maintenance is required.
- In lieu of participating in the Certification Maintenance program, certified members can retain currency by successfully re-taking the current Core examination and the specialty in which they are certified, and submitting a conforming CHFP application.
Editing the Education Record
Members do NOT have the capability to edit entries in their on-line education record. Required changes should be submitted in writing to certification@hfma.org. Enough detail should be provided so the edit can be made correctly by HFMA staff.
Failure to Maintain Certification
Failure to complete the above requirements will result in removal of the certification designation by September 1 of the year the maintenance was required, i.e. your "Good thru" date.
Once a designation has been removed, the member must complete the entire certification process again, including re-taking the certification examinations and submitting a conforming CHFP and/or FHFMA application with all appropriate fees, to HFMA National.
Exceptions for Maintenance
Retired Members -- Upon retiring fully from employment and informing HFMA in writing certification@hfma.org of this, HFMA certified members are granted "emeritus" status. To be eligible for emeritus status, members must retire prior to May 31 of the "Good thru" year. Members retiring after that date are required to meet the maintenance requirements. Members granted emeritus status retain their certification designation and are exempt from the certification maintenance requirements as long as they remain a retired HFMA member. Failure to retain retired Member status will result in removal of the designation. The designation will then need to be re-earned by successfully completing the two requisite exams and meeting fully all other requirements to become a CHFP or FHFMA, including submission of the CHFP and/or FHFMA application.
Waiver Request -- Waivers must be submitted by August 30 in the year in which the member is due to maintain, i.e. the year of the "Good thru" date. Members may request a temporary waiver from HFMA BOE if they are prohibited from fulfilling the Certification Maintenance requirements for the reasons set forth below. Such requests must be submitted in writing to the director of HFMA's Professional Development Department.
- Foreign Residency - The request should include the country of residence, the name of the employer, the principal duties and responsibilities performed, and the reason foreign residency prohibits fulfilling this requirement.
- Health -- The request should include the nature of the illness, the name and address of the attending physician, and the reason the illness prohibits fulfilling this requirement.
- Military Service - The request should include the principal duties performed, where stationed, the name and address of member's commanding officer, and the reason why military service prohibits fulfilling this requirement.
- Other Similar Reasons - The request should include the nature of the hardship and the reason why it prohibits fulfilling the Certification Maintenance requirements.
Waiver request should include a written desciption of the extenuating circumstance prohibiting maintenance requirements to be met, a description of education activities and contact hours completed thus far for the current 3-year reporting cycle, and a plan of how the 90-hour requirement will be met and by when.
The BoE Executive committee will review the written waiver request and determine whether the request will be granted. The member requesting the waiver will be notified of the outcome in writing by the director of HFMA's Professional Development Department.