Certified Health Informatician Australasia

Why is the CEIH sup­port­ing my cer­ti­fi­ca­tion as a CHIA? 

CHIA is the cre­den­tial­ing pro­gram for dig­i­tal health and health infor­mat­ics in Aus­tralia. Health infor­mat­ics is about improv­ing the qual­i­ty, use, pre­sen­ta­tion and shar­ing of data in a dig­i­tal for­mat. To do this, health infor­mati­cians need to have knowl­edge across ana­lyt­i­cal, data and infor­ma­tion man­age­ment, tech­nol­o­gy, out­comes and clin­i­cal met­rics. It is wide­ly accept­ed that hav­ing health infor­mati­cians embed­ded through­out the organ­i­sa­tion is impor­tant for improv­ing the qual­i­ty and effec­tive­ness of health care. 

Invest­ing in the work­force builds knowl­edge, exper­tise and long-term capac­i­ty for the South Aus­tralian health sys­tem, pro­vid­ing tan­gi­ble ben­e­fits for patients and consumers. 

How many places are there? 

The CEIH is spon­sor­ing up to 20 employ­ees from the pri­vate and pub­lic health sec­tor in South Aus­tralia to under­take the exam. 

Appli­cants who meet the cri­te­ria will be select­ed pri­mar­i­ly on a first-come, first-served basis. We will, how­ev­er, seek to ensure equi­ty in allo­ca­tions across all sec­tors in healthcare. 

If demand does exceed the avail­able places, appli­cants that meet the manda­to­ry cri­te­ria but miss out on a place have the option to self-fund (and still par­tic­i­pate with the cur­rent round of CHIA appli­cants) or will be placed on a wait­ing list and giv­en pri­or­i­ty in future tranches. 

What does it cost me? 

There is no cost to appli­cants. The CEIH will cov­er all cer­ti­fi­ca­tion costs, includ­ing the Practitioner’s Guide, study guide, atten­dance at induc­tion ses­sion and exam readi­ness check ses­sion which will be deliv­ered by Aus­tralian Insti­tute of Dig­i­tal Health. 

All par­tic­i­pants accept­ed into the CHIA pro­gram are expect­ed to take the exam. 

If a par­tic­i­pant does not take the exam with­out a legit­i­mate rea­son (e.g. due to ill­ness, rea­sons accept­ed with­in the exten­sion pol­i­cy etc.), the CEIH reserves the right to seek reim­burse­ment from the par­tic­i­pant to enable anoth­er will­ing par­tic­i­pant to be accept­ed into the CHIA.

What kind of study is involved? 

CHIA is a pro­fes­sion­al cer­ti­fi­ca­tion in health infor­mat­ics. Par­tic­i­pants do not attend any train­ing or an edu­ca­tion course and are required to under­take self-direc­t­ed study to pre­pare for the online exam. It is expect­ed that nom­i­nees will allo­cate between 8 – 16 hours per week for their self-direc­t­ed study. 

Can I apply if I live in a region­al or rur­al area? 

Yes! CHIA is self-direc­t­ed study and can be com­plet­ed remotely. 

What sup­port is pro­vid­ed through­out the process? 

The CEIH recog­nis­es that under­tak­ing the CHIA pro­gram requires a sig­nif­i­cant com­mit­ment. All par­tic­i­pants will there­fore be invit­ed to attend an induction/​orientation ses­sion and exam readi­ness check dur­ing week 8. In addi­tion, small study groups for peer-led sup­port are encour­aged, which the CEIH can sup­port, with the use of Microsoft Teams as a plat­form for par­tic­i­pants to share infor­ma­tion and com­mu­ni­cate with oth­ers under­tak­ing the certificate. 

What will I be test­ed on? 

This exam cov­ers 53 health infor­mat­ics com­pe­ten­cies over six domains of expertise. 

The Aus­tralian Health Infor­mat­ics Com­pe­ten­cies Frame­work con­tains infor­ma­tion on what is required to per­form as a health infor­mat­ics professional. 

When can I take the exam? 

The exam is deliv­ered 100% online, so you can choose when and where you sit the exam with­in the 90-day peri­od after you register. 

You have two attempts at the exam with­in the 90 day study peri­od. It is rec­om­mend­ed that the first exam attempt is under­tak­en at the 8 – 10 week mark as this will allow time for fur­ther study, if needed. 

Can I get an exten­sion if I am unable to take the exam with­in the timeframe? 

Exten­sions may be giv­en for addi­tion­al time beyond the 90 days but are lim­it­ed to unfore­seen and exten­u­at­ing cir­cum­stances. The dura­tion of the exten­sion will be lim­it­ed and will be con­sid­ered in asso­ci­a­tion with how much time has passed from reg­is­tra­tion and what the unfore­seen and exten­u­at­ing cir­cum­stances are. 

Exten­sion requests must be received in writ­ing (by fill­ing out the Exten­sion request form) for review by the CHIA Exam­i­na­tion Com­mit­tee (EC). Exten­sions will only be con­sid­ered more than 14 days out from your 90-day deadline. 

With­in the last 14 days of the study peri­od exten­sions will not be considered. 

As a guide, rea­sons sim­i­lar to the fol­low­ing will not be grant­ed:

• Changes in work commitments 
• Unex­pect­ed trav­el commitments 
• Annu­al leave 
• Mov­ing house. 

For more infor­ma­tion and the request for exten­sion form vis­it CHIA.

What will help me pass the exam? 

Attend the ori­en­ta­tion ses­sion and exam readi­ness sessions. 

Read the Prac­ti­tion­ers Guide (and oth­er study mate­ri­als) provided. 

Allo­cate between 8 – 16 hours per week over the 90-day study period. 

Can­di­dates can also send any ques­tions or queries to certification@​digitalhealth.​org.​au through­out the 90-day cer­ti­fi­ca­tion process. 

What hap­pens after I become certified? 

Cer­ti­fied employ­ees have the option to main­tain their com­pe­ten­cies in dig­i­tal health and health infor­mat­ics as part of an ongo­ing CHIA pro­fes­sion­al devel­op­ment pro­gram. To do this you will need to achieve 60 CPD points over a three-year period. 

For more infor­ma­tion on how to gain CPD points vis­it CHIA.

It is also strong­ly rec­om­mend­ed that you dis­cuss suit­able projects with your line man­ag­er that would put your cer­ti­fi­ca­tion to use in the work­place. The CEIH can pro­vide some guid­ance to sup­port you with this.