Free Certified Health Data Analyst (CHDA) Practice Questions

Sample Practice Questions

Try these 10 sample questions from the Certified Health Data Analyst (CHDA) practice bank. Each includes the answer and explanation. Continue with the interactive practice above to review the full question set.

1. 1Which activity best illustrates care coordination across healthcare participants?

   1. A. Combining patient care activities and exchanging information among participants
   2. B. Assigning each participant an independent care plan without information exchange
   3. C. Restricting the patient's involvement to a single clinical setting
   4. D. Measuring only the cost of services within one provider group

   Answer: A

   Explanation: AHRQ describes care coordination as "the deliberate organization of patient care activities between two or more participants" and says it is "often managed by the exchange of information among participants responsible for different aspects of care." The activity in A joins care and information across participants.

   Reference: Care Coordination Measures Atlas: What is Care Coordination? — Chapter 2, What is Care Coordination?

2. 2A proposed healthcare analytics project has no formal authorization. Which document is intended to authorize the project and grant the manager authority to use resources?

   1. A. Project charter
   2. B. Project schedule
   3. C. Risk register
   4. D. Requirements document

   Answer: A

   Explanation: PMI defines a project charter as "a document issued by the project initiator or sponsor that formally authorizes the project and gives the project manager the authority to apply organizational resources to it." The described need is therefore a charter.

   Reference: Project Charter: What It Is and How to Write One — What is a project charter?

3. 3A derived health-data field must be traceable to its source and processing history. What should its lineage record include?

   1. A. Source location, version, and transformations
   2. B. The current value and source field, without processing steps
   3. C. The original source only, without version or transformations
   4. D. The final transformation only, without the source location

   Answer: A

   Explanation: CDC advises, "Record lineage of data used; include location, version, and any transformation or manipulation performed." Those details trace the derived field back through its processing.

   Reference: Modernizing CDC’s Practices and Culture for Better Data Sharing — Appendix: checklist for data practices

4. 4An analyst needs only encounter rows with discharge dates in a specified month. Which SQL clause filters individual rows by that condition?

   1. A. GROUP BY
   2. B. WHERE
   3. C. HAVING
   4. D. ORDER BY

   Answer: B

   Explanation: The SELECT reference states, "If the WHERE clause is specified, all rows that do not satisfy the condition are eliminated from the output." The date condition filters encounter rows before grouping.

   Reference: PostgreSQL 18 SELECT Reference — Description, SELECT processing

5. 5A cohort analysis reports a risk ratio of 1.8 for an exposure and an adverse outcome. Which finding does that ratio indicate?

   1. A. Lower outcome occurrence among the exposed
   2. B. Equal occurrence in both groups
   3. C. Higher occurrence among the exposed
   4. D. Proof that exposure caused the outcome

   Answer: C

   Explanation: CDC states, "The measure has a value greater than 1.0 when the amount of disease is greater among the exposed group than among the unexposed group." A ratio of 1.8 indicates higher occurrence, not causation.

   Reference: CDC Field Epidemiology Manual: Analyzing and Interpreting Data — Measures of Association, interpretation

6. 6A health system is launching data governance and needs to state the program's scope and decision accountabilities. Which foundational document serves that purpose?

   1. A. A data inventory listing systems and fields
   2. B. A policy defining one access rule
   3. C. An analytics project plan with milestones
   4. D. A governance charter

   Answer: D

   Explanation: AHIMA states, "The purpose of the charter is to establish the Data Governance program and scope." It also describes the operational framework and decision-making accountabilities.

   Reference: AHIMA Healthcare Data Governance Practice Brief — page 3, CHARTER

7. 7In care coordination, what characterizes a transition between healthcare entities?

   1. A. A transfer of information or care responsibility between entities
   2. B. A change in the hospital's annual operating budget
   3. C. A revision to the insurer's premium schedule
   4. D. A change in the patient's demographic category

   Answer: A

   Explanation: AHRQ states, "Transitions occur when information about or accountability/responsibility for some aspect of a patient's care is transferred between two or more health care entities, or is maintained over time by one entity." A transfer of information or responsibility is therefore the defining feature.

   Reference: Care Coordination Measures Atlas: What is Care Coordination? — Chapter 2, Additional Terms: Points of transition

8. 8When defining the initial boundary of an analytics project, what should the high-level scope in the charter specify?

   1. A. What work is included and excluded
   2. B. Only the deliverables and their due dates
   3. C. Only the project's budget and funding source
   4. D. Only the sponsor's authority and reporting line

   Answer: A

   Explanation: PMI describes high-level scope as "What’s in and out, at the altitude you can see from the start." That boundary helps distinguish approved work from later additions.

   Reference: Project Charter: What It Is and How to Write One — What is a project charter?

9. 9In FHIR, what does a Provenance record describe about a data resource?

   1. A. Entities and processes involved in producing or influencing it
   2. B. The resource's current version identifier and last-update time
   3. C. The allowed value set for the resource's coded fields
   4. D. The resource's validation constraints and cardinalities

   Answer: A

   Explanation: HL7 defines provenance as "a record that describes entities and processes involved in producing and delivering or otherwise influencing that resource." This captures the origin and processing context.

   Reference: FHIR R4 Provenance Definitions — Provenance definition

10. 10A query of encounters needs one result row for each facility, with counts calculated separately by facility. Which clause establishes those facility groups?

    1. A. SELECT DISTINCT
    2. B. ORDER BY
    3. C. GROUP BY
    4. D. LIMIT

    Answer: C

    Explanation: PostgreSQL says, "GROUP BY will condense into a single row all selected rows that share the same values for the grouped expressions." Grouping on facility creates one group per facility.

    Reference: PostgreSQL 18 SELECT Reference — GROUP BY Clause