Frequently Asked Questions

Visit Individual Membership to purchase a membership.

Anyone with an interest in health informatics, health information management, or related healthcare issues and practices. Our members are: CIOs; Clinicians; Consultants; Consumers; Educators; Researchers; Healthcare Associations; Healthcare Executives; Healthcare Organizations; Information Management Professionals; Information Systems Professionals; IT Vendors; Nurses; Physicians; Privacy Professionals; Security Professionals; Software Experts; Students; Telehealth Professionals.

• Group or Corporate Membership is best for public and private sector organizations operating in the digital health ecosystem
• Start Up Membership is for a newly emerged business venture that aims to develop a viable business model to meet a marketplace need or problem.
• Academic Institutional Membership (AIM) is for schools with a faculty of healthcare, health informatics, digital health, IM or IT
• Individual Membership is for anyone working to advance healthcare through information technology
• Student Membership is for individual students studying full-time at an accredited academic institution
• CHIEF Executive Forum Membership is for senior professionals collaborating to set the agenda for the effective use of information and technology to improve health and healthcare in Canada

Corporate (or Group) Membership enables staff and executives to stay at the forefront of the latest trends, developments, challenges and opinions in digital health and health informatics, and to connect with peers at other leading-edge organizations to discuss emerging issues and shared challenges. Benefits: Linked corporate logo at digitalhealthcanada.com; Featured spotlight in member e-newsletter; Unlimited free job postings; Option to educate teams onsite with Custom Education; Discounted access to Digital Health Canada’s Learning Management System; Discounted CPHIMS-CA exam fees; Opportunity to apply to become a Digital Health Canada Faculty Member; Free access to Webinar Wednesdays (and the opportunity to apply to moderate or present a Webinar Wednesday); Access a members-only library of past Webinar Wednesday content, white papers, and more; Sponsorship opportunities; Member pricing for all Digital Health Canada events, e-Health Conference and Tradeshow and HIMSS Global Health Conference & Exhibition; Opportunity to compete for the Women Leaders in Digital Health Award or a Canadian Health Informatics Award; Publish customer stories on our blog; Access to the searchable member directory.

Unique StartUp* Membership benefits include membership for two individuals and complimentary display space and passes for two to a Digital Health Canada event with opportunities for face-to-face time with industry leaders from across the spectrum of public and private Canadian digital health organizations. Questions? Contact join@digitalhealthcanada.com.

Benefits: Linked corporate logo at digitalhealthcanada.com; Featured spotlight in member e-newsletter; Unlimited free job postings; Option to educate teams onsite with Custom Education; Discounted access to Digital Health Canada’s Learning Management System; Discounted CPHIMS-CA exam fees; Opportunity to apply to become a Digital Health Canada Faculty Member; Free access to Webinar Wednesdays (and the opportunity to apply to moderate or present a Webinar Wednesday); Access a members-only library of past Webinar Wednesday content, white papers, and more; Sponsorship opportunities; Member pricing for all Digital Health Canada events, e-Health Conference and Tradeshow and HIMSS Global Health Conference & Exhibition; Opportunity to compete for the Women Leaders in Digital Health Award or a Canadian Health Informatics Award; Publish customer stories on our blog; Access to the searchable member directory.

*StartUps are defined as organizations with annual revenue of less than C$1M, with 10 or fewer full-time employees. Qualifying organizations can enjoy Startup status for two years before moving on to Group Membership.

Schools with a faculty of healthcare, health informatics, digital health, information management, or information technology can become Digital Health Canada Academic Institutional Members (AIMs). Benefits: Promote your school brand with a linked logo at digitalhealthcanada.com; Featured spotlight in member e-newsletter; Unlimited free job postings; Option to educate teams onsite with Custom Education; Discounted access to Digital Health Canada’s Learning Management System; Discounted CPHIMS-CA exam fees; Opportunity to apply to become a Digital Health Canada Faculty Member; Free access to Webinar Wednesdays (and the opportunity to apply to moderate or present a Webinar Wednesday); Access a members-only library of past Webinar Wednesday content, white papers, and more; Sponsorship opportunities; Member pricing for all Digital Health Canada events, e-Health Conference and Tradeshow and HIMSS Global Health Conference & Exhibition; Opportunity to compete for the Women Leaders in Digital Health Award or a Canadian Health Informatics Award; Publish stories or co-op opportunities on our blog; Access to the searchable member directory.

Student Membership Benefits: Apply for a scholarship; Attend Webinar Wednesdays (and apply to moderate or present); Access the library of past Webinar Wednesdays and publications; Enjoy special pricing for LMS access and events; Publish articles or research on our website; Access a searchable member directory

Digital Health Canada Membership enables access to continuous learning, career development and career planning resources, and opportunities for networking, growth and collaboration. Benefits: Discounted access to Digital Health Canada’s Learning Management System; Discounted Certified Professional in Healthcare Information and Management Systems – Canada (CPHIMS-CA) exam fees; Opportunity to become a Digital Health Canada Faculty Member; free attendance at Webinar Wednesdays (and the opportunity to apply to moderate or present a Webinar Wednesday); Access a members-only library of past Webinar Wednesday content, white papers, and more; Enjoy member pricing for all Digital Health Canada events, e-Health Conference and Tradeshow, and HIMSS Global Health Conference & Exhibition; International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) membership; Members-only e-newsletter; Opportunity to volunteer at events; Opportunity to compete for the Women Leaders in Digital Health Award, a Canadian Health Informatics Award, or the Steven Huesing Scholarship; Publish on our website; Access the searchable member directory.

The Digital Health Canada Membership year starts April 1 and ends March 31. Academic Institutional Membership year starts September 1 and ends August 31.

Your user name is usually the email you provided when you first set up your account. Contact info@digitalhealthcanada.com for help with logging in for the first time.

Visit the Member Login page, click on the icon, and choose ‘change password’ from the options available.

Visit the Member Login and complete the login steps. Now click on the icon and choose “view profile” from the options available. This will direct you to your profile page. Choose ‘edit profile’ to update your profile.

Visit the Member Login and complete the login steps. Now click on the icon and choose “view profile” from the options available. This will direct you to your profile page. On your profile page, find your Membership Level (second item on the page) and choose ‘Change’ to renew.

CPHIMS-CA, the Certified Professional in Healthcare Information and Management Systems-Canada credential, is the first credential of its kind for Canadian health informatics professionals. The CPHIMS-CA credential is awarded to eligible candidates who successfully complete the related exams.

The benefits include:

• Providing evidence of professional competency to globally respected criteria;
• Building confidence in the public, patients, employers, government and others;
• Providing students and junior practitioners with goals for career and professional development;
• Enhancing patient safety and the consistency of health informatics (HI) professionals’ skill and practices;
• Contributing to accountability in healthcare spending;
• Enhancing the profile of HI as a profession, along with the salaries;
• Pursuing an alternative career path if you are an internationally trained professional in healthcare, information technology or management;
• Creating professional development opportunities and working conditions to attract qualified people and address the current shortage of competent HI professionals.

Yes. The credential tells employers that a candidate has been tested and found to meet respected measurements of what it means to be a competent health informatics professional. CPHIMS-CA also flags other important characteristics for hiring and performance evaluation – commitment to professional development and interest in learning and improvement. Leaders from across the industry – from government health agencies and universities to the vendor and clinician sectors – support the credential as a valuable resource.

CPHIMS-CA was developed through a partnership between Digital Health Canada and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS). The CPHIMS Exam, the exam for the globally-respected HIMSS Certified Professional in Healthcare Information and Management Systems (CPHIMS) certification, is one of two exams that candidates must pass in order to earn the CPHIMS-CA credential. They must also pass the Canadian Supplemental Exam developed by Digital Health Canada.

Yes. The CPHIMS Exam is an international exam.

The Canadian Supplemental Exam covers competencies that aren’t part of the CPHIMS Exam, plus competencies that require a higher level of understanding for the Canadian context. Major subject areas for this exam are: standards, information management, the Canadian health system and analysis and evaluation.

Candidates must have a baccalaureate degree plus five (5) years of associated experience, with three (3) of those years in health informatics OR a graduate degree plus three (3) years of associated experience, with two (2) of those years in health informatics. Associated experience includes the following functional areas: administration/management, clinical information systems, eHealth, information systems or management engineering. Please see here for details on eligibility.

At this time, no. The CPHIMS-CA eligibility requirements are not intended to be exclusionary, but have been harmonized with those for the widely-recognized and respected CPHIMS professional certification. Candidates must meet the educational and professional experience requirements before they register for the exams. Alternatively, if you do not meet these prerequisites, Digital Health Canada offers Digital Health Canada Core HI Education courses (online and on-demand), the annual e-Health conference, and new career development tools. Digital Health Canada study materials are great tools that cover several areas around clinical health services, the information ecosystem and management opportunities. The Health Informatics Professional Career Matrix, provides further information on various job areas within health informatics and details on potentially qualifying for those positions.

If you are writing at your local testing centre, you may register through their website: the CPHIMS exam is available through Prometric and the CA exam is available through AMP. If you prefer to write both exams in one location, you may do so at one of the Digital Health Canada scheduled sittings available throughout the year across Canada. Members receive their member pricing for exams when registering for scheduled sittings through our website.

You can write them at upcoming exam sittings. See Exams for dates.

A special administration is a Private Group Sitting of the CPHIMS-CA exams. Organizations with at least eight eligible exam candidates can arrange with Digital Health Canada to host an onsite group sitting. Organizations with fewer than eight candidates may join with another organization to arrange a joint sitting. Email education@digitalhealthcanada.com to inquire.

If writing at testing centres, both exams are electronic. At this time, when writing at Digital Health Canada scheduled sittings, the CPHIMS exam is electronic and the CA exam is paper-based.

Yes. The CPHIMS-CA Canadian Supplemental Examination Review and Reference Guide and Preparing for Success in Healthcare Information and Management Systems: The CPHIMS Review Guide can be purchased from Digital Health Canada. Digital Health Canada also offers the CA Review Course and free Canadian Exam Candidate Handbook. See Study Resources for details.

If writing at testing centres, you will receive results immediately following the completion of the exam. If writing at a Digital Health Canada scheduled sitting, CPHIMS results are displayed immediately and CA exam results are mailed to candidates two weeks following the exam.

If you fail to pass the Canadian Supplemental portion of the exam, you will hold the CPHIMS credential, but you will have to re-take the supplemental exam in order to attain the full CPHIMS-CA credential. Conversely, if you fail the CPHIMS exam but pass the Canadian Supplemental Exam, your Canadian credential will be “held” for one year. If you pass the CPHIMS Exam during this time, you will attain the full CPHIMS-CA credential. If you do not re-take the CPHIMS Exam during the one-year period, you will have to re-take the Canadian Supplemental Exam.

Yes. Candidates who successfully complete both exams will receive a certificate issued jointly by Digital Health Canada and HIMSS. Certificates are also viewable/printable through the HIMSS portal.

CPHIMS-CA.

No, you don’t have to be a Digital Health Canada member to write the CPHIMS-CA exams. Qualified non-members are encouraged to write. However, Digital Health Canada members pay less for exam registration fees, courses, and study materials. You can join Digital Health Canada here. 

Yes. Your CPHIMS-CA certification must be renewed every three years through the HIMSS portal. More information on the renewal process can be found here. For more information, please email education@digitalhealthcanada.com.