FAQ's

You Asked, We Answered

How many levels of Certification are there?

Is there a video that explains the details of submission?

What Should I Study Before I Take the Exam?

There are three (3) certification levels are available. A detailed description of requirements can be found here. HcEM-B (Healthcare Emergency Manager – Basic)HcEM-P (Healthcare Emergency Manager – Professional)HcEM-M (Healthcare Emergency Manager - Mastery)

What Qualifies as Healthcare Emergency Management Experience?

Employment Experience: Determining length of time in field

Healthcare Emergency Management experience is the benchmark. Peripheral (non-healthcare) experience will be considered but must be justified with additional documentation/letter of explanation
Healthcare Emergency Management Experience is defined as practicing emergency management activities within a healthcare organization or healthcare coalition. Healthcare Emergency Management activities can be defined as creating, updating, revising emergency/disaster response/recovery plans, providing training related to those plans, exercising those healthcare emergency/disaster response/recovery plans and advocating to prevent, plan, respond and recover from disasters.
Response operations and activities focused on the delivery of healthcare services during a disaster are considered distinct and separate from Healthcare Emergency Management experience.

How does AHEPP define Healthcare Emergency Management?

Explain years of Experience
Explain Current Role
Explain Healthcare Emergency Management job function(s)
Estimated portion of FTE per year spent on HEALTHCARE emergency management task
Acceptable HEALTHCARE Emergency Management tasks are listed within the AHEPP Professional Standards and should include a diverse representation of preparedness, mitigation, response and recovery.

Yes! Be sure to watch this explanatory video prior to submitting documentation to avoid common mistakes with submissions. AHEPP Certification Explained

What should I include in my letter of explanation or resume/CV to justify my experience?

Explain years of Experience
Explain Current Role
Explain Healthcare Emergency Management job function(s)
Estimated portion of FTE per year spent on HEALTHCARE emergency management task
Acceptable HEALTHCARE Emergency Management tasks are listed within the AHEPP Professional Standards and should include a diverse representation of preparedness, mitigation, response and recovery.

Is there more I need to know about submitting my Exercise Experience?

The applicant's name needs to be included in the document identifying the role of the applicant related to authorship and participation/ leadership.

Name listed as Point of Contact on an Exercise Document or AAR does indicate authorship and participation/leadership.
This can also be documented through a letter of recommendation or an uploaded exercise document with their name listed as a participant. As stated in the application, “If the required documentation does NOT include your name, you may provide additional documentation to prove role in exercises. i.e. letter from manager or planning committee member, meeting minutes, etc”.
“Other” specific mentions of the individual in their role (e.g. “John Doe – Incident Commander”) may be considering depending on the role and the level of application submitted

AHEPP Certification Pre-Certification Education and Courses (all items listed should be accessible without fees)

What DOESN'T qualify as Healthcare EM experience?

Direct patient care (e.g., physician, RN, PA, EMT, etc.) does not qualify for experience without specific healthcare emergency management experience.
Ancillary services in healthcare (e.g., Infection Preventionist, Security Officer, Patient Safety Officer) do not qualify for experience without specific healthcare emergency management experience.
The independent role of emergency manager in a non-healthcare related organization (e.g., City or County Emergency Manager, State Emergency Manager) does not qualify as experience without specific healthcare experience.
Healthcare Coalition Leaders, HPP Coordinators, etc. may qualify based on valid job function description within the letter of explanation.