NEHA RS/REHS CORE EXAM SET 2026/2027 QUESTIONS
AND SOLUTIONS RATED A+
✔✔Health Care Quality Improvement Act (1986) - ✔✔Major antitrust legislation was
passed by the US Congress in 1986. This Act was passed to check the high degree and
number of medical malpractices that had been taking place for about a decade before
this legislation.
The HCQIA sought to blacklist physicians and surgeons that were found guilty of
malpractices as described in this legislation. One of the main methods of medical
malpractice that surgeons and other medical practitioners used to resort to was to
simply move from the State in which he or she committed misdemeanors to another in
which the law was less punitive. This made it impossible for the authorities to repatriate
the erring practitioner to the original State for prosecution because a federal law that
applied to all States was absent till then.
✔✔Clean Air Act (CAA) - ✔✔EPA has jurisdiction
Enforcement and issuance of discharge permits are carried out by the states and are
called state implementation plans. EPA sets national ambient air quality standards - 6
criteria pollutants
✔✔National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) 6 pollutants - ✔✔The Clean Air
Act, which was last amended in 1990, requires EPA to set National Ambient Air Quality
Standards
Carbon Monoxide CO, Lead Pb, Nitrogen dioxide NO2, Ozone O3, Particulate Matter
PM, and Sulfur Dioxide SO2
✔✔NESHAP (National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants) - ✔✔The
Clean Air Act requires the U.S. EPA to regulate emissions of air pollutants that are
hazardous to human health or the environment, called hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) .
The regulations are known as National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants
Asbestos, benzene, beryllium, mercury, radionuclides, vinyl chloride
✔✔Primary vs. Secondary Standards - ✔✔Primary - Designed to protect human health,
with an adequate margin of safety, including sensitive populations such as children, the
elderly, and individuals suffering from respiratory diseases
Secondary - Designed to protect public welfare (including effects on soils, water, crops,
vegetation, man-made materials, animals, wildlife, weather, visibility, and climate),
damage to property, transportation hazards, economic values, and personal comfort
and well-being from any known or anticipated adverse effects of a pollutant.
, ✔✔Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) (1976) - ✔✔Addresses the manufacturing,
processing, distribution, use, and disposal of several commercial and industrial
chemicals.
EPA has jurisdiction.
Controls the exposure and use of raw industrial chemicals, which are not subject to
other laws. Chemicals are to be evaluated prior to use and can be controlled based on
risk. The act provides for a listing of all chemicals to be evaluated before manufacture or
use in the US. Regulates the production, use, and disposal of chemical substances that
may present an unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment.
✔✔Pollution Prevention Act (1990) - ✔✔Act focused industry, government, and public
attention on reducing the amount of pollution through cost-effective changes in
production, operation, and raw materials used. Opportunities for source reduction are
often not realized because of existing regulations, and the industrial resources required
for compliance, focus on treatment and disposal.
✔✔Clean Water Act (CWA) (1972) - ✔✔Regulates point and nonpoint discharges into
surface waters
Established discharge standards and a permit system for generators discharging
directly into surface waters
EPA sets guidelines, and states issue permits; technology and water quality-based
effluent limitations; new source performance standards
✔✔Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) (1974) - ✔✔Regulates contaminant levels in public
water systems used as potable systems.
Established standards to prevent contamination of groundwater due to disposal
activities such as deep well injection
Deep Well Injection - Disposal of treated/raw filtered hazardous waste by pumping into
deep wells where it is contained in pores of permeable subsurface rock.
EPA set standards for Drinking Water Quality
The act does not cover private wells, only public water systems
✔✔6 Standards of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) - ✔✔Microorganisms
Cryptosporidium, Giardia, Legionella, Coliform, Enteric Viruses
Disinfectants
Chlorine, Chloramine, Chlorine Dioxide
AND SOLUTIONS RATED A+
✔✔Health Care Quality Improvement Act (1986) - ✔✔Major antitrust legislation was
passed by the US Congress in 1986. This Act was passed to check the high degree and
number of medical malpractices that had been taking place for about a decade before
this legislation.
The HCQIA sought to blacklist physicians and surgeons that were found guilty of
malpractices as described in this legislation. One of the main methods of medical
malpractice that surgeons and other medical practitioners used to resort to was to
simply move from the State in which he or she committed misdemeanors to another in
which the law was less punitive. This made it impossible for the authorities to repatriate
the erring practitioner to the original State for prosecution because a federal law that
applied to all States was absent till then.
✔✔Clean Air Act (CAA) - ✔✔EPA has jurisdiction
Enforcement and issuance of discharge permits are carried out by the states and are
called state implementation plans. EPA sets national ambient air quality standards - 6
criteria pollutants
✔✔National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) 6 pollutants - ✔✔The Clean Air
Act, which was last amended in 1990, requires EPA to set National Ambient Air Quality
Standards
Carbon Monoxide CO, Lead Pb, Nitrogen dioxide NO2, Ozone O3, Particulate Matter
PM, and Sulfur Dioxide SO2
✔✔NESHAP (National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants) - ✔✔The
Clean Air Act requires the U.S. EPA to regulate emissions of air pollutants that are
hazardous to human health or the environment, called hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) .
The regulations are known as National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants
Asbestos, benzene, beryllium, mercury, radionuclides, vinyl chloride
✔✔Primary vs. Secondary Standards - ✔✔Primary - Designed to protect human health,
with an adequate margin of safety, including sensitive populations such as children, the
elderly, and individuals suffering from respiratory diseases
Secondary - Designed to protect public welfare (including effects on soils, water, crops,
vegetation, man-made materials, animals, wildlife, weather, visibility, and climate),
damage to property, transportation hazards, economic values, and personal comfort
and well-being from any known or anticipated adverse effects of a pollutant.
, ✔✔Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) (1976) - ✔✔Addresses the manufacturing,
processing, distribution, use, and disposal of several commercial and industrial
chemicals.
EPA has jurisdiction.
Controls the exposure and use of raw industrial chemicals, which are not subject to
other laws. Chemicals are to be evaluated prior to use and can be controlled based on
risk. The act provides for a listing of all chemicals to be evaluated before manufacture or
use in the US. Regulates the production, use, and disposal of chemical substances that
may present an unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment.
✔✔Pollution Prevention Act (1990) - ✔✔Act focused industry, government, and public
attention on reducing the amount of pollution through cost-effective changes in
production, operation, and raw materials used. Opportunities for source reduction are
often not realized because of existing regulations, and the industrial resources required
for compliance, focus on treatment and disposal.
✔✔Clean Water Act (CWA) (1972) - ✔✔Regulates point and nonpoint discharges into
surface waters
Established discharge standards and a permit system for generators discharging
directly into surface waters
EPA sets guidelines, and states issue permits; technology and water quality-based
effluent limitations; new source performance standards
✔✔Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) (1974) - ✔✔Regulates contaminant levels in public
water systems used as potable systems.
Established standards to prevent contamination of groundwater due to disposal
activities such as deep well injection
Deep Well Injection - Disposal of treated/raw filtered hazardous waste by pumping into
deep wells where it is contained in pores of permeable subsurface rock.
EPA set standards for Drinking Water Quality
The act does not cover private wells, only public water systems
✔✔6 Standards of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) - ✔✔Microorganisms
Cryptosporidium, Giardia, Legionella, Coliform, Enteric Viruses
Disinfectants
Chlorine, Chloramine, Chlorine Dioxide
