If there are 150,000 records and the HIM department receives 3,545 requests, what is the request rate?

• A. 2.3%
• B. 2.4%
• C. 3.5%
• D. 1.8%

Answer: (B)

Calculating a rate like this uses the ratio of the number of requests to the total number of records, expressed as a percentage. Divide the requests by the total records: 3,545 ÷ 150,000 = 0.023633..., then convert to a percent by multiplying by 100, giving 2.363%. When you round to one decimal place, that becomes 2.4%. So the request rate is about 2.4%.

The other figures correspond to different rounded values (for example, 2.3% would reflect about 3,450 requests, 3.5% would be about 5,250, and 1.8% about 2,700), which don’t match the actual calculation as closely after rounding.