ACDIS update: Meet the 2018 CDI Week Committee

Each year, ACDIS sponsors CDI Week during the third week in September. In addition to the efforts of the core ACDIS team, a group of volunteers from the ACDIS membership work hard for months to make the week memorable for all CDI specialists by:

• Helping develop a unique theme for the week
• Brainstorming activities and resources to help people celebrate
• Participating in Q&As related to the annual CDI Industry Survey results

With CDI Week kicking off in 38 days (September 17-21, 2018), the ACDIS team wanted to take this opportunity to introduce you to the members of this year’s committee. Please take a moment to get to know them and thank them for their efforts.

Johanne Brautigam, BSN, RN, CCDS 
CDI manager
Roper St. Francis Healthcare
Charleston, South Carolina
johanne.brautigam@ropersaintfrancis.com

Brautigam manages a team of 11 CDI specialists which covers three, soon-to-be four, hospitals in the low country. She earned her associate degree in nursing in 1986 from Rancho Santiago College in Southern California, her bachelor’s degree in 1999 from the University of Utah and was a CCRN for 20 years. She has more than 25 years of experience as a critical care nurse, working throughout the Unites States and the United Kingdom. After settling in Charleston, she took the leap into CDI in 2010, earned her CCDS in 2011, and took on the role of manager in 2012. When she doesn’t have her nose in the records, she enjoys camping and boating with her family. Currently, she is focused on denials prevention in sepsis, malnutrition, and orthopedic conservative measures.

 

Kim Charles, CPC, CPCO, CPMA, CEMC
Charge integrity manager, quality assurance team
UK Healthcare
Lexington, Kentucky
kim.charles@uky.edu

Charles has worked in all facets of the medical field from clinical, to clerical, and administrative throughout her 29-year career. She is working in quality assurance and outpatient CDI in her current role. She has a passion for teaching others and enjoys holding regularly scheduled education sessions for providers and professional coding staff at her institution. She is excited to be working with this year’s committee to make CDI week a success.

 

Mindy Davis, RHIT, CDIP, CCS
Director of HIM
Rutherford Regional Health System
Rutherfordton, North Carolina
mindy.davis@rutherfordregional.com

With more than 10 years’ experience in HIM and CDI, Davis oversees both these teams at Rutherford Regional Health System, a part of Duke LifePoint Healthcare. Davis is experienced with designing and implementing successful CDI programs in community hospitals and is especially interested in promoting collaboration among CDI, coding, and quality initiatives.

 

 

Faisal Hussain, MD, CCDS, CDIP, CCS
Corporate CDI director, clinical services
CHSPSC, LLC
Franklin, Tennessee
smfaisalhussain@hotmail.com

Dr. Hussain is corporate CDI director in clinical services at CHSPSC, LLC, which consists of more than 110 hospitals in 20 states. Prior to his current role, Dr. Hussain managed the CDI program at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Somerset and was involved in numerous initiatives, including changing the workflow for patient safety indicators/hospital-acquired conditions, updating query forms for ICD-10 compliance, and collaborating with case management. He has also served on the ACDIS Conference Committee in 2017 and 2018, and was a speaker at the 11th annual ACDIS Conference in San Antonio.

 

Karin Killenberger, BSN, RN, CCDS
CDI specialist
Baylor Scott & White Medical Center
Howell, Michigan
karinkillenberger@gmail.com

Killenberger is a seasoned nurse, with more than 40 years of experience in surgical critical care, post anesthesia, and coronary care units, as well as vascular surgery. She became a nurse when the nursing textbook was a slim volume, as there were no machines, other than bedside suction. She received great on-the-job training and made her way into the world of CDI (because she knew what a DRG was, she got the CDI job that was open in her small local hospital) after working in home care doing quality reviews.

From there, Killenberger experienced a whirlwind of education, both formal and self-paced, attending ACDIS conferences, reading the journals, taking quizzes, and working until she could take the CCDS exam. She traveled for four years as a CDI specialist, gaining insight into CDI trends around the country. She recently transitioned to remote CDI work for Harmony Healthcare, and Baylor Scott & White Medical Center.

Killenberger enjoys challenges of all kinds including zip lining, hiking in the desert, and puzzles. She enjoys photography, quilting, travel, and cooking. She has two sons, both surveyors. She is expecting her first grandchild in January and cannot wait to spoil him or her rotten. Her dream vacation is taking a Rhine River cruise someday.

 

Caryn Nowak, RHIA, CDIP
CDI specialist
Rady Children’s Hospital of San Diego
San Diego, California
cnowak@rchsd.org

Nowak has more than five years of experience in healthcare, and has been a CDI specialist at Rady Children’s Hospital of San Diego for the last two years. Her previous experience includes inpatient and outpatient coding record reviews and education, CDI education and ICD-10 transition projects. Nowak served on the CDI Week Committee last year and has served on the other boards and committees in the past.

 

Lisa Randall, BSN, RN, CCDS
CDI specialist
Community Health System, Eastern New Mexico Medical Center
Roswell, New Mexico
lisa_randall@chs.net

Randall earned her bachelor’s degree from  Texas Woman's University. She has worked as a staff nurse in a 24-bed critical care unit for six years at Texas Health Resources. Additionally, she worked as an administrative nursing supervisor for approximately four years at Methodist Health Systems in Dallas, and as a CDI specialist where she earned her CCDS.  

 

 

 

Priscilla Stuart, MS, RHIA, CCS
CDI specialist, department of pediatrics
Baylor Scott & White McLane Children’s Medical Center
Temple, Texas
Priscilla.stuart1@bswhealth.org

Stuart joined Baylor Scott & White Health Care in the HIM department in July 2008. In HIM, she was a coder, a coding auditor, and a division coding manager, where she led a team of inpatient coders responsible for seven hospitals in central Texas. 

After attending a CDI Boot Camp taught by Laurie L. Prescott, education specialist at HcPro, in Middleton, Massachusetts, Stuart saw an opportunity to take her skillset to the next level. The role of the CDI specialist allows her to continue to share education with providers and serve as a resource to peers.

 

Deanne Wilk, BSN, RN, CCDS, CCS
Manager of CDI
Penn State Health, Hershey Medical Center
Hershey, Pennsylvania
dwilk@hmc.psu.edu

Wilk’s experience spans 35 years in the healthcare field. Her primary nursing background includes telemetry and home health nursing, nurse educator, then CDI. From there, she transitioned into consulting and management. Over the years, she has worked on numerous educational projects, articles, contributed as a subject matter expert to CDI and coding coursework, and spoken at numerous national and local conferences. Since 2015, she has been the co-host and founder of the Central Pennsylvania ACDIS chapter. She is currently serving on the ACDIS Advisory Board until April 2020 and as the 2018 CDI Week advisor.