The amount of energy it takes to stay up-to-date on all the relevant CDI news can be overwhelming. It can take valuable time away from daily record review duties and activities. One relatively new solution to this conundrum is the addition of a CDI educator—an individual dedicated to the...Read More »
“Even if you don’t have a title, you can be a leader if you’re passionate and have a desire to change a process that’s not working,” said Judy Schade, RN, MSN, CCM, CCDS, CDI specialist at the Mayo Clinic Hospital, on the May 18 Quarterly Conference Call. She spoke in regard to...Read More »
Chocolate is a great motivator. Many a CDI professional has earned inroads with providers by rewarding good documentation habits through appealing to a sweet tooth or two. And yet, CDI specialists say that physician engagement and education represents their greatest daily professional challenge...Read More »
Where there are documentation holes, denials flood in.
“It’s just amazing how infrequently the doctor is even aware of the denial. If they don’t know they even had a patient who was denied, then he or she can’t fix the documentation in the future,” said Timothy Brundage, MD, CCDS...Read More »
Despite CDI programs’ 10-plus years of existence, physician engagement continually ranks as the number one concern for CDI departments, according to the 2017 ACDIS Membership Survey. Part of this challenge may stem from the fact that, although some methods work better than others, physicians are...Read More »
by Trey La Charité, MD, FACP, SFHM, CCS, CCDS
In the past, I have advised CDI professionals against promoting the monetary benefits of CDI adoption. If the medical staff thinks the program’s purpose is hospital revenue, they will likely rebel. Working in an academic institution, I...Read More »
by Lisa Dias, MD, and P. Roger DeVersa, MD, MBA, FHM, CPE, CDIP, CHDA, CCS
Residency training typically serves as physicians’ first exposure to the CDI process, yet physicians have historically not had robust education during medical school on CDI or how it benefits patient care....Read More »
“When I first started getting interested in the topic of CDI, […] I asked my more senior colleagues and got blank stares,” says Joseph A. Cristiano, MD, an assistant professor of internal medicine at Wake Forest Baptist Health in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Without the...Read More »