News: ACDIS selects four new advisory board members

With seven highly qualified candidates for consideration, ACDIS members faced a difficult decision when voting in four new individuals to serve three-year terms from April 2017 through April 2020 on the ACDIS advisory board.

With the addition of the four new board members, ACDIS would like to take a moment to thank those members stepping down this month for their exceptional service over the last three years:

• Wendy Clesi, RN, CCDS
• Wendy De Vreugd, RN, BSN, PHN, FNP, CCDS
• Cheryl Ericson, MS, RN, CCDS, CDIP
• Mark LeBlanc, RN, MBA, CCDS
• Michelle McCormack, RN, BSN, CCDS, CRCR

The final incoming 2017 board members are:

Angie Curry, RN, BSN, CCDS, is a corporate CDMP manager at CoxHealth in Springfield, MO. Curry’s career spans 19 years of experience in both nursing and CDI. Prior to moving into the CDI realm, Curry’s nursing experience focused on cardiovascular nursing and education. As a manager, she seeks to develop program metrics for reporting, monitoring, and distribution. Also, she’s responsible for DRG-based denial management, including case reviews and working with the HIM physician advisor during the appeals process. Over the years, Curry has spoken at both local and national CDI events, allowing her to share her passion and enthusiasm for accurate documentation. Curry can be reached at angie.curry@coxhealth.com.

Katy Good, RN, BSN, CCS, CCDS, is the CDI program coordinator at Northern Arizona Healthcare in Flagstaff, AZ. Good’s clinical experience comes from her time in intensive care and emergency nursing, joining the CDI ranks in her current role in 2011. She has experience in navigating the day-to-day tasks of concurrent review as well as emerging areas in the industry regarding clinical validation, quality metrics, denials, and alternate payment structures–about which she presented at the 2014 ACDIS conference. Her CDI program has been housed under numerous departments, giving her a unique perspective on the role of CDI. Additionally, she seeks to watch the market and stay abreast of changing CDI trends. Good is also a frequent commenter on the ACDIS Forum and she won the 2014 Recognition of CDI Professional Achievement Award. Good can be reached at kathryn.good@nahealth.com.

Susan Schmitz, JD, RN, CCS, CCDS, CDIP, is the regional director of clinical documentation improvement at Southern California Kaiser Permanente in Pasadena, California. Schmitz’s experience includes 36 years as a registered nurse with 19 years in the CDI field – from consulting, to managing hospital-based CDI programs, to serving as regional CDI director over 14 SCAL Kaiser Permanente medical centers. She is one of the authors of the CDI Reference app published by Elsevier and is considered a subject matter expert for its online CDI course. Additionally, Schmitz has been an ACDIS member since 2009, taking the second CCDS exam ever offered. Schmitz can be reached at susanschmitz59@yahoo.com.

Deanne Wilk, BSN, RN, CCDS, CCS, AHIMA-Approved ICD-10 CM/PCS Trainer, is the manager of CDI at Penn State Health in Hershey, PA. Wilk’s experience spans 35 years in the healthcare field. Her primary nursing background includes telemetry and home health nursing, transitioning into an education role, and then CDI. From her original CDI role, she moved 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. Wilk can be reached at dwilk@hmc.psu.edu.