Note from the ACDIS Associate Editor: One month of CDI

by Carolyn Riel

“It has something to do with healthcare documentation compliance.” That’s what I told people when asked about my new job with ACDIS. They sort of nodded slowly, eyes slightly squinted in questioning skepticism, and changed the subject.

Truth be told, I wasn’t even completely sure what CDI was or what my new job would entail. What is clinical documentation integrity? What do CDI specialists do? Why do they need an association? To say it was all foreign to me is an understatement. The concept of CDI wasn’t just alien to me; it was an entirely new universe.

All new jobs have a learning curve, but I would say it took me a full week with ACDIS before I could really begin to explain the importance of this behind-the-scenes aspect of healthcare; these masked superheroes performing thankless duties and fighting denials with a flutter of their capes in the wind (thank you for the analogy, CDI Week).

Unsurprisingly, it is taking me the same molasses-in-winter speed to catch onto abbreviations (like CC/MCCs, DRGs, and IPPS), concepts like reimbursement and denials, and hot topics like sepsis, encephalopathy, malnutrition, and respiratory failure. Every time I think “ah okay, I think I get it” about any aspect of CDI, I am quickly reminded that I’ve hardly scratched the surface.

I guess that’s what happens when you take an English major with a background in food writing and plop her into the vast universe of healthcare. My extent of healthcare knowledge consists of my own trips to the doctor’s office (strep throat 10-plus times before the age of six) and hearing my father, who has worked in pharmaceutical quality assurance for 30 years, talk about his day at the dinner table. Needless to say, my prior experiences in life did not prepare me very well for this new realm of CDI.

So here I am, just over one month into working with ACDIS. What have I learned? Well for one thing, I’ve learned what CDI actually is and just how important a piece it is in the healthcare puzzle. I can use terms like CC/MCC and DRG with growing confidence, and I can now pick up on bits and pieces of what everyone is talking about. What do I still have left to learn? Pretty much everything else.

But that’s alright. It was made kindly obvious to me during my first day that it would take me six months to feel fully comfortable in this position—a timeframe often offered to new CDI professionals as well. I’ve always been one to excel in school and pride myself as a fast learner. So, unsurprisingly my overconfident self assumed I could cut that six months down to at least four. But here we are one month in, and I am left lying awake at night trying to wrap my head around the concept of sepsis.

As I get more comfortable in my new role and with this new material, you’ll be seeing a lot more of me. In the coming months, I’ll be taking on more writing responsibilities, attending the ACDIS Symposium: Outpatient CDI, helping to maintain the ACDIS website, and interacting with the community on social media.

While this transition has been a humbling knock to my reality, it’s one I’m perfectly fine with. Be patient with me, ACDIS members, as I learn. I look forward to working with ACDIS and learning more each day about this expansive, yet exciting, new world of CDI.

Editor’s note: Riel is the new associate editor for ACDIS. Contact her at criel@acdis.org.