Note from the ACDIS Director: Get involved with ACDIS

by Brian Murphy

Love the CDI profession and want to give back? Volunteer, and get involved with a board or committee!

I am a volunteer committee member on the Reading Memorial High School (RMHS) Athletic Hall of Fame. As a graduate of the RMHS Class of 1991, when the opportunity arose for me to help my alma mater by honoring its greatest athletes, teams, and coaches, I couldn’t pass it up.

The RMHS Athletic Hall of Fame is fun, but it’s also a lot of work. We need to research nominated athletes, hunt down old scrapbooks and photos, write scripts, and publicize the event. We employ subcontractors to create plaques and videos, and sometimes we even have strong disagreements.

But at the end of it all, there’s nothing like seeing our hard work come together at the induction banquet every other November. To a man and woman, the inductees find it incredibly humbling and rewarding.

Bringing this back around to CDI and ACDIS, we are offering some great volunteer opportunities for you to consider in 2020. There are few things more rewarding than being part of a conference committee and seeing your hours of work selecting speakers and sessions come together with an amazing conference experience.

Or working on the CCDS certification committee, and hearing from a freshly-minted CCDS holder about how proud they are to have earned their credential, opening doors in their career.

Or serving with high-performing peers on the ACDIS advisory board and creating helpful new industry guidance like our provider engagement series, and sharing it with members via our well-attended quarterly conference calls or the ACDIS Podcast.

We are currently seeking volunteers for four boards and committees. Please visit the ACDIS website and review the obligations, expected time commitment, and scope of work for more information:

• The ACDIS Advisory Board: Provides leadership, expertise, and an industry voice for the ACDIS membership. Note that board members are ultimately elected by a popular vote of ACDIS members. The board is a multi-disciplinary group of RNs, HIM/coding professionals, MDs, and others. This year we’ll be electing four clinicians or professionals with advanced clinical training or experience, which may include RNs, physician assistants or nurse practitioners, or foreign medical graduates (MBBS, etc.)
• ACDIS Outpatient CDI Symposium Committee: Selects all speakers and sessions for the 2020 ACDIS Symposium: Outpatient CDI event.
• Chapter Advisory Board: Serves as liaisons between local chapter leaders and ACDIS national administration by participating on chapter leadership conference calls, promoting best practice, and providing guidance to leaders across the country.
• CCDS Certification Committee: Maintains and updates the CCDS certification program, including the exam and its prerequisites.

To apply for any of these committees, click here and apply by Friday, January 31. This link will allow you to select the committee that best suits your strengths and interests.

If you love the CDI profession and want to make it stronger, or if you think it needs some changes, get active in ACDIS. I have found that the more you volunteer, the richer your life becomes, and the more opportunities open as a result. So, happy volunteering!

If you have a question about a board or committee, feel free to contact us.

Editor’s note: Murphy is the director for ACDIS. Contact him at bmurphy@acdis.org.