Symposium spotlight: Highlighting the 2019 keynote, general session speakers

The 2019 ACDIS Symposium: Outpatient CDI, which takes place November 14-15 at the Hyatt Regency in Austin, Texas, is shaping up to be a wonderful event. With two consecutive educational tracks and more than 20 speakers, there’s a session for everyone, regardless of where you are in your outpatient CDI journey.

Every year, ACDIS brings a keynote and a general session speaker to the stage to kick off each day of the event in style. Here’s what’s set for the Symposium stage in Austin, this year: .

Day 1: Joan Peterson, vice president, master facilitator, and leadership coach at BluePoint Leadership Development has more than 15 years of hands-on experience working with leaders at all levels and in many different industries. She is noted for her passion and for her energetic and interactive facilitation style as well as for her unique workshop design that delivers measurable results by inspiring participants to build on their strengths to improve their bottom-line results. Her growing renown as a facilitator is equaled by her growing reputation as a thought leader and a respected authority on what it takes to deliver a learning experience that will last the test of time.

Day 2:

Christopher G. Bresette, CPA, is an assistant regional inspector general for audit services, Office of Inspector General. Notably for Symposium attendees, Bresette was involved in the recent audit, “Some diagnosis codes that Essence Healthcare, Inc., submitted to CMS did not comply with federal requirements.”

In this audit, the OIG reviewed a Medicare Advantage organization, Essence Healthcare, Inc. (Essence), and focused on two areas that included high-risk diagnosis codes. Its objective was to determine whether selected diagnosis codes that Essence submitted to CMS for use in CMS’s risk adjustment program complied with Federal requirements. The OIG selected 218 unique enrollee-years with high-risk diagnosis codes during calendar years 2012 through 2014. The 218 enrollee-years included 52 diagnoses of acute stroke and 166 diagnoses of major depressive disorder. It determined that Essence received $158,904 of overpayments.

With Peterson’s motivation and the informative look at outpatient risks with Bresette, attendees will no doubt return to their programs armed to implement effective change.