The buck stops here: CDI escalation policies

What’s a CDI specialist to do when queries go answered? What if a physician has a backlog of unanswered queries from three weeks prior? Or what if a physician patently refuses to answer queries and says “I don’t have time” or “it’s all about the money”?

For many CDI programs, an escalation policy can help answer these questions. Such policies typically outline the length of time a query is allowed to go unanswered, who should follow up with a physician on unanswered queries, and any penalties for physicians who don’t answer their queries.