CDI Professional of the Year: Skating toward the future of CDI

by Karen Newhouser, RN, BSN, CCDS, CCS, CCM

CDI entered my life in January 2004. It clicked, and from then on my passion for CDI gained momentum.  In a few short years, I began to hear of a group that catered directly to the CDI profession, and once I logged onto the ACDIS website, I found what I had been searching for. Finally, a place where ideas could be shared, where learning could happen, and where growth occurred.

I was home, but little did I know that my “house” would continue to grow. From assisting with the startup of a local chapter, to being a co–poster presenter at the annual conference, to obtaining my CCDS credential, 2011 was a pivotal year for me. In addition, I had taken the advice of a coder and had obtained my medical coding and billing certificate at my local college—at last, the pieces were falling into place. With ACDIS, I knew there was more out there and I wanted to be a part of this amazing propulsion in healthcare. In November 2011, I accepted an opportunity at Barnes-Jewish Hospital (BJH) in St. Louis, Missouri, as their CDI supervisor.

I’m often asked why I moved from case management to CDI, and why I moved into the world of traveling CDI. I am also often asked why I obtained a coding education and credential at a time when it wasn’t mainstream, and why I aimed for the CCS credential in particular, which measures excellence in both inpatient and outpatient coding, instead of seeking a certification in inpatient alone. And last, but certainly not least, I am asked why I decided to seek a seat on the ACDIS Advisory Board.

All of those questions can be answered by the fact that I have always skated to where the puck is going to be, not to where it is now. What does that mean? Allow me to paint a picture of a hockey game.

You sit in the chilly arena and watch a group of kids anxious to get their sticks on the puck, to show their coaches what they learned. As the puck is dropped, any resemblance to order disappears as every single child skates towards that puck. And so it continues as coaches try to explain that they don’t all have to skate to where the puck is now, that the value is in skating to where the puck is going to be!

That is how I have lived my life ... learning from the past, living in the present, but looking to the future—to where the puck is going to be. Call them goals, dreams, wishes … everybody has them.  The important thing is to keep moving forward.

ACDIS provides the vehicle to take you there—the conference, blogs, articles, reference material, “CDI Talk,” and many, many people who share your passion and who will help you up when you fall. You simply have to make the next move and skate to where the puck is going to be.

Editor’s note: Newhouser was the 2015 CDI Professional of the Year award winner. The nomination period for the 2016 awards is open until February 5. This article is an excerpt from the 2015 Special Conference Section published in the July edition of the CDI Journal.

Newhouser is an ACDIS Advisory Board member and the director of CDI education for MedPartners in Tampa, Florida. Contact her at karenmpu@medpartnershim.com.