Local chapter update: MO chapter leader shares experience, advice on ACDIS Radio

According to the latest ACDIS Radio poll, local chapter involvement grew nearly 15% year-over-year (45% in 2017 versus 59% in 2018). That increase is largely due to the work and dedication of ACDIS’ volunteer local chapter leaders across the country. One of those chapter leaders, Karen Elmore, RN, BSN, CCDS, documentation quality coordinator for BJC Healthcare in St. Louis, Missouri, was the guest on last week’s ACDIS Radio episode where she shared her experience and advice for other leaders.

When Emore stepped into the CDI world, she instantly found that her knowledge of CDI concerns didn’t extend much beyond DRG basics.

“I’d been a bedside nurse. I really didn’t care about any of that stuff; I really just wanted to keep my patients alive,” she said. “I reached out to a nearby hospital and asked if they had clinical documentation specialists and they did. […] We started a networking group.”

As with most local chapters, the small networking group that began with only a few people from a couple facilities eventually grew to include others in the area and, eventually, they decided to become a formal chapter with Elmore at the helm as president.

But that little group didn’t stop growing there, Elmore said.

“In 2016, we had our chapter running for a few years and I said that I had a dream to have a conference. Everyone said yes, let’s do it, we want to have a conference, but I didn’t know where to start,” she said. “So, I contacted Melissa [Varnavas] and asked for help.”

Varnavas, the associate editorial director of ACDIS, suggested reaching out to the other chapter leaders in Missouri and banding together. So, the group of leaders took to planning at full speed.

“This was May of 2016. We pulled off an all-day conference with six CEUs in October of 2016,” said Elmore. “I was thinking it was going to be a year down the road, but we pulled off that conference in three or four months and it was amazing. I had like three full-time jobs: Two were being the conference chair person, and then I had my paying full-time job.”

Now, the Missouri chapters have their third “Show Me State Conference” in the rearview mirror and intend to continue meeting annually for a full-day event each fall.

“You have to have a great support group,” said Elmore. “If we didn’t have the support group we have for the conference, I don’t think we would be able to do as well as we have done.”

If your chapter is planning an all-day event, the volunteers have to be willing to work as a team and chip in when things get tough, Elmore said.

“If there is something going on and I can’t handle it, people just step up and say, here, let me take that for you,” she said. “It’s just that collaboration and that comradery in the team. If we didn’t have that, I don’t think we could be as successful.”

Don’t be afraid to ask for help, Elmore said. Lean on other’s expertise and abilities to get the event off the ground and keep positive and organized in the process.

“I know it’s an old cliché, but it takes a village to build a chapter and keep it going,” Elmore said.

And, lean on the other ACDIS chapter leaders outside your state who’ve held successful events, she added. If your chapter is planning an event, go to the ACDIS website and take a look at the resources there. Connect with other chapter leaders across the country and ask their advice. It will be well worth it.

“You just never know who you might meet, who you might come in contact with, and how this volunteer work can develop you as a person, you as a CDI specialist,” Elmore said. “If you love your job as a CDI specialist, definitely get involved with your local chapter.”

The following is a list of upcoming events for ACDIS local chapters. If you have an upcoming event you would like to include, please email Melissa Varnavas (mvarnavas@acdis.org) and Linnea Archibald (larchibald@acdis.org).

December:

• The Florida ACDIS chapter meets Saturday, December 1, 7:45 a.m. to 4 p.m., at North Florida Regional Medical Center in Gainesville. Click here to download the agenda. For information, contact Amanda Knapp (amanda.knapp@hcahealthcare.com).
• The Suffolk County Long Island ACDIS chapter meets Monday, December 3, 9:30-11:30 a.m., at Stony Brook University Hospital in Stony Brook. For information, contact the chapter leadership team (scacdis@gmail.com).
• The Heart of Missouri ACDIS chapter meets Thursday, December 6, 5-8 p.m., at Boone Hospital Center Conference Room 1A in Columbia. For information, contact Karen Elmore (karen.elmore@bjc.org).
• The CDI Educator ACDIS networking group meets Friday, December 7, 1-2 p.m. mountain time, via conference call. For information, contact M.E. VanGelder (me.vangelder@honorhealth.com).
• The Maryland ACDIS chapter meets Friday, December 7, 12-2 p.m., at the Maryland Hospital Association in Elkridge. For information, contact Candace Blankenship (cblanke4@jhmi.edu).
• The Kansas City, Missouri, ACDIS chapter meets Wednesday, December 12, 2-3 p.m., via WebEx. For information, contact Angelica Naylor (angelica.naylor@nkch.org).
• The Maine ACDIS chapter meets Thursday, December 20, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., at St. Mary's Regional Medical Center in the Lepage Large Conference Room in Lewiston. For information, contact Tammy Jutras (tjutras@stmarysmaine.com).

Save-the-date:

• The Westchester/Hudson Valley ACDIS chapter meets Thursday, January 17, at Phelps Hospital in Sleepy Hollow. More details to follow. For information, contact Kerry Seekircher (kseekircher@northwell.edu).
• The Oklahoma ACDIS chapter meets Friday, January 18, 2019, 1-3 p.m., at St. John Health Plaza in Tulsa. Click here to download the save-the-date. For information, contact Amanda Just (amanda.just@integrisok.com).
• The Washington Evergreen ACDIS chapter meets Friday, January 18, 10-11 a.m., via webinar. For information, contact Lillian Dickey (lillian.dickey@providence.org).
• Missouri's three ACDIS chapters meet Saturday, October 19, 2019, 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., for the fourth annual Show Me State Conference at Boone Hospital in Columbia. Click here to download the save-the-date. More information to follow. For information, contact Karen Elmore (kelmore@bjc.org).