Note from the ACDIS Editor: A year of CDI research

by Linnea Archibald

While CDI Strategies readers and many ACDIS members know me solely as the ACDIS Editor, I also spend a large portion of my time these days with the members of the ACDIS CDI Leadership Council, serving as their membership manager.

Much of what I do with the Council is likely opaque for the average ACDIS member since many of the offerings focus specifically on those CDI leaders in the Council membership ranks. We meet regularly (roughly on a bimonthly basis), members receive a specific eNewsletter geared toward their needs as leaders, and we participate in leadership-specific research initiatives.

It’s true that the meetings and newsletters are exclusive to Council members, but the research findings are available for all CDI professionals. We hope that the results help you advance, benchmark, and direct your own CDI practices better.

This year, our biggest piece of research centered on three main topics: key performance indicators (KPI), physician engagement, and CDI and quality. We actually published full research reports on each of these topics, in partnership with 3M, with insight from our Council members. Any one can download these reports for free under the “Free & Sponsored Resources” section of our website.

Here are some of the biggest from each report (at least in my humble opinion):

• KPIs:
  
  • While traditionally a highly weighted CDI KPI, only 53% of respondents said case mix index is an important metric for their department.
  • Roughly half of all respondents said their organization emphasizes non-financial KPIs above financial ones.
  • Nearly three quarters of respondents said the addition of an electronic grouper had the most positive effect on their KPI performance out of any new technology.
• Physician engagement:
  
  • Nearly three quarters of respondents said their physicians were very strongly or strongly engaged in their willingness to answer queries.
  • More than 40% of respondents said they’ve limited the number of queries on a given chart to reduce provider workload and create opportunities to spend time with patients.
  • More than half or respondents have worked with their IT department or software vendor to reduce documentation burdens; 26% have not and have no plans to do so.
• CDI and quality:
  
  • 99% of respondents now review for quality measures in some capacity.
  • 93% of respondents said they query when the outcome only impacts a quality measure, not reimbursement.
  • Though most respondents query for quality concerns, just under a quarter say they don’t track quality-related query impact.

While these takeaways are valuable in and of themselves, I would definitely encourage CDI professionals to read these reports, compare the data to what you see in your organization and department, and identify any areas for expansion or improvement.

Plus, in case you missed it, we held a free 90-minute webinar covering all the survey data collected this year. If you weren’t able to listen live, you can do so by registering for the on-demand version here. Be on the lookout in the coming weeks for a final recap report as well, highlighting some of the more interesting data points.

As we look forward to a new year in less than a month’s time, I hope this data can help you set the course for your department!

Editor’s note: Archibald is the editor for ACDIS. Contact her at larchibald@acdis.org.