Special Report: From finance to quality, CDI departments expand their reach
In 1999, the Institute of Medicine reported that medical errors represent one of the leading causes of mortality in the United States and noted that medical error–related deaths resulted in more than 50,000 preventable deaths and $20 billion in associated costs annually. Since then, the government has increasingly looked for ways to improve patient care and move away from its traditional fee-for-service reimbursement model.
Still, many CDI program leaders agonize over how to make the case for expanding their program efforts into quality-related record reviews, says Dee Banet, RN, MSN, CCDS, CDIP, director of CDI at Norton Healthcare in Louisville, Kentucky, and a past ACDIS Advisory Board member, in a joint ACDIS/HealthLeaders Media special report published earlier this fall.
Touted for their ability to improve case-mix index and ultimately facility finances, clinical documentation improvement (CDI) programs now need to expand reviews for quality indicators related to hospital value-based purchasing and other CMS pay-for-performance programs—not just because it’s the right thing to do but because, with multiple healthcare reform measures in play, such efforts could mean the difference between keeping a facility open or closing its doors.