Nashville Conference Buzz: Peek into quality improvement presentation

Editor’s Note: This is the third is a series of posts showcasing speakers and their sessions at the 6th Annual ACDIS conference in Nashville, May 21-23. On Tuesday, May 21, at 1:30 p.m., Tamara Hicks, RN, BSN, MHA, CCS, CCDS, ACM, and Melinda Matthews RN, BSN, CCDS, will discuss “Partnering with quality assurance: The impact of CDI on quality reporting.” ACDIS caught up with Hicks for the following interview.

ACDIS: Tell us a little about your background. 

TH: I got into CDI 14 years ago. I was looking to move away from bedside nursing.  I had worked for 15 years in a critical care step-down unit and had recently completed my bachelor’s degree, so I was looking to advance my career and do something new.  Little did I know, I was about to become part of something brand new!  I became part of the team that kicked off the clinical documentation management program at Wake Forest Baptist Health Winston-Salem, N.C., in 1999.  We were a team of seven, and covered only Medicare patients for the whole house. I learned very quickly how few programs there were like this in the country.  After a few months, it became obvious that we needed a team leader; I became that leader, and over time, the role evolved and I became the “coordinator.”

Over the next several years, we expanded the team and our scope to include all payers, reviewing for revenue enhancement as well as for severity of illness (SOI) and risk of mortality (ROM).  In 2007, I became the manager of care coordination with the documentation improvement team, utilization management, and a team of case managers and social workers reporting to me.

Since that time, the team has continued to grow and expand. There are now 19 clinical documentation consultants, three clinical documentation compliance coordinators, and one supervisor. We have been extremely successful in realizing improvements in documentation and coding, in improving capture of SOI and ROM for our hospital, and in collaborating with areas like quality to ensure appropriate reporting of profiling data for our institution.  I know that now, CDI is huge all over the country, but I also know that we have one of the most seasoned programs in the country, and I’m proud to be part of this team.

ACDIS: What has been your biggest challenge developing your topic and presentation?

TH: The biggest challenge was capturing a snapshot of this process because it is actually ongoing. We were required to submit our conference materials in February, and we weren’t even sure what the process would be at that point!

ACDIS: How will your ACDIS presentation help attendees with this topic? 

TH: I hope that the work we’ve done here will help other programs be able to do the same at their hospitals.

ACDIS: Tell us something about yourself that we can share with your future audience.

I was once in a community theater production of “Guys and Dolls.”  When my husband and I were dating (when in nursing school), he and his sister were involved in the theater.  I had seen him perform in “Camelot.”  They were casting “Guys and Dolls” and asked me to be a “Hot Box” dancer.  I’ve never been into drama or any type of performance art.  So this was a real stretch for me!  But I thoroughly enjoyed myself (not enough to ever do it again, but it was a great experience). I still know all the songs and most of the lines to “Guys and Dolls!”

ACDIS Note: Tamara says she has never been to Nashville and is looking forward to checking out a new city.