Guest Post: CDI benefits? Money, teddy bears, and more

By Vicki Sullivan Davis, RN

Doesn’t it burn you up when someone says that CDI programs are all about reimbursement? I can feel my face get red when I hear that statement! Of course, I remain composed, smile, and provide politically correct education to the individual. But deep down I have always wanted to say, “You are darn right CDI is about reimbursement! I work hard every day to make sure you and everyone else continue to have a place to work. I make sure our patients have the most updated equipment for imagining, the most advance surgical suites, a bigger emergency department, adequate nurses on the units, food to prepare, patients to see and E/Ms to bill!”

I want to say, “Yes, my job is to help make money for hospital and so is yours!” Every person in this industry needs be concerned with reimbursement; our survival depends on having money to provide resources for our patients! We provide for our futures through cost containment, efficiency monitoring, billing, staffing to volume, charging for supplies, and even decreasing the number of linens stocked in each room. All staff should be concerned with cost containment and revenue growth. CDI specialists are no different! Reimbursement is reimbursement, we just call it different things in different departments. Budgets, staffing, billing levels, supplies, etc.

Without bringing in adequate reimbursement, the hospital would have to close their doors despite anyone’s best efforts to control efficiency and quality. If we are not worried about reimbursement, we would not have the resources to provide services that are important to the community. We would not be able to sit and hold the hand of a dying patient. We would not be able to give out teddy bears to a scared child getting a chemo treatment. We would not be able to provide a warm blanket for a frail, confused, and aging patient. The impact of healthcare reform is so significant that we all must worry about the almighty dollar if we truly care about people.

But just because I say my job has an impact on reimbursement, doesn’t mean that I only focus on reimbursement.

The heart of our program focuses on the patient. As CDI specialists, making sure we capture severity of illness and risk of mortality (SOI/ROM) is essential, and the outcome of capturing SOI/ROM correctly happens to equate to reimbursement. CDI specialists are just charged with finding innovative ways to perpetuate our hospital’s future (for the patient’s sake!) So next time the next someone rants that your CDI program is “all about the money,” be proud he or she took time to notice your program, then smile and hand them a teddy bear.

Editor’s Note: Vicki Sullivan Davis, at the time of this article's original release, was CDI manager at Cone Health System at Alamance Regional in Burlington, North Carolina, and past-speaker at ACDIS National Conference.