I became the CDI director for Banner Health in April 2019. Banner Health is a large health network covering six western states, with its headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona. The CDI department includes 80 team members who perform record reviews for 18 of...Read More »
Changes in the IPPS (Inpatient Prospective Payment System) led hospitals to develop clinical documentation departments to assist with these changes. Some hospitals hire consultants to initiate their novice CDI staff. They provide generous budgets to...Read More »
by Tamara Hicks, RN, BSN, MHA, CCS, ACM-RN, CCDS-O
There are many reasons CDI leaders may create a career ladder for their department. First, career ladders provide mobility for staff members who have spent many years working in CDI and who have been tasked with additional...Read More »
When AHIMA released its “Managing an Effective Query Process” brief in September 2008, it raised a number of concerns among them the responsibility of a CDI program to draft consistent policies and procedures for conducting physician queries. In...Read More »
Everybody knows that experienced CDI specialists don’t grow on trees. Additionally, CDI is a niche specialty; most people in healthcare have only a vague idea of what CDI specialists really do. Because of these two problems, CDI leaders have unique...Read More »
Good communication is a key attribute of a successful clinical documentation improvement specialist (CDIS). The CDIS must be able to function in a variety of different settings. These include the CDIS office, the patient care unit, and presenting at rounds....Read More »
by Chinwe Anyika, PhD, RN-BC, CDIP, CCS, CCDS, CCDS-O
As CDI has grown over the years, its far-reaching implications for patient care and institutional standing have become increasingly apparent. The strength of documentation integrity largely depends on the scribblings (whether...Read More »
Q: We have a new CDI program with a huge learning curve. I am an RN in a CDI position. There are many things to ask, but the present issue is the re-querying done by the coders, which results in a large number of charts being held up. Has this been a familiar problem...Read More »
