ACDIS local chapter update: How to gather networking partners

ACDIS wants to facilitate networking opportunities for its members and expand educational opportunities for CDI professionals throughout the country. After all, “ACDIS is a community in which CDI professionals share strategies for successful CDI programs and achieve professional growth. Its mission is to bring CDI specialists together.” Letting the national association know you are interested in getting a group started is the first step to gather a group. Email the ACDIS team at info@acdis.org. A member of the national team will set up a convenient time to chat and review the expectations and requirements and offer assistance.

ACDIS will help generate participation in your networking efforts by emailing national members from your state/region letting them know about your interests. ACDIS will also email its membership on an annual basis regarding networking efforts in their areas. If you have planned events such information will be sent, otherwise we will communicate chapter leaders’ contact information.

ACDIS also maintains a number of networking and communication tools including the ACDIS Forum and groups on Facebook and LinkedIn. Each of these venues allows users to post comments, concerns, and interests. We encourage chapter leaders to avail themselves of these forums. Additionally, chapter leaders are asked to send any information regarding upcoming meetings on a monthly basis via the Online Leadership Request Form. This information is posted in the weekly e-newsletter CDI Strategies.

Here are other steps you can take.

Call your friends and neighbors:

Look to the other hospitals and healthcare facilities in your state. Call the main number and ask to speak to the CDI department. You could be surprised by the energy and enthusiasm on the other end of the line.

Reach out to case management, HIM, and quality:

Some facility operators may not know about their hospital’s CDI program, or the facility may not have a CDI program yet. Ask to speak to the health information management (HIM), case management, and/or quality director, even when there’s no evidence of an existing CDI program at the facility, says Gail Marini, MM, RN, CCS, manager of clinical documentation for South Shore Hospital (SSH) in Weymouth, MA, who helped start the New England ACDIS Chapter in 2006.

Marini found sending flyers with meeting information to area hospitals worked well. One woman saw the flyer and, although she knew nothing about CDI efforts at the time, came to the meeting to learn more and remained an active member of the group.

Although CDI programs are growing across the nation, there are still many facilities without programs in place. When Susan Tiffany, RN, CCDS, previous leader of a New York/Pennsylvania ACDIS networking group started searching for fellow professionals, “most [hospital] operators had no idea who [or what] I was asking for,” she says.

If that happens try connecting to documentation improvement efforts via other departments, Tiffany suggests. When she started in 2009, Tiffany Googled all healthcare facilities in a 100-mile radius of her own organization and began making phone calls. While that may seem daunting, it need not be a labor-intensive activity. Just make one phone call, once a week to a different facility and see what happens.

Collect contact information:

As you begin to make connections don’t forget to collect the contact information of your new friends and file it in a convenient central location. It’s easy to misplace emails or lose that scrap of paper with someone’s phone number. Ask those you connect with to share your information with other CDI professionals in their organization or others they might know. ACDIS has created an Online Membership Roster to help you collect the necessary information.

Note: This is an excerpt from a resource which will be available soon in the chapter leadership toolkit, which is currently under review with the Chapter Advisory Committee.

The following is a list of upcoming events for ACDIS local chapters. Visit your local chapter’s webpage on the ACDIS site for additional information about upcoming meetings. To join a chapter if you haven’t already or to update your chapter contact information/affiliation, click here.

March:

• The CDI Educators Networking Group meets Friday, March 24, 2023, 1-2 p.m., via webinar. The program is titled, “The Matter of Mortalities: Educating Providers on ‘WHY’ Their Words Matter,” and will be presented by Kathy Hubbard, BSN, RN, CCDS, and Lisa Fuller, BSN, RN, CCDS. For information, contact Danita Arrowood (darrowood@nthrive.com).
• The Texas ACDIS chapter meets Thursday, March 30, 2023, 12-1 p.m., via webinar. The program is titled, "There and Back Again: Evolution of the CDI Profession and Emerging Professional Opportunities," and will be presented by Brian Murphy. For information, contact Tu-Quynh Hoang (tuhoang@utmb.edu).

April:

• The Michigan ACDIS chapter meets Thursday, April 13, 2023, 11 a.m.-12 p.m., via webinar. The program is titled, “Clinical Validity,” and will be presented by Elana Bright, BSN, RN, Julia Lehman, BSN, RN. For information, contact Ange Clay (aclay2@hfhs.org).
• The Illinois ACDIS chapter meets Thursday, April 20, 2023, 12-1 p.m., via webinar. The program is titled, “CDI Jeopardy,” and will be presented by Emilie Navidad-McDermid, BSN, RN, CCDS, Dottie Fanning, BSN, RN, CCM, CCDS, and Jeneth Esquivel-Salinas, MSN, RN, CCDS. For information, contact Amy Bush (dorothy.fanning@aah.org).
• The Pediatric Networking Group (APDIS) meets Thursday, April 20, 2023, at 3 p.m., via webinar. The program is titled, “Hot Topics in Pediatric CDI.” For information, contact Amy Bush (bush-amy@cooperhealth.edu).
• The Central Pennsylvania ACDIS chapter meets Friday, April 21, 2023, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., via webinar, for their second quarterly meeting. For information, contact Courtney Spangler (cspangler4@wellspan.org).
• The CDI Educators Networking Group meets Friday, April 21, 2023, 1-2 p.m., via webinar. The program is titled, “Clinical Documentation Improvement Process for Cancer Patients,” and will be presented by Cheryl Radin-Norman, LPN, RHIT, CTR. For information, contact Danita Arrowood (darrowood@nthrive.com).
• The Virginia ACDIS chapter meets Friday, April 28, 2023, 12-1:15 p.m., via webinar. The program is titled, “State of the CDI Industry,” and will be presented by Linnea Archibald, associate editorial director of ACDIS. For information, contact Amanda Palacios (amanda.palacios@rivhs.com).

May:

• The Virginia ACDIS chapter meets Friday, May 19, 2023, 12-1:15 p.m., via webinar. The program is titled, “Two or More Sequencing Guidelines to Improve CMI and GLOS,” and will be presented by Angela Carmichael, MBA, RHIA, CDIP, CCS, CCS-P, CRC. For information, contact Amanda Palacios (amanda.palacios@rivhs.com).