ACDIS update: ACDIS Virtual kick-off featuring special episode of the ACDIS Podcast
“[The event is] planned as a self-driven virtual experience,” ACDIS Director Brian Murphy said during his special ACDIS Podcast episode to kick off day 1 of Staying Engaged: ACDIS Presents Virtual Education and Community. “You determine your own level of participation.”
The best way to experience Staying Engaged is through the app, available for both iOS and Android in the app store. Attendees can share photos, engage with other CDI professionals, participate in trivia, and engage with the community. While an agenda is provided, all of the sessions have been pre-recorded so participants can listen when it’s more convenient for them—even after the event till November 2020.
“We know that many folks are busy working while the event is going on, so we wanted to give the ability to watch whenever you’re free,” said Murphy.
For the opening session ACDIS Podcast, Murphy and his fellow panelists focused on demonstrating the value of their CDI departments during COVID-19.
“Our facility experienced what a lot of people did back in March with ending elective surgeries,” said Tracy Boldt, BSN, RN, CCDS, CDIP, CCDS-O, manager of CDI at Essentia Health in Duluth, Minnesota. Her facility was impacted tremendously by understaffing at the time and after a few weeks, reviews were about half of what they were before the pandemic. “We had to make some hard decisions.”
To deal with the census slowdown, Boldt’s facility first eliminated contract staffing, then redeployed CDI specialists to the call line in telehealth to assist there. “Sixty to seventy percent of our business is all telehealth right now,” she said.
Both Sheri Blanchard, RN, MSN, FNP-BC, CCDS, CCS, corporate director of CDI at Orlando Health, and Susan Fantin, MSA, BSN, RN, CCDS, CDIP, corporate director clinical documentation for McLaren Health Care in Grand Blanc, Michigan, experienced the same challenges.
“Our shift went to pre-bill COVID-19 reviews,” said Fantin. “We had to really work with the coding department and show leadership the impacts we were making.”
“In March we started to look at ways that CDI could be leveraged,” added Blanchard. “We knew that this time of the year, CDI has to bring more things to the table financially.” Her team began looking at all payers, split shifts, and more to focus on doing everything they could as compliantly as possible. “We knew the hospital would really need every last dollar from losing elective surgeries and a lower census.”
The Podcast poll echoed the panelists’ experiences: CDI departments everywhere are doing what they can to demonstrate their values, particularly with helping busy physicians capture COVID-19 accuracy.