Local chapter update: Local meetings, national influence

It was amazing to see the host of vendors, volunteers and attendees at last week’s California ACDIS Chapter meeting. The leadership team hosted a meet-and-greet the evening before at a Davis (CA) brewery were early arrivers could mingle and nosh on tasty tacos from a regional food truck. The morning of the event volunteers were up before the sun setting the stage and supervising the rollout of the state’s largest CDI networking event. They had purple and orange balloon towers and a California ACDIS sign to mark the entrance way and purple and orange bird-of-paradise flowers adorning the podium’s base.

They used a scanner and Eventbright program to register attendees and also had volunteers handing out name badges, bags, and lanyards. They were vendors along both sides of the hallway and tucked into several rooms. There were more than two dozen giveaways. There were eggs and bacon for breakfast, chicken and vegan options for lunch, and even cookies for a late afternoon pick-me-up.

There were seven presentations and six continuing education credits offered for sessions such as “How does your CDI program measure up?” by Staci Josten, “Translating CDI into compliant coding,” by Monica Leisch, “CDI’s critical role in preventing and appealing denials,” by Margaret DeFillippis, “Unifying coding and CDI efforts,” by Cassie Birnbaum, “Leveraging analytics and dashboards,” by Tami McMasters-Gomez, “ACDIS Industry Update,” by Melissa Varnavas, and “Best practices for coding and compliance strategies,” by Victoria Hernandez.

All the presentations were excellent and the conversations around the tables afterwards were insightful.

As mentioned in last week’s email newsletter, California wasn’t the only chapter meeting last week. There were events in Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin and the coming weeks hold more in store for those looking for education and networking opportunities.

The following is a list of upcoming events for ACDIS local chapters. If you have an upcoming event you would like to include, please email Melissa Varnavas (mvarnavas@acdis.org) and Linnea Archibald (larchibald@acdis.org).   

October:

• The Arizona ACDIS chapter meets Wednesday, October 30, 5:30-7:30 p.m., at Mimi's Cafe at Desert Ridge. Click here to download the event flyer. During the meeting, the chapter will discuss the September/October edition of the CDI Journal. For information, contact Jamie Rygiel (JRygiel@yrmc.org).

November:

• The Philadelphia/New Jersey/Delaware ACDIS chapter meets Wednesday, November 6, 7:45 a.m. to 4 p.m., at Jefferson Torresdale Hospital in Philadelphia. For information, contact Gina Stewart (gstewart@e4-services.com).
• The Tennessee ACDIS chapter meets Friday, November 8, 8:30 a.m., at Parkridge Medical Center in Chattanooga. For information, contact Kristie Perry (kristie.perry@erlanger.org).
• The Arkansas ACDIS chapter meets Friday, November 8, 1-4 p.m., at St. Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin Room, in Hot Springs. For information, contact Tuesday Trumble (Tuesday.trumble@coniferhealth.com).
• The Central New York ACDIS chapter meets Friday, November 15, 1-4 p.m., at St. Joseph's Health Hospital in Syracuse. Click here to download the event flyer. For information, contact Dawn Burr (dawnburr@crouse.org).
• The Puerto Rico ACDIS local chapter meets Friday, November 15, 1:30-4 p.m., along with the Healthcare Quality Association of Puerto Rico at Hospital Auxilio Mutuo in San Juan. For information, contact Carmen Ibarrondo (carmen.ibarrondo@yahoo.com).
• The California ACDIS chapter meets Wednesday, November 20, 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., via webinar. For information, contact Rani Stoddard (stoddardrv@henrymayo.com).
• The Arizona ACDIS chapter and the CDI Educators networking group meet Friday, November 22, 12-1 p.m., via webinar. Click here to download the event flyer. For information, contact Jamie Rygiel (JRygiel@yrmc.org).
• The North Carolina ACDIS chapter meets Friday, November 22, 7:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m., for their fall conference at Artrium Health in Charlotte. Click here to read the full agenda. For information, contact the chapter leadership team (ncacdis@gmail.com).

Save-the-date:

• The Kansas City, Missouri, ACDIS chapter meets Wednesday, December 4, 2-3 p.m. central, via webinar. For information, contact Angelica Naylor (angelica.naylor@outlook.com).
• The Chapter Advisory Board invites chapter leaders and members to join them for a panel discussion on Thursday, December 12, 12-1 p.m., via webinar. Click here to register.