Local Chapter Update: TN leadership recaps successful January event

by Sherri Clark, BSN, RN-BC, CCDS, CCS, Clinical Documentation Nurse Specialist at the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville, and core member of the Tennessee chapter of ACDIS

The joint meeting of the Tennessee Chapter of ACDIS (Association of Clinical Documentation Improvement Specialist), THIMA (Tennessee Health Information Management Association), and THA (Tennessee Hospital Association) occurred on January 27. The meeting took place at the THA headquarters in Brentwood. The subject of the meeting was “The Impact of ICD-10 and Payment Reform on Clinical Documentation Improvement.” Four members of the core team of TN ACDIS chapter leaders (Sherri Clark, Kristie Perry, Cynthia Raymond, and James Kennedy, MD) and one chapter member (Kyra Brown) served on the planning committee for this joint meeting. Attendees were offered a number of hour-long presentations to choose from during the meeting, including:

• Managing Conflicting Guidelines in ICD-10–CM/PCS
• CDI, Coding, and Quality – The Three Legged Stool
• Payment Reform in TN – Health Care Innovative Initiatives
• Recovery Auditor Prevention Strategies: How to keep the predators away
• MACRA, MIPS, APMS: Why CDI is a critical ingredient of the alphabet soup?
• ICD-10-PCS and the Impact on CDI
• The Case for Category II Codes
• Hospital Improvement Network and other statewide databases: How are they used and the importance of quality data
• The Impact of HCCs on Physician Accountability

The meeting drew physicians, coders, CDI specialists, and executives from THA. The presenters for the meeting included members of ACDIS, AHIMA, THIMA, and the THA. ACDIS Director Brian Murphy attended the meeting, as did all of the TN ACDIS Chapter leaders—Sherri Clark, Kristie Perry, Cynthia Raymond, Judy Rochelle, and James Kennedy. The joint meeting qualified for six continuing education units for ACDIS and AHIMA.

Editor’s note: Clark is a Clinical Documentation Nurse Specialist at the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville, Tennessee. She has been an ACDIS member since the spring of 2008 (she even attended the first ACDIS conference that year!) and a chapter leader since 2011 when the chapter was formed. For information regarding upcoming local chapter events, visit the website or email Clark at SClark@mc.utmck.edu.