News: ACDIS blog post estimates between 3,000-4,000 CDI staff employed nationally

In his post on the ACDIS blog this week, Donald A. Butler, RN, CCDS, CDI manager at Pitt County Memorial Hospital in Greenville, NC, follows Gold’s logic, yet calls that 60% a “conservative” estimate. Butler uses MedPAR data for the 2009 fiscal year and cross references previous ACDIS staffing survey data.

 

He estimates that most facilities employ one full time equivalent (FTE) CDI staff member per 100 beds or 2,000 annual discharges and applies the MedPAR data which places the total number of beds at 651,289 and the total annual discharges at 10,620,161. Depending on how one works the numbers, Butler estimates the number of CDI staff employed across the country to be as high as 3,700 or a low as 3,200.

 

ACDIS membership currently totals 2,206, although this number includes some HIM professionals who are not directly involved in CDI as well as physician advisors and case managers. Read Butler’s blog post and offer your own input in the comment section.