Note from the ACDIS Director: Recapping the year from the ACDIS Radio studio
By Brian Murphy
It’s not always easy being the director of ACDIS, but I do have to say that hosting the bi-weekly ACDIS Radio show doesn’t feel like work. It’s one of my favorite aspects of my job (an aside: If you’re not a subscriber to ACDIS Radio, what are you waiting for? It’s free and available as a podcast so you can listen on your computer or your smartphone. Register here to listen live or subscribe to the podcast here). ACDIS Radio allows me to converse with some of the brightest and most interesting and innovative names in the CDI industry, and share their expertise and wonderful stories with an engaged, appreciative audience every other week.
With 2018 winding to a close, I thought I would share a couple highlights from the past year. If you missed any of these when they aired live, take a moment to download them to your smartphone and fill up your podcast queue for some holiday listening.
We did a total of 25 shows in 2018, and we have one more left on the schedule (“How to conduct a medical record review”) before we say goodbye to 2018. The broad categories of subjects covered and number of shows in each are as follows:
Clinical and Coding (9): CDI requires clinical knowledge and an ability to navigate clinical complexity with coding rules and regulations. Our biggest bucket, we did nine shows related to clinical updates and coding concerns. One of the highlights for me was listening to Beth Wolf, MD, CPC, CCDS, talk with first-hand knowledge of hospice care and palliative care patients and what CDI specialists should be observing and clarifying during these chart reviews. We also did a fun Q&A with our own ACDIS boot camp instructors back in February where Sharme Brodie, RN, CCDS, and Allen Frady, RN-BSN, CCDS, CCS, CRC, tackled tough questions about congestive heart failure as an ongoing reportable condition, Type I versus Type II myocardial infarctions, and patients with both acute hypoxic and acute hypercapnic respiratory failure.
CDI Expansion (6): We devoted the second largest number of shows to the growth and expansion of the CDI profession, which has developed beyond hospital walls and into post-acute and outpatient settings. A particularly enlightening show was HCCs in the ED, where Brett Senor, MD, and Sonia Trepina, MPA, discussed innovative and practical ways to engage ED physicians to help with appropriate capture of hierarchical condition categories. I also really enjoyed a recent show with Brian Cui of the Medical Coding Geek podcast, on building your personal (CDI) brand. Brian has some great ideas for how to build up your name and online following, and leveraging your expertise to land speaking engagements or a side business.
Staff management (4): We just hosted a wonderful program about training CDI staff, with someone who knows a thing or two about the topic: Sheila Duhon, MBA, RN, CCDS, A-CCRN, CCS, the national director of CDI education at Tenet Healthcare in Dallas, Texas. Sheila made the great point that becoming a CDI specialist is a commitment to lifelong learning. I couldn’t agree more!
ACDIS topics (4): These included some fun shows on the growth of ACDIS local chapters, optimizing your chances of speaking at the national ACDIS conference, and a conference sendoff. We also did a fun 100th episode special of ACDIS Radio where we covered “CDI past, present, and future” with our very first ACDIS Radio guest, Karen Chase, MS, BSN, RNC, CCDS. Karen Elmore, RN, BSN, CCDS, chapter leader for the ACDIS Heart of Missouri local chapter, has done amazing work with running her local chapter of ACDIS. Did you know that 61% of respondents are members of a local ACDIS chapter or a topic-based networking group, up from 45% in 2017?
One last note: Thanks to everyone who wrote me over the past year with your kind words about the show, and your ideas for future guests and topics. Keep them coming! Your input is critical to make ACDIS Radio the best show it can be.
I’m looking forward to another year together on the airwaves.
Editor’s note: Murphy is the director of ACDIS. contact him at bmurphy@acdis.org.