Note from the ACDIS Editor: CDI Journal focuses on data, benchmarking

by Linnea Archibald

Those on the ACDIS team know that I am a huge data nerd. Each month, part of my job is to analyze ACDIS’ website data to identify our membership’s needs and interests, helping us shape our offerings and better serve members’ needs. While talking to members one-on-one or through our boards and committees on a regular basis provides us with the individual stories that help shape our educational efforts, data provides an invaluable backing to those stories and a benchmark to measure future interests, needs, and success against.

While it may be surprising given my love of data, I have never been a numbers person. Math was my worst subject all through school (a real embarrassment since my dad is a software engineer and my brother has a master’s degree in nanotechnology, but I digress). I have always been someone who cares more about words and personal interactions than numbers. And to be completely transparent, I’m still like that.

Over the years, however, I’ve come to understand that you can’t provide meaningful offerings and serve your community well without knowing where they concretely stand at any moment. Without monitoring data and trends over time, you won’t know how things have changed, where they need improvement, and where you’ve succeeded. Monitoring and benchmarking your data shines a light on what you’ve already accomplished and helps illuminate your next right step along the road.

Data analytics and benchmarking may not be a glamorous topic, but it’s essential for all CDI professionals. CDI leaders can leverage return on investment (ROI) data to secure more staff and resources and protect existing staff members from furloughs and layoffs; they can use CDI metrics to understand where their own team members or physician staff may need additional education. Frontline CDI specialists can use their individual data to benchmark their progress when learning a new review area; they can use physician data to shape their conversations with the medical staff and secure that all-important physician engagement.

Given its centrality to the CDI process, we’ve devoted the March/April CDI Journal edition to benchmarking and data analysis.

Within this edition’s pages, readers will learn about

• Proving a financial ROI
• Leveraging data for program growth
• Meaningful quality improvements
• Proving a quality ROI
• Outpatient CDI metrics and success
• CDI in Veteran’s Administration hospitals
• CDI analyst roles
• Productivity metrics
• Provider education ROI

Of course, this edition also includes some of our usual articles on the state of ACDIS and CDI from our associate editorial director, guidance from a physician’s perspective, and advice from an ACDIS member. This edition also includes a look at recent CDI research related to utilization management and self-care and an article by yours truly about the importance of data for CDI efforts.

The ACDIS team hopes you enjoy this latest edition and find some helpful information to advance your CDI practice within its pages. The May/June edition of the CDI Journal will focus on unconventional settings and program expansion, so if you’d like to contribute, wish to share your CDI journey, or suggest an article idea, please feel free to email us.

Editor’s note: Archibald is the editor for ACDIS. Contact her at larchibald@acdis.org.