Note from the ACDIS Editor: A year of insight from the CDI Journal

by Jess Fluegel

Here at ACDIS, there is always so much going on to inform the CDI community about! But with 2025 near its close, I have the rare opportunity to reflect back on what we’ve already accomplished—specifically, the six CDI Journal editions published this year, which contain a total of 56 articles packed with timely education and curated insight for the CDI profession!

The CDI Journal is ACDIS’ bimonthly publication and a benefit of ACDIS membership. It includes a dozen-plus articles on industry-focused topics, and in 2025 we had another amazing year publishing insight written by CDI professionals, ACDIS staff, and ACDIS/HCPro CDI educational specialists!

We started out the year strongly with an overlook at CDI professional development topics for the January/February edition. “Your Career in CDI” featured articles about applying your unique strengths and experiences to CDI work, CDI leadership essentials that could be missing from your toolbox, what to expect in your first year in CDI, and plenty more. I recommend this edition to anyone looking for advice to advance their career, no matter your experience level. To review this entire edition, click here.

Next, we dove into CDI topics centered around “Measuring Success” for the March/April edition. Articles shared advice such as how to communicate the value of CDI to key stakeholders, the recipe for success when developing new key performance indicators, and how to set effective expectations. This edition would benefit anyone in need of help to evaluate the next steps for their program or personal success. To review the full edition, click here.

As spring rolled into summer, we expanded our CDI horizons and looked to the future. The May/June edition was titled, “CDI Innovation: Expansion, Technology, and Workflow,” and delved into topics like expanding under the pediatric umbrella, developing an outpatient program, creating an efficient, effective CDI workflow, and plenty more! I recommend this edition to those looking to branch out in the CDI field. To review this edition, click here.

The July/August edition tackled a topic that will always be essential for the CDI profession: education! You can read articles about CDI onboarding, resident education, curating your CDI education program, and educational content on sepsis, reporting Patient Safety Indicators, pediatric social determinants of health (SDOH), and more. This edition has so much variety in it, I think anyone could read it and learn something new. To review the full edition, click here.

In the second half of the year, we took a step back and considered the impact of the CDI profession on the world. The September/October edition was titled, “CDI Impact: A Global Perspective,” and featured articles about CDI and the continuum of care, the role of ancillary documentation in CDI, and strategies for executive leadership buy-in. If you enjoy learning about the ways CDI can impact their organizations and healthcare at large, this is the edition for you! To review this edition, click here.

Just recently, our final edition of 2025 gave us the chance to look at the growing relationship between CDI and quality. Titled, “Quality and Health Equity,” in this edition you’ll find topics about education and coordination in Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set measures, how to deepen your quality reviews, how diversity, equity, and inclusion can enhance CDI efforts, programs, and careers, and different approaches to SDOH capture. If your program is at all involved in quality reviews, I would give this one a read! To review the full edition, click here.

Each of these editions offers one ACDIS CEU for up to a year after publication, so if all these amazing topics are already tempting you to schedule yourself a cozy reading session, you can also earn up to six CEUs while you’re at it!

And don’t forget that contributors to the CDI Journal earn CEUs as well. Here are the topics you can look forward to reading—or even write about yourself—in 2026:

• January/February 2026: Provider Engagement and Interdepartmental Collaboration
  
  • Submission deadline: December 1, 2025
• March/April 2026: Clinical and Coding
  
  • Submission deadline: February 1, 2026
• May/June 2026: Denials
  
  • Submission deadline: April 1, 2026
• July/August 2026: Pediatric CDI
  
  • Submission deadline: June 1, 2026
• September/October 2026: Getting Started in CDI
  
  • Submission deadline: August 1, 2026
• November/December 2026: Quality and Population Health Initiatives
  
  • Submission deadline: October 1, 2026

With that, I wish you all happy reading! Please reach out if you have any questions.

Editor’s note: Fluegel is an editor for ACDIS. Contact her at jess.fluegel@hcpro.com. To submit a CDI Journal article for 2026, click here.