Note from the Certification Coordinator: CEU tips for your timely recertification

By Penny Richards

Within the first hour at my desk one recent morning, I had three inquiries from seasoned CCDS holders who wanted to know how to earn continuing education units (CEU) for their recertification.

The ACDIS website has documentation that explains what CEUs you can submit for recertification. You can download the list by clicking here, but here are some of the highlights.

• We accept AHIMA CEUs that are CDI-related.
• We accept ANCC and other nursing CEUs that are CDI-related.
• We accept college course work that is CDI-related.
• We accept other CEUs and training hours that are CDI-related.

We are often asked what “CDI-related” training is. For the purposes of your CCDS recertification, it is education or training in CDI, ICD-10, clinical (disease or diagnosis), coding, documentation improvement activities, or diagnosis/pathophysiology.

There is a restriction for CEUs issued by other agencies or organizations: For any single event that awards more than 10 CEUs, we will accept 10. For example:

• If you attend a training that awards 15 CEUs, we will accept 10 for your recertification.
• If you attend a webinar or similar training that awards you one or two CEUs, ACDIS will accept as many of those events as you wish to submit.

The same applies to CEUs you earn from the ANCC, the AAPC, etc. ACDIS also accepts training from outside companies and vendors provided it is CDI-related training, to the maximum of 10 for any single training event.

The key is that no single event can award more than 10 CEUs unless the certificate specifically states that the CEUs awarded are CCDS CEUs. Some companies, such as MedPartners, and OPTUM360 purchase ACDIS CEUs for their programs, and ACDIS accepts all these CCDS-specific CEUs.

You will know whether you can submit all these CEUs because the certificate will clearly indicate that the program awarded a specific number of CCDS CEUs.

And remember, your ACDIS membership provides the opportunity to earn 10 free CEUs each year by completing the quizzes associated with the CDI Journal and Quarterly Conference Calls. You can go back one calendar year in the archives and complete any you may have missed. In addition to these CEUs available through your membership, ACDIS also offers a number of free CEU opportunities through sponsored webinars and the annual CDI Week webinar in September. Be on the lookout for announcements for such programs on our website and in our emails.

I hope this information is helpful as you earn your CEUs and plan your timely CCDS recertification.

Editor’s note: Richards is the Certification Coordinator for ACDIS. Contact her at prichards@acdis.org.