Note from the Director: Far reaching physician advisor roles leave many stretched thin
by Rebecca Hendren
According to the 2024 ACDIS white paper Transforming Healthcare Delivery: The Role and Impact of Physician Advisors in Health Systems (ACDIS members can read the full white paper here), the modern physician advisor in CDI role:
- Requires a broad understanding of clinical care in multiple specialties and settings
- Educates clinicians on documentation, coding, status, quality, and compliance rules
- Educates other teams and departments, such as CDI and utilization management, on clinical practice and regulatory guidelines
- Informs administrators and senior leaders about the purpose of the physician advisor role as well as why clinicians are (or are not) engaging with CDI efforts
- Mediates discrepancies and disputes related to coding, billing, insurance claims, denials, and outcome measures
- Advocates for high-quality patient care and appropriate healthcare system reimbursement
That’s a pretty far-reaching list and just goes to show how vital the role of physician advisors in CDI have become and it’s not surprising that many who are trying to fulfill those responsibilities feel pretty stretched thin. To quote my favorite Hobbit: “… Like butter scraped over too much bread.”
ACDIS provides a variety of mediums for physician advisors to come together with others across the country to share stories, strategies, and encouragement. One of which is the ACDIS Physician Advisor Forum, which started out life as a training boot camp focusing mostly on lecture type education and has evolved over the years, alongside the physician advisor role, to become an intimate conference led by physician advisor speakers from all across the country who encourage lively debate and conversation during each session.
It's a wonderful event for new and seasoned physician advisors and I encourage you to take a look at the agenda and see the variety of topics covered.
One of the many topics of conversation at any gathering of physician advisors is the challenge of educating providers on documentation and the need to impart the seriousness and implications of providers’ documentation. Which is why former Interim ACDIS Director Laurie Prescott, RN, MSN, CCDS, CCDS-O, CDIP, CRC, and James Manz, MD, FAAOS, CCDS-O, from the Mayo Clinic, put their heads together to create a microlearning series that offers a compliant, comprehensive, and easy-to-use option for training providers. There’s more information on the Provider Education Microlearning Series here.
If you aren’t a physician advisor, I hope you will keep these resources in mind to share with your organization’s physician advisor. You can find more resources here.
Editor’s note: Hendren is the director of ACDIS. Contact her at rebecca.hendren@hcpro.com.