Note from the Editorial Director: May 20 Quarterly Conference Call focuses on education

by Melissa Varnavas

The CDI role is diversifying, expanding. Opportunities are growing. During our February ACDIS Quarterly Conference Call my colleagues and I reviewed the data from the most recent CDI Salary Survey which helped illuminate trends in career ladders and responsibility shifts. In this week’s (May 20) call, we dig a little deeper into this topic to investigate the emerging role of the CDI educator.

Joined by representatives from the Henry Ford Health System in Michigan, as well as folks from HonorHealth in Arizona, and NovantHealth in North Carolina, we examine the challenges faced by those working in the role, take a look at opportunities educators are able to identify, and bring forward tools our panelists have used in their own programs. With two past representatives from the ACDIS Educator’s Network (a role based, ACDIS supported, networking group), we look at ways this role can be leveraged to help provide education not only to their CDI teams, but across disciplines by inviting the voices of their colleagues into the conversation and broadening the discussion of the importance of documentation integrity.

The ACDIS Quarterly Conference Calls are a benefit of membership and are free and open to any ACDIS member. When the organization started more than 14 years ago, we were able to have literal telephone calls with our smaller membership. These were calls filled with dialogue, ideas, opportunities to network and exchange thoughts about a wide variety of topics. Today, we’re online, virtual, with computer cameras on, in a presentation-style one-hour session. While the size of our gathering prohibits live telephone lines, we’re hopeful that these calls are as full of information and insight as you’ve come to expect from ACDIS.

As a special bonus, our May 20 call includes a special post-presentation demonstration of our new ACDIS Physician Pro, a digital tool designed to give providers real-time access to guidance-based diagnostic criteria and documentation tips.

Each call qualifies for one (1) continuing education credit for the Certified Clinical Documentation Specialist (CCDS) certification. Perhaps the greatest benefit is that if you can’t listen live (or you enjoyed the exchange and want to re-listen to an episode) they’re available online under the “Events & Networking” tab on the ACDIS website. That’s also where you can register for subsequent calls slated for August and November.

Editor’s note: Varnavas is the editorial director of events and education for ACDIS. Contact at mvarnavas@acdis.org.