Note from the Product Coordinator: Celebrating achievement at the ACDIS conference

by Karla Accorto

Today marks the last day of the 2022 ACDIS Conference at the Gaylord Palms in Orlando. The ACDIS team loved having the opportunity to connect with so many of you! We were also thrilled to present the ACDIS Achievement Awards yesterday morning to four extremely deserving individuals and one outstanding organization.

Our first award, the Rookie of the Year, was presented to AJ Hegg, MD, physician advisor for utilization management at Essentia Health in Minnesota, and adjunct faculty at the University of Minnesota Duluth School of Medicine. Hegg is board-certified in internal medicine, critical care medicine, and emergency medicine and has published in multiple journals, including Journal of the American Medical Association. He is a member of ACDIS and the Minnesota ACDIS local chapter. His colleagues praise his passion for ensuring quality patient care.

Excellence in Provider Engagement was awarded to Paul Simmons, MD, physician advisor to CDI and case management and assistant chief medical officer at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He is board-certified in internal medicine and serves as an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. He is a member of the ACDIS Massachusetts local chapter and has been recognized by his colleagues for his advocacy and promotion of CDI efforts to both physicians and executive leadership.

The Recognition of Professional Achievement Award was presented to Tami McMasters Gomez, BS, CCS-P, CDIP, CCDS (MHL), director of coding and clinical documentation integrity services at University of California Davis Medical Center in Sacramento. McMasters Gomez has nearly 30 years of experience in healthcare, 17 of which have been in CDI. She is a member of ACDIS and the ACDIS Leadership Council; a past ACDIS speaker and guest on the ACDIS Podcast; and belongs to the team that was awarded the 2021 Diversity in CDI ACDIS Achievement Award.

ACDIS was also pleased to honor Sheila M. Duhon, MBA, RN, CCDS, CCS, A-CCRN, with the CDI Professional of the Year Award. Duhon is the national director of CDI for Steward Healthcare in Dallas and a member of the ACDIS Leadership Council. She has over 15 years of experience CDI and an extensive background in critical care nursing. She has also spoken at multiple ACDIS national conferences and local chapter meetings and is the author of CDI Workbook: Investigating Complex Cases and Formulating Queries. Duhon’s colleagues most admire her passion for mentoring and developing other CDI professionals’ skills.

Finally, the second annual Diversity in CDI Award was presented to the University of Miami Health System. ACDIS celebrates this organization for its incredibly diverse team, which is comprised of eight team members who identify as male and 11 as female and who represent a variety of cultures and ethnicities from Cuba, India, Dominican Republic, Bahamas, Syria, Puerto Rico, and America. The CDI specialists include registered nurses, physicians, coders, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants with a variety of education and experience levels. The organization’s required training includes courses on unconscious bias and equity in the workplace. Tiara Minor, RN, BSN, CCDS, senior manager, CDI, accepted the award on behalf of the University of Miami Health System.

If you know or work with any of our award winners, please take a moment to congratulate them on their achievements.

The ACDIS team would also like to thank everyone who joined us in Orlando this week. We loved getting to reunite with all of you, and we hope you were able to imagine a bright future for yourself and your CDI departments. We look forward to seeing you next year in Chicago!

Editor’s note: Accorto is an editor and product coordinator at ACDIS in Middleton, Massachusetts. Contact her at kaccorto@acdis.org.