Q&A: Fully remote staff

Q: How many of your facilities are fully remote? I’m currently having issues with staff getting their CCDS and then moving to a fully remote position.

Response #1: Our program moved from a hybrid model to fully remote during the pandemic for all team members, certified or not. We have seen both productivity and retention increase since being fully remote. Additionally, key metrics and provider engagement have not seen any negative impact from being remote.

Response #2: Our CDI team used a hybrid model prior to COVID and then, after, we transitioned to being fully remote. All our huddles/meetings, provider education, etc., are now done via Microsoft Teams. We have seen enhanced productivity and engagement because of the team being fully remote, so there are currently no plans to change back to hybrid!

Response #3: I worked as a contractor during and after COVID remotely. It opened so many possibilities for me and other programs across the country. I’m on the east coast but have worked for organizations on the west coast, as well. My current organization pays for the exam and one membership (AAPC or ACDIS); however, there is no pay bump for a successful certification. My outpatient CDI team is fairly new supporting primary care physician practices around the country. Given the rarity of our skillset in outpatient CDI, remote work is a must for us. Flexibility remains a huge driver of productivity and job satisfaction for my team.

Response #4: We were hybrid (three days in-office, two days remote) prior to the pandemic, and then we went fully remote. Since then, our productivity and staff satisfaction have gone up markedly. All our office space has been reallocated, so we are now permanently remote.

We struggled to attract qualified applicants prior to being 100% remote. Since then, we have received an average of 100+ applications for each position posted. We don’t struggle with turnover, but if someone retires or we are granted additional positions then we have such a qualified candidate pool to choose from that it is often very difficult to pick one! We don’t require prior experience or certification on hire. We do, however, request that new hires obtain certification within three years.

Response #5: Our team is all remote. My team members are expected to achieve the CCDS-O or CDEO around the two-year anniversary per the job description. We pay for the test and study time. I learned to invest heavily in my team to eliminate turnover—many are very aware that the grass is not greener elsewhere and some have taken a pay cut to work on my team for greater stability.

Response #6: We are fully remote. We went remote during COVID, and our hospital gave our area to another department. We have no plans to go back currently. Our staff love being remote, but we have had issues finding qualified candidates, because many nurses do not want to work five days a week, so that is our downside.  

Response #7: At our institution, our CDI specialists review 17 of 25 facilities. Forty-eight CDI specialists have been remote since fall 2019. Approximately one-third of the specialists have their CCDS and/or coding certifications. Certifications are not mandatory. About every one or two years, our educator offers certification live webinar classes to prepare the CDI specialist to take the CCDS if interested. 

Response #8: We went through this issue recently and I am happy to say that it seems to be resolved. We are fully committed to a hybrid model. We do careful screening on new hires to ensure that the hybrid model is conducive to their lives and that they understand we will not likely change in the near future. We also have a program that is stable and well supported by our leadership teams and the organization: we think this has a very high influence on retainment. We are also hyper-focused on teammate engagement and have worked very hard to get our engagement scores in the top quartile and top decile—this has translated into CDI specialists staying with the organization. With that said, there will always be some loss of staff due to unexpected changes in life circumstances, so we do expect that occasionally folks will leave.

Editor’s note: This question was answered by members of the ACDIS CDI Leadership Council and was originally published in the CDI Leadership Insider, a monthly newsletter exclusive to Council members. For the purposes of this article, all Council member answers have been deidentified.