Symposium spotlight: Outpatient CDI fun and education—Texas style

CDI Strategies - Volume 13, Issue 53

It’s hard to believe that the 2019 ACDIS Symposium: Outpatient CDI has already come and gone. ACDIS hosts two conferences every year: the national conference in May, and the outpatient symposium in November. While the national conference has been around for going on 13 years, the symposium got its start in 2017. Why the need for the second conference? As ACDIS Director Brian Murphy puts it, “Outpatient CDI isn’t just inpatient CDI in an emergency department or clinic. It’s a different skillset. It’s a different mindset.”

The symposium crowd included folks from across the United States from a variety of backgrounds and different points in their CDI careers. Everyone, though, had at least one factor in common: their commitment to outpatient CDI.

Keynote speaker Joan Peterson kicked off the symposium with a hands-on learning session for living and working with passion and purpose. Included in the event was an exercise on not only identifying the passions in one’s own life but recognizing that others may have different passions. Identifying the passions and purpose in the lives of others can help CDI professionals better meet the needs of those they engage and collaborate with.

From the kick-off keynote, attendees made their way to breakout sessions presented by knowledgeable speakers on topics such as hierarchical condition categories, implementing outpatient CDI in the acute care hospital, problem lists, and challenges of provider self-coding. Whether someone was new to all of outpatient CDI, or working on refining an entire outpatient CDI department, there was information to be learned by everyone. (ACDIS members have access to all the presentations on the ACDIS website.)

As those able to attend any ACDIS affiliate event well know networking with peers plays an important role in solidifying the lessons presented onstage with practical tips and tales of the personal experiences of attendees. With breaks between each session, lunches, and a cocktail reception at the end of the first day, there was plenty of time to connect and engage.

Believe it or not the ACDIS team and committee of volunteers are prepping for the 13th annual conference slated for May 5-8 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Speakers will be notified within the next few weeks and the agenda will be announced soon. So, start planning—registration for big event is now open.

Editor’s note: To read Brian Murphy’s live from the event article, click here. For Symposium details, click here. For information on the upcoming 2020 annual conference, click here.