These days it seems the healthcare industry is all about quality. And no wonder: Underpinning healthcare reform is a fundamental shift from volume-based payment (i.e., fee for service) to paying for quality, patientcentered outcomes, and demonstrable improvements in physician and hospital performance.

According to the 2014 CDI Week Industry Overview Survey, the CDI profession is following suit, as CDI is also shifting from revenue enhancement to overall integrity of the health record, aligned with the overall goals of quality. Approximately two-thirds (66.3%) of our survey respondents now review some form of quality measure or quality-related item.

“Hopefully more and more people are starting to realize, if you get it right—quality and integrity—the money just follows along,” says CDI Week survey advisor Mark LeBlanc, RN, MBA, CCDS, clinical documentation manager for Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis. “If you just go after money, you may find $1,000 on one case, but you don’t look for the entire picture and you’re only getting that money once. It’s not a long-term solution, not as good as improving your documentation across the board and getting a higher multiplier.”

In other survey developments, CDI departments still struggle with physician engagement and finding an effective physician advisor; have made significant strides in implementation of electronic health records (EHR), with most realizing EHR benefits in their CDI reviews; have slowed down their ICD-10 training timetables with the one-year delay to October 2015; and believe that CDI has lots of room for growth and career advancement, but largely outside their own facilities.

Following is a recap of the survey results beginning on p. 7 and LeBlanc’s commentary.