ACDIS Advisory Board
Task: Providing leadership, expertise, and an industry voice for the ACDIS membership.
Click here to download the committee scope of work. For questions about the Advisory Board, contact ACDIS Director Brian Murphy (bmurphy@acdis.org). To view ACDIS Advisory Board frequently asked questions, please click here.
Sheri Blanchard, RN, MSN, FNP-BC, CCDS, CCS
Corporate director of CDI
Orlando Health
Orlando, Florida
sheri.1986blanchard@gmail.com
Blanchard has more than 24 years of nursing experience, and 12 years of CDI, care management, and coding experience, with a focus on improving patient care, quality outcomes, and the financial stability of hospital systems nationwide.
Blanchard is a subject matter expert on assessing hospitals for areas of opportunities and implementing change through collaboration and DRG bill-hold reviews. She has developed reports to track mortality review opportunities, Emergency Care Research Institute measures, patient safety indicator (PSI) and hospital acquired condition reviews, individual CDI metric reports, implementing CDI in the ED with care management, and denial intervention for DRG validations. She works in collaboration with her CDI team, key departments, and providers to develop diagnosis definitions to align with evidence-based practice. Blanchard is a past co-leader for the Central Ohio ACDIS.
Elected to the board in 2019; serving through April 2022
Tracy Boldt, RN, BSN, CCDS, CDIP
Manager, clinical documentation integrity
Essentia Health
Duluth, Minnesota
tracy.boldt@essentiahealth.org
Boldt was drawn to the CDI profession because it fit perfectly with her passion for ensuring the best patient care, showing great outcomes, accurately portraying the patient’s clinical picture, and educating physicians that all of this is possible through improved documentation. Boldt had the opportunity to start a CDI program while working as a CDI specialist. From there, she became an ICD-10 educator for a large multi-specialty hospital, and then began nationwide CDI consulting and education for several years. Currently, she works as a system manager for a large multi-specialty healthcare system.
During her 11-year career in the CDI field, she has participated on many local and national ACDIS committees and co-chaired the Minnesota ACDIS local chapter from 2012-2015. Boldt has spoken at the ACDIS national conference, the ACDIS Symposium: Outpatient CDI, local AHIMA conferences, on Talk Ten Tuesday, and ACDIS Radio. She implemented a new outpatient CDI program at her current healthcare system, co-authored The Outpatient CDI Specialist’s Completed Training Guide and volunteered on the CCDS-O committee. She has been in the nursing field for 15 years.
Elected to the board in 2019; serving through April 2022
Jennifer Eaton, RN, MSN, CCDS
Executive Director of CDI
Enjoin
Knoxville, Tennessee
jennifer.eaton@enjoincdi.com
Eaton joined the CDI world in 2007 and had the honor of achieving her CCDS certification shortly after.
Over the past 13 years, her love and passion for this profession has grown and evolved as the purpose and focus of CDI has grown and evolved. In fact, that is one of her favorite aspects of CDI: it is ever changing and evolving.
Given the complexity and diversity of today’s CDI landscape, Eaton believes the industry needs thought leadership of equal measure. Since her immersion into CDI, she has served in a multitude of roles including CDI auditor, educator, and leader both in healthcare systems and most recently as a consultant with a physician owned/directed company.
Given her variety of roles and expertise in both the inpatient, outpatient, hospital, and vendor space, she possesses a varied and robust wheelhouse of relevant industry knowledge. It would be an honor to utilize her professional experience and knowledge base to promote understanding of the mission and vision of CDI as well as offer guidance and direction for the profession as it strives to serve patients, employers, and communities.
Elected to the board in 2020; serving through April 2023
Emily Emmons, MSN, RN, CCDS
Regional Director of CDI
Kaiser Permanente Northern California Region
Oakland, California
Emily.L.Emmons@kp.org
Emmons serves as president and chairperson of the board of directors for the California ACDIS chapter. She previously served as co-chair of the chapter for six years from 2012-2018 and was a member of the National ACDIS Local Chapter Advisory Board from 2016-2018. She has worked in the CDI industry since 2011. In her current role, Emmons is responsible for inpatient CDI operations in 21 Northern California Kaiser Permanente facilities. She has her MSN in nursing education and enjoys volunteering to facilitate educational events and professional networking opportunities for her colleagues in CDI. She is a member of both ACDIS and AHIMA and is committed to furthering the CDI profession.
Elected to the board in 2020; serving through April 2023
Susan Fantin, MSA, BSN, RN, CCDS, CDIP
Corporate Director of Clinical Documentation
McLaren Health Care
Grand Blanc, Michigan
Susan.Fantin@mclaren.org
Fantin currently serves as the corporate director of CDI for McLaren Health Care, leading system-wide CDI projects in clinical validation, standardization, dashboard metric/outcomes, policy/procedure, orientation, quality monitoring, and physician engagement/ education. A nurse with more than 28 years’ experience, Fantin has experience in a variety of clinical areas, including acute care nursing, case management/utilization review, patient throughput and clinical house supervision. Her CDI experience spans over 13 years and includes leading clinical documentation programs in academic, rural and multi-hospital system environments. Susan is a CDI subject matter expert and has extensive experience in quality initiatives involving patient safety indictors, hospital acquired conditions, and mortality reviews as well as data analysis, auditing and reporting. As senior CDI director at The Advisory Board Company, Susan consulted with medical centers providing physician education, CDI training and developed a library of best practice materials for ICD-10 physician specialty education.
Fantin received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Madonna University (1991) and Master of Science in Healthcare Administration from Central Michigan University (2007). An ACDIS member since 2008, Susan obtained her CCDS certification in 2011 and AHIMA CDIP certification in 2012. Susan currently chairs the Michigan ACDIS Chapter and is actively engaged in presentations at local, state and national levels.
Elected to the board in 2020; serving through April 2023
Fran Jurcak, MSN, RN, CCDS
Vice President of Clinical Innovation
Iodine Software
Austin, Texas
fran@iodinesoftware.com
Jurcak has been a nursing professional for more than 30 years with 12 years in the CDI profession. She currently uses her clinical knowledge and expertise to create and implement healthcare technology that supports documentation integrity. An active member of ACDIS for the past 11 years, Jurcak is past ACDIS Advisory Board member, having served from 2011-2014. She is also serving on the CCDS certification committee as well as the newly created outpatient CCDS (CCDS-O) certification committee; she is also the author of the CCDS Exam Study Guide. In 2017 Jurcak earned the ACDIS Professional Achievement Award and has spoken at multiple ACDIS national and chapter conferences and the national AHIMA conference. Jurcak is passionate about the CDI profession and works daily with CDI professionals throughout the country.
Elected to board in 2018; serving through April 2021
Vaughn Matacale, MD, CCDS
Director, clinical documentation advisor program
Vidant Health
Greenville, North Carolina
Vaughn.matacale@vidanthealth.com
Matacale is a physician specializing in hospital medicine who began training and working in the physician advisor role in 2007. In 2013, he took a full-time role as a physician advisor with a mission to develop the advisor role and grow a physician advisor team for the Vidant Health system, which covers most of eastern North Carolina. Serving as the director of the advisor team, he has helped it grow to four physicians and a physician assistant who conduct post-discharge pre-bill reviews and provide support and education for coding, CDI, and medical staff throughout the health system.
Through proactive involvement and collaboration with CDI and coding, Matacale has established regular representation and collaboration with the quality, informatics and IT, evaluation and management auditing, audit and compliance, utilization review (UR), and appeals departments, and the Vidant accountable care organization. He currently serves as the chair of the PSI committee and is a member of the hospital patient safety and quality improvement committee. Matacale also has more than 13 years of experience in UR reviews and continues to practice hospital medicine. He has had the privilege of speaking at five ACDIS conferences, as well as other national and regional conferences.
Elected to the board in 2019; serving through April 2022
Chinedum Mogbo, MBBS, MsHIM, RHIA, CDIP, CCDS, CCS
Manager, CDI
Tenet Healthcare
Dallas, Texas
mogboc@gmail.com
Mogbo has a passion for quality patient care and all things CDI, including its overall impact on patient care/safety, and physician and hospital profiles. She has successfully managed various teams, including clinical documentation specialists and coding auditors. She worked as a CDI training director for a California-based health system and currently works as a CDI manager for Tenet Healthcare. She actively participates in the CDIP and RHIA exam item writing with AHIMA. She has been involved in the successful development of in-house curriculum for training clinical documentation specialists and serves as co-chair of the AHIMA CDI practice council working on many projects that provide guidance to the industry—the most recent being updating the Guidelines for Achieving a Compliant Query Practice, a joint publication between ACDIS and AHIMA..
She co-authored an AHIMA practice brief on “Physician Engagement in CDI,” featured in the July 2017 Journal of AHIMA and also co-authored the AHIMA practice brief on “Physician Office Query” in July 2018. Mogbo was a speaker at the 89th AHIMA Convention, a moderator at the 2018 AHIMA CDI Summit and presented on AHIMA webinars in 2018 and 2019.
Elected to the board in 2019; serving through April 2022
Jeff Morris, RN, BSN, CCDS
CDI Specialist
Cooper Health
Mobile, Alabama
jmorris-jeff@cooperhealth.edu
Morris is a CDI specialist at Cooper Health, which is based in Camden, New Jersey. Previously, he was the supervisor of CDI at the University of South Alabama Health System in Mobile. He has more than 20 years of nursing experience in adult critical care, medical-surgical/telemetry, and emergency department. An active member of ACDIS, Morris is a former co-leader for the Alabama ACDIS chapter, presented at the 2017 ACDIS Conference in Las Vegas, served on the 2018 ACDIS Conference Committee, contributed to the 2017 book Pediatric CDI: Building Blocks for Success, presented at ACDIS 2018, and is an ACDIS Advisory Board member. He is also a member of AHIMA and has presented at local and regional events.
Elected to board in 2018; serving through April 2021
Laurie Prescott, MSN, RN, CCDS, CDIP, CRC
CDI Education Director
HCPro/ACDIS
Middleton, Massachusetts
lprescott@acdis.org
Prescott is the Clinical Documentation Improvement (CDI) Education Director with HCPro, a division of BLR. Prescott serves as a full-time instructor for the CDI Boot Camps as well as a subject matter expert for the Association of Clinical Documentation Improvement (ACDIS). Prescott is a frequent speaker on HCPro/ACDIS webinars and is the author of the CDI Complete Training Guide.
Prescott started her nursing career in 1985 as a graduate of the University of Vermont School Of Nursing. Since that time she has worked at a variety of organizations including academic, large and small community hospitals. She has worked in a number of nursing roles including as manager in the areas of medical/surgical, ICU, PACU and endoscopy. Her experience also includes specialization as a compliance officer.
She completed her MSN with a focus in nursing education at the University of Phoenix and taught nursing as an adjunct instructor to ADN students. She continued her focus of nursing education in various roles. In 2007, Prescott left this role to develop and implement a CDI program and remained in this role until joining HCPro in August of 2013.
Serving on the board since January 2017
Erica E. Remer, MD, FACEP, CCDS
President and Founder
Erica Remer, MD, Inc.
Cleveland, Ohio
eremer@icd10md.com
An emergency physician for 25 years with expertise in documentation and the professional side of billing, Remer became the CDI physician advisor for University Hospitals Health System in Cleveland in 2012. Tasked with training 2,700 providers in ICD-10, she additionally closed hundreds of CDI queries and appealed numerous DRG clinical validation and medical necessity denials. After transitioning to independent consulting in July 2016, she authored multiple articles on CDI topics, serves as course director of a medical documentation through Case Western Reserve University, co-hosts Talk Ten Tuesdays, and has been a featured guest on ACDIS Radio. Remer has provided deep dives into clinical topics in presentations on the national, regional, and local level. She serves as the American College of Physician Advisors CDI education subcommittee chair and on its board of directors.
Elected to board in 2018; serving through April 2021
Aimee Van Balen, RN, BSN, CCDS
Lead Clinical Documentation Specialist
Lifespan Corporate Services
Providence, Rhode Island
AVANBALEN@Lifespan.org
Van Balen is a lead clinical documentation specialist at Lifespan Corporate Services in Providence, Rhode Island. She has clinical experience in medical, surgical, and cardiac care. She has almost eleven years of experience in CDI and received her CCDS certification in 2011. Van Balen serves as a mentor for her peers both within her department at Lifespan and the Massachusetts ACDIS group. She reviews both concurrent and retrospective charts for documentation best practice, query opportunities, Mortality/LOS risk adjustment, HACS/PSIs, as well as quality measures. Of upmost importance, she also provides ongoing physician education in both formal and informal settings. Van Balen orients new staff and is passionate about CDI education at the CDI level as well as for providers.
Van Balen served as co-chair of the Massachusetts Association of Clinical Documentation Improvement Specialists from April 2013-April 2017 and is an active member of the Chapter Leader Advisory Board since its formation in 2017. She has been instrumental in the success of the Massachusetts ACDIS chapter and a resource for chapter leaders nationwide. Aimee has joined ACDIS Radio twice to promote local chapter involvement and was a speaker at the ACIDS National Conference in 2017 and 2018. In addition, she was a finalist for the 2019 ACDIS Advisory Board and recently was published with her colleague in the Journal of Interprofessional Workforce Research and Development titled “Mission at Work: Perfecting Provider Education” (Volume 1 Issue 2, 2018.)
Elected to board in 2020; serving through April 2023
Irina Zusman, RHIA, CCS, CCDS
Director of HIM Coding and CDI Initiatives
NYU Langone Health
New York City
izusman@gmail.com
Zusman has more than 25 years of HIM experience where she used her blend of clinical and CDI skills to advance data analytics and validate the importance of documentation and coding. Zusman designed two new programs at NYU School of Professional Studies—a diploma in coding, developed in collaboration with the senior director of HIMand a CDI diploma program in collaboration with the director of CDI. She has contributed as a subject matter expert on a variety of focus groups regarding coding concepts, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality patient safety indicators and hospital acquired conditions, among other topics. Zusman currently serves on the CCDS certification committee. She has presented at AHIMA and ACDIS national and local conferences and several Vizient (formerly University HealthSystem Consortium) annual CDI pre-conference meetings.
Elected to board in 2018; serving through April 2021
Previous ACDIS Advisory Board Members:
- Sam Antonios, MD, FACP, SFHM, CPE, CCDS (2016-2019)
- Dee Banet, RN, BSN, CCDS (2011-2013)
- Cindy Basham, MHA, MSCCS, BSN, CPC, CCS (2007-2010)
- Susan Belley, M.Ed., RHIA, CPHQ (2011-2013)
- Timothy N. Brundage, MD (2011-2013)
- Gloryanne Bryant, BS, RHIA, RHIT, CCS, CCDS (2007-2010)
- Shelia Bullock, RN, BSN, MBA, CCM, CCDS (2009-2011)
- Donald Butler, RN, BSN (2013-2015)
- Jean S. Clark, RHIA (2007-2010)
- Wendy Clesi, RN, CCDS (2014-2017)
- Angie Curry, RN, BSN, CCDS (2017-2020)
- Wendy De Vreugd, RN, BSN, PHN, FNP, CCDS (2007-2010, 2014-2017)
- Cheryl Ericson, MS, RN, CCDS, CDIP (2014-2017)
- Paul Evans, RHIA, CCDS, CCS, CCS-P (2016-2019)
- James Fee, MD, CCS, CCDS (2015-2018)
- Garri L. Garrison, RN, CPC, CMC, CPUR (2009-2011)
- Colleen Garry, RN, BS (2007-2010)
- Robert Gold, MD (2007-2010) (2011-2013)
- Katy Good, RN, MSN, MHA, CCS, CCDS (2017-2020)
- William E. Haik, MD (2007-2010)
- Tamara A. Hicks, RN, BSN, MHA, CCS, CCDS, ACM (2007-2010, 2016-2019)
- Sylvia Hoffman, RN, CCDS, CCDI, CDIP (2013-2015)
- Robin R. Holmes, RN, MSN (2009-2011)
- Walter Houlihan, MBA, RHIA, CCS, FAHIMA (2013-2015)
- Thomas W. Huth, MD, MBA, FACP (2015)
- Robin Jones, RN, BSN, MHA/Ed, CCDS (2016-2019)
- Fran Jurcak, RN, MSN, CCDS (2011-2014)
- James S. Kennedy, MD, CCS (2010-2012)
- Glenn Krauss, RHIA, CCS, CCS-P, CPUR, FCS, PCS, CCDS, C-CDI (2010-2012)
- Mark LeBlanc, RN, MBA, CCDS (2014-2017)
- Trey La Charité, MD (2011-2013)
- Pam Lovell, MBA, RN (2007-2010)
- Gail B. Marini, RN, MM, CCS, LNC (2010-2012)
- Shannon McCall, RHIA, CCS, CPC, CPC-I, CCDS (2007-2010)
- Michelle McCormack, RN, BSN, CCDS, CRCR (2014-2017)
- Karen Newhouser, RN, BSN, CCDS, CCS, CCM, CDIP (2015-2018)
- Judy Schade, RN, MSN, CCM, CCDS (2015-2018)
- Susan Schmitz, JD, RN, CCS, CCDS, CDIP (2017-2020)
- Lynne Spryszak, RN, CCDS, CPC (2007-2012)
- Colleen Stukenberg, MSN, RN, CMSRN, CCDS (2009-2011)
- Heather Taillon, RHIA (2007-2010)
- James E. Vance, MD, MBA (2014)
- Deanne Wilk, BSN, RN, CCDS, CCS (2017-2020)
- Donna D. Wilson, RHIA, CCS, CCDS (2011-2013)
- Lena N Wilson, MHI, RHIA, CCS, CCDS (2010-2012)
- Anny Yuen, RHIA, CCS, CCDS (2015-2018)
Chapter Advisory Board
Task: Serving as liaisons between local chapter leaders and ACDIS national administration by participating on chapter leadership conference calls, promoting best practice, and providing guidance to leaders across the country. Click to read the committee's scope of work and the current group roster.
Click here to download the committee scope of work. For questions about the committee, contact ACDIS Associate Editorial Director and Committee Coordinator Melissa Varnavas (mvarnavas@acdis.org).
Board Members: Kristie Alexander from Texas, Leola Burke from North Carolina, James Doster from Georgia, Amanda Just from Oklahoma, Branda McCowan from Pennsylvania, Angelica Naylor from Missouri, Kristie Perry from Tennessee, Rani Stoddard from California, Aimee Van Balen from Massachusetts, and Melissa Varnavas (committee coordinator).
Kristie Alexander, BSN, RN, CCDS
CDI manager
Texas Health Resources
Arlington, Texas
KristieAlexander@texashealth.org
Alexander, along with another colleague, manages a staff of 39 CDI specialists across 13 entities in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. She has eight years’ experience in CDI, six as CDI manager/educator and two as a CDI specialist. Prior joining the CDI field, she served as manager of the neurosurgical ICU at Texas Health Fort Worth, and also held prior roles as quality improvement coordinator at both Texas Health Arlington Memorial and Texas Health Alliance. Her 26 years of nursing experiencing includes adult critical care/neurosurgical critical care, medical-surgical and home health in both small community and large health organization settings. She has served on the leadership team for the Texas Chapter of ACDIS for the past three years.
Leola Burke, MHSA, CCS
Independent HIM/revenue cycle consultant
Charles George VA Medical Center
Ashville, North Carolina
www.poweroficd10.com
lburke63@gmail.com
Leola.Burke@va.gov
Burke has more than 20 years of experience in HIM, MS-DRGs, APR-DRGs, Ambulatory Payment Classifications, DRG case mix index (CMI) analysis, physician current procedure terminology coding, evaluation and management coding, and revenue cycle compliance. She has worked with academic medical centers, community hospitals, long term acute care hospitals, rehabilitation hospitals, veterans’ association medical centers, physician practices, and ambulatory surgery centers. Burke has also authored and contributed to a number of articles, practice briefs, and projects across the healthcare industry. She currently serves as the North Carolina ACDIS and AHIMA chapter liaison and social media chair for the North Carolina AHIMA component.
James (Jamie) Doster, MS, BSN, CCDS
CDI manager
Emory University Hospital Midtown
Atlanta, Georgia
james.doster@emoryhealthcare.org
Doster has more than 11 years of experience in CDI and more than 10 years in the ED and cardiac catheter lab prior to his career in CDI. He is currently working on a doctorate in nursing practice. Doster is a founding leader of the Georgia ACDIS local chapter where he and the volunteer leadership team were able to enact evolving bylaws, increase membership yearly, set a focus on quarterly education meetings, and an annual community service work with financial donations to local non-profits. He joined the CAB in 2019 in order to share experiences with founding organizations, share community involvement opportunities, encourage membership engagement, and his own personal professional development.
Amanda Just, RN, BSN, CCDS
System director CDI
ITNEGRIS Health
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
amanda.just@integrisok.com
Just has been a nurse for 15 years with experience in critical care and home health quality. She began her journey in CDI more than eight years ago, spending the last five years leading her CDI team. She has made it her mission to assist CDI programs growth across Oklahoma. She helped in establishing the first Oklahoma ACDIS local chapter in 2018 and served as a member of the chapter leadership team. Just believes by supporting a local chapter all members can build their CDI program to become more recognized, resilient, and robust. Currently, she is working towards obtaining her MSN in nursing informatics. She plans on using her informatics education to help increase utilization of data to drive CDI outcomes within her program.
Angelica Naylor, MBA, BSN, RN, CCDS
CDI consultant
TrustHCS Healthcare Consulting Services
Springfield, Missouri
angelica.naylor@outlook.com
Naylor recently moved into a consulting role after having served as the CDI manager/director for North Kansas City Hospital, Kansas City, Missouri, for two years. She has more than four years of experience in CDI, coming from a background in critical care nursing in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, where she worked in the trauma/surgical/neurological ICU, utilization review, case management, and quality/risk management. Naylor earned a number of accolades including Corporate Top Performer (multiple quarters) and Corporate CDI Specialist Rookie of the Year.
Naylor served as the co-lead for the Kansas City, Missouri ACDIS local chapter, joining the leadership team there in 2018. She also served as a charter member on the ACDIS Regulatory Committee. She joined the CAB in 2019.
Kristie Perry, RN, MHSA, CCDS, CCS
CDI manager
Erlanger Health System
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Kristie.Perry@Erlanger.org
Perry has nearly 30 years of experience in nursing, particularly in the ICU. She moved into a CDI role more than 13 years ago and concentrated on record reviews related to trauma and critical care, before moving into a managerial role. She has been a member of the patient safety indicator committee at Erlanger and provided extensive education to the surgical residents as well as the surgery/trauma surgery attending physicians.
Perry joined the Tennessee ACDIS local chapter in 2013 and stepped forward to serve as a member of its leadership team in 2014. She joined the CAB in 2019 in order to learn more about other chapters and develop ways to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the Tennessee chapter. Perry also served as a member of the 2017 CDI Week Committee and has been a co-presenter for an HCPro webinar related to trauma CDI.
Rani Vivian Stoddard, MBA, RN, CPHQ, RHIA, CCDS, CCS, CDIP
CDI supervisor
Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital
Valencia, California
stoddardrv@henrymayo.com
Stoddard has been a CDI supervisor for more than six years. She assists a five-person team consisting of nurses, coding professionals, and foreign medical graduate physicians. She came to CDI from quality, teaching, healthcare marketing, blood donor nursing, intensive care, medical-surgical nursing, and rehabilitation nursing. Stoddard has been active in the California ACDIS local chapter since 2016, serving as its secretary and CA ACDIS Connection newsletter editor. Through her efforts and the work of her colleagues on the leadership team, the California ACDIS chapter has been able to hold in-person annual conferences gathering more than 100 attendees and grow its membership to more than 600 participants. She joined the CAB in 2019 where she hopes to bring back leadership tools to the volunteers in California and share successful tips the California ACDIS chapter has developed since its inception nearly a decade ago. Stoddard is a previous speaker at the ACDIS national conference in Las Vegas in 2017 and poster presenter in 2018.
Aimee Van Balen, RN, BSN, CCDS
Senior CDI specialist
Lifespan Corporation
Providence, Rhode Island
avanbalen@lifespan.org
Van Balen has been working in the CDI field for more than nine years. In her current role, she reviews charts and educates providers, serving as a resource to peers and helping to train new staff. She also reviews charts concurrently for hospital-acquired conditions/patient safety indicators, mortality and length of stay risk adjustment, and pre-bill retrospective mortality charts for risk adjustment optimization.
She joined the Massachusetts ACDIS local chapter in 2015 and served as a co-leader of the group for three years. During that time, she helped the group create bylaws, build membership, and incorporate a strong emphasis on CDI education for its events. Van Balen also helped the chapter collaborate with the Massachusetts and New York chapters of AHIMA on a full-day Northeast CDI & Coding Symposium which had its third successful event in 2018.
She joined the CAB in 2017 and is a past-presenter at the ACDIS national conference in 2017. She’s been a featured ACDIS Radio guest in both 2017 and 2018 and was elected to the ACDIS Advisory Board in 2020.
Certification Committee
Task: Maintaining and updating the CCDS and CCDS-O Certification Programs, including the exam and its prerequisites. Click to read the committee's scope of work and the current group roster.
Click here to download the committee scope of work. For questions about this committee, contact ACDIS Director Brian Murphy (bmurphy@acdis.org).
CCDS Subcommittee: Marie Bourque-Namer, Karen Bridgeman, Sharme Brodie, Mary Carol Brouwer, Cheryl Ericson, Patricia Henry, Fran Jurcak, Roshan Shetty, Susanne Warford, Dorene Watson, Gail Weldon, and Irina Zusman.
CCDS-O Subcommittee:
Tracy Boldt, RN, BSN, CCDS, CDIP
System manager of CDI
Essentia Health System
Duluth, Minnesota
tracy.boldt@essentiahealth.org
Boldt has more than 15 years of healthcare experience, including nursing, administration, and consulting, specializing in hospital revenue cycle management. Specific to CDI, Boldt has led CDI engagements for clients representing small hospitals to larger integrated delivery networks with multi-site programs. She has successfully led CDI integration projects with interest in clinical documentation (inpatient and outpatient), and identifying process changes and workflow enhancement regarding how provider documentation is reflective of accurate patient care.
Judy Dokken, MBA, CHDA, RHIT, CCS
Revenue cycle manager
Mayo Clinic
Rochester, Minnesota
dokken.judith@mayo.edu
In her current role, Dokken works with providers and coding staff to support quality documentation and code capture processes. After many years of facility and professional coding, Dokken transitioned to working with providers on billing requirements including ICD-10 implementation. After ICD-10 implementation, she began work on evaluation and management CPT documentation and coding. Later, her role expanded to include risk scores, patient complexity, hierarchical condition categories, and alternative payment models. Currently she supports the work of Mayo’s outpatient CDI program.
Tamara A. Hicks, RN, BSN, MHA, CCS, CCDS, ACM-RN
Director of clinical documentation excellence (CDE)
Wake Forest Baptist Health (WFBH)
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
thicks@wakehealth.edu
Hicks is responsible for the enterprise CDE department at WFBH’s five campuses. She was one of the original staff when WFBH rolled out its CDI program in 1999, and since then she has participated in expanding the program by adding all payer, severity of illness, risk of mortality, hospital acquired condition, and patient safety indicator reviews to the team’s workflow. Most recently, she has led the team though a restructuring and creation of the department of CDE as well as the creation of a new outpatient CDE team. Hicks holds a Diploma in nursing from Watts School of Nursing in Durham, North Carolina, and graduated summa cum laude from Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing. She obtained a master’s in health administration from Pfeiffer University in Charlotte. She has worked for WFBH for nearly 34 years, with 15 years of service as a staff nurse in the hospital's intermediate care unit and nine years as manager of care coordination. Hicks is also an AHIMA certified ICD-10-CM trainer and Six Sigma Green Belt. She is a member of American Case Management Association (ACMA), American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), and ACDIS, where she served as a founding member of the ACDIS Advisory Board and the CCDS Certification Board. She was re-elected to serve on the ACDIS Advisory Board for the 2016-2019 term.
Fran Jurcak, MSN, RN, CCDS
Vice president of clinical innovation
Iodine Software
Austin, Texas
fran@iodinesoftware.com
Jurcak has more than 30 years of experience in the nursing profession and has spent the past ten years in CDI. She has utilized her clinical knowledge and experience to provide education, support process improvement, and report outcomes for CDI programs across the country. In her current role, she is responsible for clinical services and product development at Iodine Software. Her goal is to support healthcare systems as they seek to ensure accurate reflection of care provided and resources consumed in patient care via clinical documentation and medical record processes. Jurcak has worked side by side with CDI staff, CDI leaders, and corporate executives to develop workflows and processes that support positive outcomes demonstrating CDI program success. She received the 2017 ACDIS Achievement Award for CDI Professional Achievement and currently serves on the ACDIS CCDS Certification Board, the ACDIS Advisory Board, and the University of Michigan School of Nursing Alumni Board of Governors. Jurcak is the author of the CCDS Exam Study Guide and is recognized as a national speaker by ACDIS and has presented at many chapter conferences and HCPro webinars.
James Manz, MD
Spine and neurological surgery consultant
Mayo Enterprise Health System
Eau Claire, Wisconsin
manz.james@mayo.edu
Manz services as physician chair of the Mayo Enterprise Outpatient CDI Subcommittee, physician vice chair for the Mayo Enterprise Inpatient CDI Subcommittee, and physician advisor of the Mayo Clinic Problem List Stewardship Committee. He is the co-author of the ACDIS Pocket Guide and has been a frequent speaker at ACDIS national conferences.
Shannon E. McCall, RHIA, CCS, CCS-P, CPC, CPC-I, CEMC, CRC, CCDS
Director of HIM/coding
HCPro
Middleton, Massachusetts
smccall@hcpro.com
McCall directs all of HCPro’s Certified Coder Boot Camp® programs. She is the developer of the Certified Coder Boot Camp®—Inpatient Version and the Evaluation and Management Boot Camp®. Most recently she collaborated with the CDI team to develop the Risk Adjustment Documentation and Coding Boot Camp®. As a consultant for HCPro, she works with hospitals, medical practices, and other healthcare providers on a wide range of coding-related issues with a particular focus on education, coding reviews, and audits. McCall has extensive experience with coding for both physician and hospital services. Prior to joining HCPro, she worked for a national medical practice management company, where her duties included serving as a client manager and an in-house coding trainer. She also previously worked for a national consulting firm focusing on hospital inpatient, outpatient, and ER services. McCall previously served on the ACDIS advisory board. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Health Information Administration from the Medical University of South Carolina.
Karen Newhouser, RN, BSN, CCM, CCDS, CCS, CDIP
Director of CDI education
MedPartners
Tampa, Florida
karenmpu@medpartnershim.com
Newhouser’s current role at MedPartners helped her find her niche in education through writing, speaking, and personal engagement. Within multiple roles spanning a 40-year-career in critical care nursing, case management, and CDI, Newhouser has been resolute in her mission to set people up for success. Newhouser was honored as the 2015 CDI Professional of the Year by ACDIS and was a member of the ACDIS Advisory Board.
Diana Ortiz, JD, RN, CDIP, CCDS
Revenue cycle marketing manager, CDI product owner
3M Health Information Systems, Inc.
Wausau, Wisconsin
dortiz3@mmm.com
Previously, Ortiz was the director for ambulatory CDI at Ochsner Health System in New Orleans, Louisiana. Since joining Ochsner in 2013, her roles included serving as a project manager as well as inpatient CDI operations manager. During this time, she coordinated the implementation of computer-assisted coding and metrics reporting for the CDI department. Ortiz has a nursing background in both the emergency and the psychiatric setting, and HIM experience in hospital emergency facility coding and database management.
Laurie Prescott, MSN, RN, CCDS, CCDS-O, CDIP, CRC
CDI education director
HCPro
Middleton, Massachusetts
lprescott@hcpro.com
Prescott serves as a full-time instructor for the CDI Boot Camps as well as a subject matter expert for ACDIS. She is a frequent speaker on HCPro/ACDIS webinars and is the author of the CDI Specialist’s Complete Training Guide. Prescott started her nursing career in 1985 as a graduate of the University of Vermont School of Nursing. Since that time, she has worked at a variety of organizations including academic, large and small community hospitals. She has worked in a number of nursing roles including as manager in the areas of medical/surgical, ICU, PACU, and endoscopy. Her experience also includes specialization as a compliance officer. She completed her MSN with a focus in nursing education at the University of Phoenix and taught nursing as an adjunct instructor to ADN students. She continued her focus of nursing education in various roles. In 2007, Prescott left this role to develop and implement a CDI program and remained in this role until joining ACDIS in August of 2013.
Jessica M. Vaughn RN, BSN, CCDS
Manager of outpatient clinical documentation excellence (CDE)
Wake Forest Baptist Health (WFBH)
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
jessvaug@wakehealth.edu
In her current role, Vaughn is responsible for leading the outpatient CDE team for WFBH’s network physicians, consisting of 127 ambulatory locations and 317 providers. She has experience as an inpatient clinical documentation specialist and as a clinical documentation compliance coordinator, where she was instrumental in creating a collaborative approach with both quality and coding departments to institutionalize a workflow for accurate reporting of hospital acquired conditions and patient safety indicators. Vaughn was the recipient of the 2016 ACDIS Recognition of CDI Professional Achievement award. Over the past three years, she has helped create and structure processes for the newly formed outpatient CDE team. She holds an associate’s degree in nursing from Surry Community College in Dobson, North Carolina, and graduated with president’s honors from Chamberlain University in Addison, Illinois, with a bachelor of science in nursing. She is a member of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing and obtained her master’s degree in nursing—executive leadership in the summer of 2018. She has worked for WFBH for nearly 21 years, with a combined 16 years of nursing service at the bedside in hematology and oncology acute care and in labor and delivery/GYN surgery at Northern Hospital of Surry County, in Mount Airy, North Carolina. She has also held certifications in oncology, chemo and bio therapy, as well as the AHIMA approved ICD-10-CM/PCS trainer. She is an active member of both North Carolina and national ACDIS.
Yvonne Whitley RN, BSN, CPC, CRC, CDEO
Ambulatory CDI manager
Novant Health
Charlotte, North Carolina
yrwhitley@novanthealth.org
Whitley was one of the first CDI specialists tasked with creating this new department for Novant Health’s Medical Group in September 2013, as well as building one of the first ambulatory CDI programs in the country. She now leads a robust team that supports much of Novant Health’s Medical Group of over 530 physician locations and over 2,500 providers. Whitley obtained her BSN from the University of Maryland at Baltimore. She has been with Novant Health for the last 20 years and comes from a nursing background with 30 years in critical care, trauma, and open-heart ICUs. She also has experience as a clinical research coordinator for drug and device trials.
Michelle M. Wieczorek, RHIT, RN, CPHQ
Senior manager
DHG Healthcare
Erie, Pennsylvania
michelle.wieczorek@dhgllp.com
Wieczorek combines 30 years of healthcare knowledge as a clinician, with subject matter expertise in CDI, HIM, and clinical quality in her role as leader of CDI services at DHG Healthcare. Wieczorek has served in leadership roles in critical care nursing, health information management, utilization review, clinical quality, and information technology and has practiced in acute, outpatient and managed care settings. She has extensive experience in software development and IT product management, including holding a US patent in natural language processing clinical rules logic as a result of her work in developing a CDI software program with a national IT vendor. Wieczorek is active in professional organizations and is presently an appointee to the CDI Practice Council of the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), and was recognized by her peers with the Distinguished Member Award by the Pennsylvania HIMA in 2016. Michelle is a sought-after author and speaker on topics such as electronic health records, CDI, risk adjustment, and clinical quality. She has presented webinars for ACDIS, AHIMA, and the American Hospital Association. She has contributed to publications such as the CDI Journal (ACDIS), the Journal of AHIMA, and is presently on the Editorial Board of ICD-10 Monitor. Wieczorek is based in Western Pennsylvania and travels nationally leading consulting engagements to deploy best practice tools and methodologies for clinical documentation, risk adjustment, and revenue integrity.
Forms & Tools Committee
Task: Reviewing materials donated to the ACDIS community for publication in the Forms & Tools Library for accuracy, compliance, relevance, and effectiveness. Click to read the committee's scope of work and the current group roster.
Click here to download the committee scope of work. For questions about the committee, contact ACDIS Editor and Committee Coordinator Linnea Archibald (larchibald@acdis.org).
Tamara Adolph, RN, CPCP, CCDS, CDIP
CDI Corporate Educator
AdventHealth
Altamonte Springs, Florida
Tamara.Adolph@AdventHealth.com
Adolph is a registered nurse with 13 years of nursing experience, the last four of which were in CDI. Her nursing background includes medical-surgical and progressive care unit. Since beginning her CDI career in 2015, she advanced to the CDI manager position and now serves as a corporate CDI educator. In this role, she is responsible for creating and delivering educational presentations monthly to more than 40 campuses and more than 130 CDI specialists, creating and delivering monthly newsletters, developing tip cards and the link, and collaborating with other departments on software updates, quality reviews, and the hiring process.
Alison Bowlick, BSN, RN, CCDS, CRC
AVP, CDI and Revenue Cycle
Bon Secours Mercy Health
Toledo, Ohio
Alison_bowlick@mercy.com
Bowlick currently oversees 18 acute care facilities, continually strategizing for operational improvement, researching and applying best practice measures for DRG optimization, and quality assurance. She has been instrumental in maintaining streamlined processes and expectations across multiple states and facilities with a strong focus on leadership, teamwork, and interdisciplinary collaborative development. Bowlick has more than 18 years of nursing experience at a level 1 trauma center with six-plus years dedicated to CDI, physician engagement, and education.
Vicki Galyean, RN, BSN, CCDS
CDI Team Leader
Wake Forest Baptist Health
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
vgalyean@wakehealth.edu
Galyean is a registered nurse with 32 years of experience—19 years in critical care, four years as a nursing supervisor, and nearly nine years as a CDI specialist. In her current role, Galyean is responsible for the daily review of potential hospital acquired conditions (HAC) and patient safety indicators (PSI). She also assists with orientation of new CDI specialists and completes mortality reviews to verify appropriate severity of illness and risk of mortality. She presented a poster at the 2016 ACDIS conference in Atlanta and was chosen to speak at 2018 ACDIS conference in San Antonio on incorporating HAC and PSI reviews into the daily workflow of the CDI specialist. She has also presented at North Carolina ACDIS local chapter meetings.
Alicia Gordon, RN, BSN, CCDS, CDIP, CCS
Manager of CDI
MazarsUSA
Nashville area, Tennessee
Alicia.gordoncdiccs@gmail.com
Gordon has more than 20 years of extensive nursing experience including ICU and quality and nine years in CDI program development and implementation. She earned her CCDS certification in 2009, her CDIP in 2014 and her CCS in 2015. She is also an AHIMA ICD-10-CM/PCS trainer.
Gordon is known for her integrity, ability to build collaborative relationships, fostering physician engagement, and ability to develop/mentor new CDI specialists to success. She is a manager of CDI at MazarsUSA. Prior to this, Alicia worked as a CDI manager of operations for HCA Intensive Care Consortium and a corporate CDI director for two healthcare systems. She successfully managed and reinvigorated established best-practice CDI programs in academic medical centers and community hospitals. Gordon also implemented new CDI programs and developed CDI/coding professional and physician educational programs.
Lakeyshia Moore, MBA, RHIA, CHCO
Senior director of coding and reimbursement
Texas Health Resources
Arlington, Texas
LakeyshiaMoore@texashealth.org
Moore is currently responsible for coding operations for 18 hospital entities. She has more than 17 years of HIM and healthcare experience, including in leadership, compliance, HIPAA, Recovery Audit Contractor, CDI, hospital coding, informatics, and project management.
Some of her proudest accomplishments include decreasing the discharge not final billed (DNFB), successfully implementing an enterprise document imaging solution, and leading a successful ICD-10 implementation. She is currently serving as president elect for Dallas Fort Worth American Health Information Management Association and she is on the nomination committee for TXHIMA. In her free time, Moore loves spending time with family and friends, mentoring others, traveling, and shopping.
Geoff New, MBA, RHIA, CRCR
Vice President, Provider Solutions
Ciox Health
Prosper, Texas
geoff_new@msn.com
New is an experienced leader with more than 27 years of experience in the healthcare industry. He joined Ciox Health in 2017. In his current role, he is responsible for designing, implementing and operationalizing revenue cycle solutions with a team of revenue cycle professionals, registered nurses, and physicians. Prior to joining Ciox Health, New led a team of employees across 130 locations and focused on revenue cycle, HIM operations, process re-engineering, regulatory compliance, and performance improvement initiatives for leading hospital systems around the country. He is an active member of numerous professional organizations, including the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE), American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), and Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA).
Keri Smith, MSN, CNS, ACNS-BC
Vice President, Provider Solutions
CDI Specialist
Winter Garden, Florida
keri.duppenthaler@orlandohealth.com
Smith is a registered nurse, born and raised in Florida, with 15 years of experience—six years of which were in the role of a clinical nurse specialist. Smith’s background is neurological and neurosurgical nursing with experience as a neurological/neurosurgical educator, stroke program coordinator, and adult health clinical nurse specialist. In the role of clinical nurse specialist, she specialized in nursing process development, research and evidence-based practice performance, nursing policy creation, and served as a resource for nursing at all levels. Smith entered the role of a CDI specialist in October 2017, which allowed her to build new knowledge and brought her prior experience into the role to help streamline the CDI department within her hospital.
Ashley Vahey, BSN, RN, CCDS
CDI Specialist
Penn State Hershey Medical Center
Hershey, Pennsylvania
avahey@pennstatehealth.psu.edu
Bio and headshot coming soon…
Jera Van Damme, BSN, RN, CCDS
Senior Clinical Documentation Educator
Essentia Health
Duluth, Minnesota
jera.vandamme@essentiahealth.org
Van Damme began her nursing career on a medical-surgical unit in 2010. In 2014, she moved into CDI and developed skills in concurrent and retrospective medical record review. Jera achieved the CCDS and began branching into outpatient CDI in 2017. She enjoys providing documentation education to colleagues and was recently promoted to senior clinical documentation educator at Essentia Health. She has presented for Minnesota ACDIS chapter meetings and for the Minnesota Health Information Management Association.