Click here to download the committee scope of work. For questions about the Advisory Board, contact ACDIS Director Rebecca Hendren (rebecca.hendren@hcpro.com). To view ACDIS Advisory Board frequently asked questions, please click here.
 

  Keisha Downes, MBA-HM, BSN, RN, CCDS, CCS
  Senior director middle revenue cycle
  Tufts Medicine Health System
  Boston, Massachusetts

Downes is the senior director middle revenue cycle for Tufts Medicine health system, based in Massachusetts. This role combines the four middle revenue cycle areas of utilization management, clinical documentation integrity, hospital coding, and health information management. Downes also is a visiting professor for DeVry University where she teaches courses for the health information technology program. She is a current member of ACDIS, HFMA, AHIMA, and the ACDIS CDI Leadership Council, and a past member of the 2022/2023 ACDIS Leadership Council Mastermind group. Downes co-authored the ACDIS/AHIMA supported Guidelines for Achieving a Compliant Query Practice—2022 Update. A nurse for 20 years, she attained her BSN from Liberty University and MBA in healthcare administration from Western Governor’s University. 

Elected to the board in 2024; serving through April 2027
 

  Okemena Ewoterai, BSN, MA, CCDS, CDIP, CCS
  Director of CDI
  Montefiore Medical Center
  Bronx, New York

Ewoterai has more than 14 years of CDI experience and more than 20 years of nursing experience. Currently, she oversees a diverse staff including foreign medical graduates, registered nurses of various backgrounds, a coder, and a physician assistant. As part of her CDI experience, she has educated nurses and providers on clinical documentation techniques, workflows, engaged in software selection, and quality review processes (PSI, Elixhauser, and HCCs). Ewoterai has worked on practice briefs and white papers with ACDIS and AHIMA, including co-authoring “Clinical Validation: the Next Level of CDI” in January 2019, and the ACDIS/AHIMA Guidelines for Achieving a Compliant Query Practice in February 2019. She has been an officer in the Greater New York ACDIS local chapter and is currently a member of the ACDIS Diversity and Inclusion Committee. She has also been a guest on the ACDIS Podcast.

Elected to the board in 2024; serving through April 2027
 

Click here to download the committee scope of work. For questions about the committee, contact ACDIS Associate Editorial Director Linnea Archibald (linnea.archibald@hcpro.com).

  Danita Arrowood, RHIT, CCS, CCDS                                         
  Content and instructional designer 
  FinThrive Learn
  Alpharetta, Georgia

Arrowood is a seasoned HIM professional with more than four decades of experience in coding, auditing, CDI, and education. She holds RHIT, CCDS, CCS, and CRC certifications. She has experience as a production coder and an auditor for the Department of Justice, quality improvement organizations, hospitals, physician offices, and as an adjunct teaching staff member. Danita is a healthcare content and instructional designer for FinThrive Learn, co-chairs the ACDIS CDI educators networking group (2022-2024), and is a member of the Chapter Advisory Committee. She has previously served as an AHIMA coding roundtable coordinator and on various other leadership committees. She has developed thousands of hours of coding, CDI, and compliance-related content and provided in-person education to physicians, clinicians, and coders across the country.
 

  Amy Bush, BS, RN, MJ, CCDS, CCS
  CDI specialist III
  Cooper University Health System
  Woolwich Township, New Jersey 

Bush is currently serving as an inpatient CDIS III at Cooper University Hospital, a level I trauma center. She joined the Cooper CDI team with the goal of establishing the CDI program in the Women’s and Children’s Institute, which covers maternity, general pediatrics, PICU, and NICU. This new endeavor followed a 20-year career at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia where she held numerous positions in CDI, PICU case management, bed management nurse coordinator- patient flow, and clinical coordinator cardiac center scheduling and precertification. Bush has also held positions as a nurse advocate, regulatory affairs associate and compliance officer, director of admissions and case management, and clinical nursing in the PICU at Johns Hopkins Hospital. She obtained her B.S. in nursing at the Pennsylvania State University and a master of jurisprudence in health law at Widener University School of Law. She has presented in various venues, served as a guest lecturer at two universities, and was honored to be the featured speaker at nursing grand rounds. Bush is currently serving her third year in a co-leadership role in the ACDIS pediatric networking group (APDIS).
 

  Denise Deter, RN, BSN, CCDS
  CDI manager
  Valleywise Health
 Phoenix, Arizona

Deter has more than 30 years of experience in the nursing profession with the last 11 years in CDI. Prior to CDI, her background as a nurse includes medical/surgical, ICU, and emergency department. As a CDI specialist, she spent multiple years contracting as a second-level review auditor and training new CDI specialists. She has been at Valleywise Health for the last four years. She has served in multiple leadership roles with her current position as the CDI manager for both outpatient and inpatient CDI. Deter’s primary focus over the last two years was to build the outpatient CDI program at Valleywise Health. She currently serves as one of the Arizona ACDIS chapter’s co-chairs and serves on the ACDIS Chapter Advisory Committee. She obtained her Bachelor of Science in nursing at the University of West Georgia. She also presented at 2023 AzAHIMA annual meeting on “How to Build an Outpatient CDI program.”

  Ella Elizee, APRN, MSN, CCDS
  Population health manager
  USF Tampa General
  Tampa, Florida

Elizee is currently the population health manager at the USF Tampa General physician organization in Florida. She is a former CDI educator and has a notable presence in the CDI field. She has contributed to the CDI Journal and actively participates on the Chapter Advisory Committee and ACDIS Leadership Council, and has been a member of the ACDIS Diversity and Inclusion Committee. She has spoken at the state chapter meetings and was a speaker at the 2023 ACDIS national conference. Elizee has also been a guest and has shared her insights on the ACDIS Podcast. Elizee's dedication extends to her role as vice president of the Florida ACDIS chapter, showcasing her commitment to professional development.
 

Carol McNutt, RN, CDIP
CDI manager
Lifebridge Health
Owings Mills, Maryland 

Bio coming soon...
 

  Keri Miller, RN, BSN, CCDS, CCS
  CDI manager of quality and education
  University of Miami 
  Miami, Florida

Miller is currently the CDI manager of quality and education at the University of Miami Health System. She has seven years of experience working in the CDI field with experience in consulting and CDI quality. Her current role focuses on team education on compliance, DRG optimization, and quality measures capture. Her passions include leading the Michigan chapter of ACDIS and providing educational opportunities for CDI professionals across the industry.
 

  Janell Murray, BSN, RN, CCDS
  CDI educator
  Banner Health
  Phoenix, Arizona

Murray is a CDI educator at Banner Health in Phoenix, Arizona. She has more than 14 years of experience in nursing with more than nine in CDI. She recently joined Banner Health as the CDI educator which covers all the Banner Health hospitals. Prior to her current role, she worked as a CDI specialist for the Brundage Group and Parkview Health Systems. Her nursing background includes telemetry and the ICU/CCU, serving as a nursing team lead, preceptor, and department educator. As a CDI professional, she has served as a committee member, working in critical access hospitals to level 1 trauma/teaching facilities. She assisted with onboarding and led the continued education updates for her team. She has been a member of the Indiana chapter of ACDIS, served as the chapter's social media manager from 2020-2022, and then transitioned to the chapter president for the 2023-2025 term. She also recently joined the ACDIS Chapter Advisory Committee.
 

  Paula Rector, RHIT, CCDS, CDIP
  CDI specialist
  Grady Health
  Newman, Georgia

Rector has more than 37 years of hospital/healthcare experience, and more than 15 years of experience in CDI development, implementation, consulting, and staff. Her experience encompasses administrative director/management of the revenue cycle, including HIM, coding, patient accounts, patient access, medical staff operations and credentialing, centralized scheduling, and risk management. She has also served as project manager for denials review teams and A/R reduction teams. Rector has worked in a variety of healthcare settings from large academic medical centers to small community hospitals in many states of the United States. She has served in several HIM and ACDIS state chapter positions and Iowa state healthcare projects. Rector has served as secretary of the Georgia chapter of ACDIS since 2020.
 

  Rani Vivian Stoddard, MBA, RN, CPHQ, RHIA, CCDS, CCS, CDIP
  CDI supervisor
  Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital
  Valencia, California

Stoddard has been a CDI supervisor for more than nine years. She assists a six-person team consisting of nurses 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, in the past serving as its secretary and currently as the California 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 several hold in-person annual conferences. She joined the Chapter Advisory Committee 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.
 

  Madhu Subherwal, MBBS, MHA, CCDS, CDIP
  CDI manager
  Torrance Memorial Medical Center
  Torrance, California

Subherwal is a physician, completing her medical education at Dayanand Medical College in India, and has been CDI manager at Torrance Memorial Medical Center since 2015. Subherwal began her journey in CDI in 2010 while completing her master’s degree in health administration. Since then, she has been a member of the ACDIS Events Committee from 2019 through 2021, the 2022/2023 ACDIS Leadership Council Mastermind group, and the ACDIS CDI Leadership Council. She has served on the leadership team for the California local chapter since 2019.
 

  Ashley Vahey, BSN, RN, CCDS
  CDI director
  Penn State Health
  Hershey, Pennsylvania

Wells graduated from Moravian College in 2007 with a Bachelor of Science in nursing. She has spent her entire career at Penn State Hershey Medical Center where she has held various positions, including direct care nurse, clinical head nurse, infection prevention practitioner, CDI specialist, and CDI team lead. Previously, her CDI focus was mortality case review and organizational quality initiatives. She has been in the CDI field now for nine years. Wells has presented nationally for groups such as Vizient and AHIMA and was also a member on the ACDIS Resource Library Committee for several years. She is currently the co-lead for the Central Pennsylvania ACDIS local chapter and a member of the ACDIS Chapter Advisory Committee. Her newest achievement is the co-authoring of the book for ACDIS titled CDI and Quality Reporting: How Healthcare Record Review Can Improve Outcomes. 

Click here to download the committee scope of work. For questions about this committee, contact ACDIS Director Rebecca Hendren (rebecca.hendren@hcpro.com).

CCDS Subcommittee:

Marie Bourque-Namer

Bio coming soon...

  Sharme Brodie, RN, CCDS, CCDS-O, CRC
  CDI education specialist 
  HCPro/ACDIS
  Middleton, Massachusetts
Brodie is a CDI education specialist for HCPro. Brodie serves as a full-time instructor for CDI Boot Camps and a subject matter expert for ACDIS. She has more than 35 years’ experience in the healthcare industry, including multiple areas of nursing, serving in a variety of roles at both large academic and small community hospitals. Prior to joining HCPro, Brodie worked as a consultant providing program audits, implementation advice, and continuing education for CDI departments, including physician education She has been responsible for the successful implementation and oversight of a CDI department and the revitalization of a CDI department at a small community hospital. Sharme is a frequent contributor of articles for ACDIS’ CDI Journal and CDI Strategies. She has been a speaker at the national ACDIS conference and is a frequent guest host on the ACDIS Podcast.

Mary Carol Brouwer

Bio coming soon...

Cheryl Ericson

Bio coming soon...

Patricia Henry

Bio coming soon...

  Dorene Hughes, MSN, BSN, RN, CCDS, CDIP
  Clinical documentation director
  Carolina Pines Regional Medical Center
  Hartsville, South Carolina

Hughes has been involved in CDI for over 14 years, with seven years of that experience as a CDI director. Prior to CDI, she has 12 years of experience as a well-baby and NICU nurse and six years experience as a nurse in a nursing home. She is currently a member of ACDIS, the Tennessee ACDIS local chapter, AHIMA, and is the past tresurer for the South Carolina ACDIS local chapter. Hughes is the lead chair for the Darlington County Disabilities and Special Needs Board, and is alos involved in the Hartsville Evening Lions Club and the ToastMasters Club in Hartsville. Prior to nursing, Hughes taught kindergarten and first grade. She married her high school sweetheart in 2020 and together they have six children, three dogs, and three cats.

  Fran Jurcak, MSN, RN, CCDS, CCDS-O
  Chief clinical strategist
  Iodine Software
  Austin, Texas

Jurcak is an accomplished senior executive with over 30 years of success in healthcare. She is currently the chief clinical strategist at Iodine Software where she has focused her attention on employing innovative artificial intelligence machine learning model technology to support documentation accuracy in all records. Jurcak is focused on creating efficient workflows, preventing duplication of effort, and supporting professional communication between the clinical and coding teams. She has worked side-by-side with CDI specialists and coding staff, CDI leaders, and corporate executives to develop workflows and processes that support positive outcomes for healthcare organizations. She received the 2017 ACDIS award for Professional Achievement, served two elected terms on the ACDIS Advisory Board and currently sits on the certification boards for both inpatient and outpatient CDI as well as the NAHRI Advisory Board. 

Roshan Shetty

Bio coming soon...

  Susanne Warford, RN, MBA, CCDS
  HIM data analytics manager 
  Baptist Health
  Kentucky

Warford's experience includes emergency department, neurosurgical ICU, transplant, case management, and compliance with the last nine years in CDI/HIM. During those nine years, she served as a facility CDI specialist, CDI auditor/educator and regional CDI manager, where she helped to systemize and standardize processes for seven facilities spread throughout Kentucky and Southern Indiana. Prior to her current role, she started the CDI appeals program, which has since developed into its own department. Susanne currently serves as the Vice-President for the ACDIS Kentucky/Southern Indiana Chapter. She is a member of the 2021 – 2022 ACDIS CDI Leadership Council and has served on the CCDS Exam Committee since 2019.

  Gail Weldon, RN, CCDS
  CDI team lead
  Baptist Medical Center East and Prattville Baptist Hospital
  Montgomery and Prattville, Alabama

Weldon has worked full time as an RN since 1978 and has been with the same great healthcare system for the last 22 years. In 2007, she became a quality coordinator overseeing professional practice evaluations and all things physician related. When the CDI department was formed, she transitioned to CDI, which Weldon believes is the best career move she has ever made. Weldon loves CDI and she goes to work with excitement every day. Weldon is a CDI team lead for two of the system's three facilities. In her off time, Weldone loves to experience life with her husband, children and grandchildren. She feels extremely blessed to have both of her parents living and enjoys their company as often as she can. Weldon also loves dogs and birds, and has a few of each.

Irina Zusman

Bio coming soon...

CCDS-O Subcommittee:

  Tracy Boldt, RN, BSN, CCDS, CDIP, CCDS-O
  System manager of CDI
  Essentia Health System
  Duluth, Minnesota

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

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, BSN, MHA, RN, CCS, CCDS, ACM-RN, CCDS-O
  Director of clinical documentation excellence (CDE)
  Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist (AHWFB)
  Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Hicks has more than 22 years of experience in CDI and over 37 years of nursing experience. As an original staff member when the CDI program at AHWFB began in 1999, she participated in building and expanding the program by educating staff and faculty, providing leadership, promoting departmental goals, and coordinating department operations. 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 AHWFB for her entire career, with 15 years of service as a staff nurse in the hospital's intermediate care unit and nine years as manager of care coordination. She is a member AHIMA and ACDIS where she is a frequent contributor, serving on the ACDIS Advisory Board twice, currently sitting on the CCDS-O Certification Board, currently serving as the social media coordinator for NC-ACDIS, and she was awarded the CDI Professional of the Year Award at the 2019 ACDIS Conference.

  Fran Jurcak, MSN, RN, CCDS, CCDS-O
  Chief clinical strategist
  Iodine Software
  Austin, Texas

Jurcak is an accomplished senior executive with over 30 years of success in healthcare. She is currently the chief clinical strategist at Iodine Software where she has focused her attention on employing innovative artificial intelligence machine learning model technology to support documentation accuracy in all records. Jurcak is focused on creating efficient workflows, preventing duplication of effort, and supporting professional communication between the clinical and coding teams. She has worked side-by-side with CDI specialists and coding staff, CDI leaders, and corporate executives to develop workflows and processes that support positive outcomes for healthcare organizations. She received the 2017 ACDIS award for Professional Achievement, served two elected terms on the ACDIS Advisory Board and currently sits on the certification boards for both inpatient and outpatient CDI as well as the NAHRI Advisory Board.

  James Manz, MD
  Spine and neurological surgery consultant
  Mayo Enterprise Health System
  Eau Claire, Wisconsin

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

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

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

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
  Interim ACDIS director
  HCPro
  Chicago, Illinois

Prescott is the interim director and 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, DNP, RN, CCDS, CCDS-O, CRC                                                                   
  Vice president, value-based CDI
  Norwood
  Austin, Texas

Vaughn has over 11 years of CDI experience in both inpatient and outpatient settings and 25 years of nursing experience in hematology/oncology acute care, nephrology, obstetrics/gynecology, and primary care. In 2015 she led one of the nation’s first and outpatient CDI programs focused on value-based care for population health. Vaughn has spoken at multiple conferences, authored articles, received ACDIS’s National Professional Achievement Award, and helped write both the original study guide and the initial CCDS-O certification exam. Vaughn has held certifications in oncology, chemo and biotherapy, AHIMA approved ICD-10 CM/PCS trainer, and most recently completed her Doctor of Nursing at Duke University with research focusing on CDI nurse-led preventative care initiatives.

  Yvonne Whitley RN, BSN, CPC, CRC, CDEO
  Ambulatory CDI manager
  Novant Health
  Charlotte, North Carolina

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

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.

Click here to download the committee's scope of work. For questions about the committee, contact ACDIS Associate Editor Joshua Raposa (joshua.raposa@hcpro.com). 
 

  Chinwe Anyika, PhD, RN-BC, CDIP, CCS, CCDS, CCDS-O, CPHIMS
  Manager of CDI and data operations
  Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
  New York, New York

Anyika is the manager of CDI and data operations at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. She has 18 years of nursing experience, and 14 years of CDI and inpatient coding experience. In her current position, she oversees other CDI specialists, supervises daily CDI operations and workflow, trains CDI specialists and providers, and utilizes data analytics and CDI informatics to drive provider performance improvement. She earned her master’s and doctorate degrees in biomedical informatics and holds professional certificates in VBA programming, data analytics, and data visualization with tableau.
 

  Laurie Baker, MSN, RN, CCDS
  Clinical documentation specialist
  Memorial Hospital and Health Care Center
  Jasper, Indiana

Baker is a clinical documentation specialist at Memorial Hospital and Health Care Center in Jasper, Indiana. She has 31 years of nursing experience, including in the medical/surgical unit. She has 11 years of experience in case management/utilization review and six years of experience as a CDI specialist. She earned her CCDS credential in 2020 and currently does CDI reviews for traditional and managed Medicare and Medicaid patients. Baker was a 2022 recipient of an ACDIS CDI Scholarship award. 
 

  Melissa Crigger, RN-BSN, MHA, CCDS
  Clinical documentation specialist
  Carilion Clinic
  Roanoke, Virginia

Crigger is a clinical documentation specialist at Carilion Clinic in Roanoke, Virginia. She is a registered nurse with more than 29 years of nursing experience. She has five years of CDI experience with her areas of expertise in vascular surgery, neuro trauma ICU and PCU, and oncology. Crigger has also served as an infection preventionist and was the surgical site infection content expert as well as conducted quality improvement projects for HAC reduction. She also has experience in case management, utilization management, and nursing education where she served as an assistant professor of nursing at Jefferson College of Health Sciences in Roanoke. She has a master’s degree in science with an emphasis in healthcare administration and has experience in outpatient practice management as well. While Melissa loves educating physicians and clinical documentation, she considers being mother to her 10-year-old son her greatest accomplishment.   
 

  Elizabeth Harvey, RN, BC, MS, CMCN, CPHQ, CCDS
  Level 3 CDI specialist
  West Virginia University Medicine
  Morgantown, West Virginia

Harvey is a level 3 CDI specialist at West Virginia University Medicine in Morgantown. She is a registered nurse with more than 30 years of nursing experience, specializing in CDI since 2007. Harvey has her master’s in community health education and holds education, clinical assessment, and process improvement dear to her heart. Recently, she participated in a process improvement project with sepsis as a level 3 project. At present, Harvey has a goal to form a state ACDIS chapter. She has held the CCDS certification since 2013. She has previously served as president of the West Virginia State Health Care Quality Association and now serves as the treasurer. Harvey is a progressive thinker and is always giving it her all to make the world a better place.
 

  Amy Kirk, RHIT, CCS, CCDS, CRCR
  CDI regional manager
  Ensemble Health Partners, supporting Bon Secours Mercy Health
  Cincinnati, Ohio

Kirk is a CDI regional manager with Ensemble Health Partners, supporting Bon Secours Mercy Health. She has been in the health information field for 31 years with 17 years as an acute care inpatient professional coder at a level 1 trauma center and academic facility, and 14 years in inpatient CDI. Her coding experience and the increasing need for provider documentation education led her to help grow the CDI department in 2007 as a CDI specialist and becoming a regional CDI manager of five facilities in 2013. Kirk believes a strong CDI team has a foundation of processes and resources to support best practices. Using her experiences in coding and CDI, Kirk has helped their teams navigate through the challenges of the ever-changing healthcare environment.
 

  Lee Anne Landon, BSN, CCMC, CCDS
  Network director of the clinical documentation program
  HonorHealth Healthcare System
  Scottsdale, Arizona

Landon is the network director of the clinical documentation program at HonorHealth Healthcare System in Arizona. She has more than 16 years of experience in CDI. Previously, Landon has worked in multiple roles and settings, including acute care, case management, and utilization review for hospitals, insurance companies, and the New York state PRO. Her current CDI program includes all payer reviews, quality, and denial management. The program has established close collaborative relationships with the coding and quality department along with a working relationship with case management. Landon is an active member of her local ACDIS chapter and was a co-chairperson for two years. She has presented at ACDIS national conferences and at local chapter events. She is a member of the ACDIS Leadership Council, has served on Leadership Council Mastermind group, and has been invited to attend several Leadership Exchanges.
 

  Natalie Negro, MPH, BSN, RN, CCDS
  Corporate manager of CDI
  Penn Medicine
  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Negro is the corporate manager of CDI at Penn Medicine in Pennsylvania. As manager, Negro provides education and support to encourage growth and development of an effective CDI department, follows metrics and key performance indicators, and collaborates with providers and other stakeholders to ensure the success of Penn Medicine. Some of her favorite initiatives Negro has worked on are those which leverage technology and the electronic medical record to improve documentation and patient care. Negro is passionate about CDI and all the ways in which it promotes accurate and complete code sets for public health data, hospital rankings, and hospital finance. An amateur detective at heart, Natalie loves board games, escape rooms, and anything that involves putting together clues and solving puzzles.
 

  Kelly Rice, RN, CCDS, CDIP, CCS, CRC
  CDI lead, provider education
  Mayo Clinic
  Falmouth, Maine

Bio coming soon...
 

  Pamela Ruiz, MD, CCDS
  CDI lead
  Christus Highland Medical Center
  Shreveport, Louisiana 

Ruiz has more than nine years of healthcare experience and five years of CDI, education, auditing, denials, and coding experience. She has worked in various types of hospitals including large academic medical centers, multi-hospital systems, a children’s hospital, a heart hospital, and smaller community hospitals. As a CDI lead, Ruiz provides education, support, follows metrics and key performance indicators, and collaborates with providers and other stakeholders to ensure success in the system CDI program at Christus Healthcare. Ruiz is an active member of ACDIS, the Texas local chapter, and the ACDIS CDI Leadership Council.
 

  Ashley Wells, MN, RN, CMSRN, CCDS
  CDI specialist
  Medovent Solutions
  Mansfield, Texas

Wells has ten years of nursing experience, beginning her nursing career and love for professional development and education at a Portland, Oregon acute care hospital. In the years that followed, Wells has gained experience as a nursing instructor and clinical educator at an acute care hospital in the DFW metroplex. Since 2019, Wells has gained a broad range of CDI experiences ranging from concurrent and retrospective reviews, provider and staff education, and clinical validation denials. Wells’ favorite professional milestones include onboarding staff members and being a part of the ACDIS community with previous participation on the ACDIS Furthering Education Committee.
 

  Brittani Winkler, MHA, BSN, RN, CCDS, CCDS-O
  Manager of CDI
  Wellstar Health System
  Collins, Ohio

Winkler is a manager of CDI at Wellstar Health System, which is based in Marietta, Georgia. In her current role, she is responsible for leading CDI initiatives across seven facilities, presenting metrics to hospital stakeholders, attending multidepartment meetings, and leading the outpatient HCC reporting initiative. Winkler joined the CDI world in 2017 and has a background in medical/surgical nursing, home health nursing, case management, and clinical resource management.
 

  Alison Yazmer, RN, BSN, CCDS, CCS
  CDI educator, denial prevention specialist
  Middlesex Hospital
  Middletown, Connecticut 

Yazmer started Middlesex Hospital’s CDI department as a pilot program in 2004. The department presently staffs both concurrent and second level review CDI nurses. Yazmer transitioned to CDI educator and denial prevention in 2000. Yazmer chairs the clinical validation committee working with providers to develop evidenced based best practices guidelines for high risk diagnoses vulnerable to denial. She is responsible for education and quality assurance for providers, CDI nurses, and coding staff ensuring compliance and understanding of clinical guidelines and ICD-10 Official Coding & Reporting Guidelines. Previously, Yazmer worked as an acute care medical/surgical nurse, utilization review nurse for an insurance company, and manager for inpatient case management and outpatient disease management. Currently, Yazmer is the vice-chair for the Connecticut Hospital Association’s Payer Audit Representatives Meeting.

Click here to download the committee's scope of work. For questions about the committee, contact Editorial Manager, Products and Events, Karla Kozak (karla.kozak@hcpro.com).

  Patricia Barry, RN, BSN, M.Ed, CCDS
  Director of Clinical Documentation Integrity
  Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
  Boston, Massachusetts

Barry is the director of clinical documentation integrity at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in Boston. She has 25 years of nursing experience, with a focus on nursing education, career development, leadership, and clinical practice. She started her CDI career in 2008 and had the privilege to practice and lead multiple CDI teams in many academic medical centers, including Tufts, UCLA, Stanford, and the Queen’s Medical Center in Hawaii. Barry has participated in the CDI AHIMA program, has been a speaker at the Workforce Development Conference, has hosted many ACDIS chapter programs, has been featured in the ACDIS CDI Journal in 2017, and founded the New England CDI Leadership group.

  Sara Booker, BN, RN, CCDS
  CDI Team Lead
  Ascension
  Indianapolis, Indiana

Booker has 26 years of nursing experience in the areas of medical-surgical, critical care, step-down, endoscopy, and home hospice. She discovered the world of CDI six 6 years ago and has not looked back. Booker moved from a CDI specialist role to a supportive role as a CDI float and now is a CDI team lead. She has served on the Query Committee for the past four years. She has developed an orientation plan and educates new CDIs. She is a past president of the Indiana ACDIS local chapter and currently serves as its secretary.

  Dawn Butler, RN, BSN, CCDS
  CDI Network Educator
  HonorHealth
  Phoenix, Arizona

Butler is the network educator of the CDI program for the HonorHealth health system. She has over 30 years of healthcare experience including ICU, medical, surgical and pulmonary. During her 17 years of CDI experience, she has been involved with program implementation, physician education, preceptor programs, quality, compliance, and denials. She has been an active member of her local ACDIS chapters and is currently a member of the ACDIS Leadership Council.

  Shannon DiSilvestro, BSN, RN, CCDS
  CDI Specialist
  U Chicago Medicine Medical Center
  Chicago, Illinois

DiSilvestro is a CDI specialist at U Chicago Medicine Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois. She has been a nurse since 1995. Most of her career was spent in the emergency department (ED), but she has also worked in medical/surgical, telemetry, interventional radiology, non-invasive cardiology, care management, and utilization management. She worked as an Epic credentialed trainer, CPR instructor, and assisted with the startup of an ED sepsis initiative and chest pain initiative for credentialing for a past employer. She began working as a CDI specialist in 2019. At the University of Chicago, she is currently working on the startup of the NICU CDI program for their Level III NICU and 3M prioritization project as well as volunteering as an employee engagement ambassador. She is also finishing her master’s degree. 

  Brandi Hutcheson, RN, MSN, CCM, CCDS, CCA
  Clinical Documentation Auditor in Corporate Compliance
  Community Health Systems
  Pisgah, Alabama

Hutcheson has spent over nine years in the CDI field. During that time, she has written articles for the ACDIS Blog and CDI Journal. She has served on the Furthering Education Committee for two years and has participated on the Leadership Council for two years. She started her nursing career as a LPN and eventually earned her MSN in 2010. She has experience working on a medical-surgical floor and at skilled nursing facility. She has also served as a case manager.

  Diane Kenney, RN, BSN, CCDS
  CDI Specialist
  Novant Health
  Charlotte, North Carolina

Kenney is a CDI specialist for Novant Health in Charlotte, North Carolina, with 36 years of nursing experience, serving the past 12 years in the CDI role. She presented a poster at the 2019 ACDIS conference and has served on the query template and mortality work groups. Her previous roles were clinical analyst and data abstractor for STS thoracic surgery, cath PCI/MI; CHF and ED outpatient core measures where she served as the facilitator for the thoracic surgery best practice team and co-facilitator for CP best practice and started her career in the ED for 19 years and serving on multiple committees. 

  Carrie Mayfield, MSN, RN, CCDS
  Clinical Documentation Supervisor
  Children’s Minnesota
  Edina, Minnesota

Mayfield is the Clinical Documentation Supervisor at Children’s Minnesota in Edina, Minnesota, with 35+ years in nursing, serving in leadership, direct and indirect patient care, and education roles. She has diverse experience throughout her career in medical-surgical, oncology, and float pool units, intensive and emergency care, home health and hospice, medical insurance/prior authorization review, home medical equipment, and nursing education. More than eight years ago, she started at Children’s Minnesota in the CDI Program and continues to expand her knowledge in pediatrics and CDI daily.
 

  Tina Scarborough, RN, CCM, CCDS
  CDI team lead
  AdventHealth
  Sebring, Florida

A nurse for more than 30 years with background in industrial nursing, emergency room, medical-surgical, home care, case management, bed management, and Scarborough helped start the CDI program at AdventHealth more than eight years’ ago and now serves as team lead over three facilities and contributes to several quality improvement committees such as clinical excellence, sepsis committee, and physician/residency orientation. She and her team conducted a successful CDI ER pilot, and which is now an established program.

  Chasity Shaw, RN, BSN, CCDS
  Clinical Documentation Specialist
  Memorial Hermann Health System
  Magnolia, Texas

Shaw began her journey in clinical documentation at Memorial Hermann Health System in Houston, Texas, in November 2021. She is a registered nurse with a clinical background in critical care across five states and is currently projected to complete her MSN in May 2025. As a dedicated and passionate leader in healthcare, she served as chair of the Communications Committee for the Texas Nursing Association from 2021–2023 and as co-host of the Texas Nurses Podcast during her tenure. She is an advocate for value-based care and has goals of championing CDI’s influence and expertise in improving the quality of healthcare.

  Madhu Subherwal, MHA, MBBS, CCDS, CDIP, RHIT
  Clinical Documentation Improvement Manager
  Torrance Memorial Medical Center
  Torrance, California

Subherwal is a physician, having completed her medical education at Dayanand Medical College in India, and has been clinical documentation improvement manager at Torrance Memorial Medical Center since 2015. She began her journey in CDI in 2010, while completing her master’s degree in health administration from the University of La Verne in California. In 2021, she helped create the CDI program for Southern California Kaiser Permanente’s 13 regional hospitals, after which she supervised the successful roll out of the program and subsequently was given the opportunity to manage the program at Torrance Memorial Medical Center. She has served as the education chair for the California chapter of ACDIS in 2014, co-chair of the California chapter of ACDIS from 2019 through 2022, and is currently the co-chair/treasurer for the chapter. She is a past attendee of the ACDIS Leadership Exchange and past member of the ACDIS CDI Leadership Council Mastermind group. She has been a member of the ACDIS Leadership Council since its inaugural year of 2015.

  Sandra Thomas, MSN, RN
  CDI specialist
  U Chicago Medicine Medical Center
  Chicago, Illinois

Thomas is a CDI specialist at U Chicago Medicine Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois. Her nursing career has been in MICU, CCU, cardiac cath lab, adult surgical heart ICU, home health, and as an instructor of CPR, ACLS, 12 lead ECG, and ventricular assist device. She worked as a credential trainer for EMR-EPIC applications. Thomas has volunteered and co-chaired committees to develop orientation processes in ICU, as well as for CDI programs. She has done IRB-approved nurse research. She has also served as a committee member for a trauma recovery program for patient experiencing post-traumatic life events.
 

  Rebecca Truett, MBA, MSN, RN, CCDS, CCA, CDIP
  Clinical Documentation Specialist
  Novant Health
  Winston-Salem, NC

Truett is a clinical documentation specialist and clinical documentation excellent educator for Novant Health in Winston-Salem, NC. She has over 30 years of experience in the healthcare field. Her nursing career has spanned from bedside nursing for surgical, emergency, and critical care departments to nursing director of surgical services. Truett also served as performed director of quality and risk management for nine years, and nursing director for an ambulatory surgery center for five years. Truett’s current role as clinical documentation excellence educator allows her to provide clinical documentation integrity expertise as well as program development and operational support to the clinical documentation management team. 
 

  Laura Werner, DC, RN, BSN, BA, MSN-Ed, CDIP, CSS
  Executive Director, CDI
  Community Health System

Werner has nearly 30 years of clinical experience, including a dozen in CDI where she has assisted in the design and implementation of acute care and critical access CDI departments, working both onsite and remote. She has been in education for over 35 years both online and in person and is currently an instructor for Gurnick academy of medical arts. Werner also serves as a nurse planner for HCPro and ACDIS.

Click here to download the committee scope of work. For information about this committee, contact ACDIS Editor Jess Fluegel (jess.fluegel@hcpro.com).

  Kelly Benson, BSN, RN, CCDS
  Regional manager of clinical documentation integrity
  Memorial Herrmann Health System-Texas Medical Center
  Houston, Texas

Benson has solid management and team building experience and currently leads a team of approximately fifteen clinical documentation specialists to achieve strong outcomes in improving the quality of physician documentation. In her 30 years as a registered nurse, Benson has become a well-rounded healthcare professional with a unique combination of business operations and clinical expertise. Upon coming to work at Memorial Hermann, Benson enjoys the challenge and opportunity of supporting the business of healthcare. Her current role enables her to lead a team that supports improvements in health information management and downstream, improved outcomes for patients. Work satisfies her desire to continue to make a positive impact in our ever changing world of healthcare. Benson received her degree AAS in Nursing from Corning Community College, Corning, New York in 1993. She continued to pursue her education through attendance at Elmira College-Elmira, New York and earned a BSN from Keuka College-Keuka Park, New York.

  Deborah Breton, BSN, RN, CCDS
  CDI nurse educator
  Providence Health and Services-Oregon Region
  Renton, Washington

Breton began her CDI career in 2017, following experience in coronary critical care, home health, hospice, and inpatient case management. Breton has presented at the ACDIS National Conference and currently serves on the ACDIS Leadership Council.

  Lynette Byerly, RN, CCDS, CCS
  Clinical documentation specialist auditor/trainer
  University of Colorado Health
  Aurora, Colorado

  Byerly has been a nurse for 15 years, starting her career in ortho/neuro, then transferred in the emergency department. While in the ED, she took on the role of trauma nurse coordinator for six years. In 2014, Byerly had the opportunity to join the CDI team part-time and fell in love with it. She has worked full time as a CDI specialist for nine years now. Byerly joined ACDIS in 2018 and obtained her CCDS shortly after. She is currently an auditor/trainer of CDI specialists. Byerly joined the ACDIS Regulatory Committee in August of 2020, and in April 2021 obtained her CCS.
 

Maria Garcia “GiGi” Donohue, RN, BSN, CCDS
Regional manager, clinical documentation excellence
Orlando (Florida) Health

Donohue is the regional manager of clinical documentation excellence at Orlando (Florida) Health. In this role, she manages a dozen CDI specialists across three hospitals in the healthcare system and four outpatient case managers/documentation specialists. She has been in the CDI world since 2010, building on a decades’ long nursing career. Over the course of her nursing career, she worked in a wide variety of clinical settings as well as utilization management. 

  Andrea Eastwood, MAS, RHIA
  System director of CDI
  Trinity Health
  Livonia, Michigan

Eastwood is a health information management professional with over 25 years of experience working in both acute and ambulatory care settings. She has worked at Trinity Health for the past 26 years at the corporate office and hospital setting in various leadership roles including CDI, HIM, care coordination, case management, and cancer program leadership. Eastwood is currently the system director, clinical documentation integrity and is responsible for CDI program leadership. Eastwood has presented on CDI topics at multiple national conferences.

  Coral Fernandez, RN, CCDS, CCS
  CDI auditor/educator
  Baptist Health System

   Fernandez has been working in CDI since 2000. As a long time employee in CDI, she has been instrumental in writing policies and procedures for the CDI program at Baptist Health System. She has been a CDI auditor/educator since 2016. Since that time, Fernandez has written appeal letters in response to audit findings from insurers, trained numerous new staff, provided regular education to team members, and has regularly audited CDI team members’ queries for compliance. Fernandez cochaired the ACDIS CDI Educators networking group from 2019 to 2022. Most recently, Fernandez spoke at KHIMA’s annual conference and at CVHIMA. Coral is dedicated to continual lifelong learning.

  Kimberly Forslund, RN, CCDS
  CDI specialist
  Maine Health
  Scarborough, Maine

  Forslund's experience as an emergency department nurse has provided her with the skills and knowledge to engage healthcare providers in written dialogue to ensure a complete and accurate medical record that reflects the severity of illness, risk of mortality, and acuity of the patient. She is comfortable communicating with physicians, advanced practice providers regarding clinical documentation management through onboarding and continuing education as well as query writing. Forslund serves on the clinical documentation management team’s patient safety indicator (PSI) committee, in collaboration with physicians and coders, to identify PSIs in real time, draft queries to clarify ambiguity, and clinically validate diagnoses in the medical record.

  Maricus Gibbs, PhD, RN
  CDI specialist
  Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist
  Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Gibbs is a CDI specialist at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He has worked in the health and human services industry for 23 years. Beginning as a nursing assistant in long term and rehabilitation facilities, he gained experience in education and eventually became a registered nurse in home health and inpatient acute care. After he earned his PhD in health services research, he entered the CDI field two years ago. 

  Patricia King-Musser, DNP, RN, CCDS
  Senior director of CDI
  Geisinger Health System
  Danville, Pennsylvania

King-Musser is an experienced nurse with over 25 years in practice. Her areas of expertise include clinical bedside care, care management, performance innovation, clinical quality and patient safety, and clinical documentation integrity. Initially a diploma graduate from Geisinger School of Nursing, King-Musser went on to obtain a BSN from Pennsylvania College of Technology and a DNP from Capella University. She is an inaugural testee of the first CCDS exam, has gone on to speak at the national ACDIS Conference, contributed to several articles, and had the privilege to be the Commencement speaker at the Geisinger Radiology School ceremony.  

  Rebecca Lewis, MSN, RN, CPN, NPD-BC, CPC, CCDS
  Lead CDI specialist
  Nemours Children’s Health
  Orlando, Florida

Lewis is a Master's prepared nurse with five years of experience as a bedside pediatric critical care nurse and nurse educator. During those five years, Lewis became a certified pediatric nurse and board certified in nursing professional development. Due to this experience and knowledge, Lewis has had the opportunity to be involved in the launch of the clinical documentation integrity program at Nemours Children’s Health, Florida, in 2022. Since then, she has become a certified professional coder and a certified clinical documentation specialist. With the success that the program has experienced and the growth of the clinical documentation integrity team, Lewis is now the lead clinical documentation integrity specialist.

2024 CDI Week Advisor:

  Tiara Minor, RN, BSN, CCDS
  Director of CDI
  University of Miami Health System
  Miami, Florida

A Hampton University alumna, Minor is the director of CDI at the University of Miami Health System in Miami, Florida. She has more than 10 years’ experience in CDI, with the last seven in CDI/coding leadership. During her tenure in CDI, she has worked with various types of hospital systems including large academic medical centers, multi-hospital systems, smaller community hospitals, a children’s hospital, and outpatient clinics. Spending two and a half years in consulting broadened her experience with exposure to different facilities, leadership operations, vendor-relations, and technology solutions. Prior to taking the leap into CDI, she worked in the emergency department, initially as an emergency medical technician (EMT) and then registered nurse. Minor is passionate about CDI innovation, team development, healthcare quality, and an advocate for diversity. She and her team received the 2022 ACDIS Achievement Award for Diversity in CDI. Minor was also the recipient of the 2023 ACDIS Achievement Award for Professional Achievement in CDI. She is a member of the ACDIS Diversity and Inclusion Committee, the ACDIS CDI Leadership Council, and the 2023/2024 ACDIS Leadership Council Mastermind group.

Elected to the board in 2024; serving through April 2027

Click here to download the committee scope of work. For questions about the committee, contact ACDIS Editor Jess Fluegel (jess.fluegel@hcpro.com).

Debra L. Anoff, MD, FACP, FHM
Senior medical director of the clinical revenue cycle
University of Colorado Health
Aurora, Colorado

Anoff graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, after which she completed a combined medicine/pediatrics residency at the University of Florida at Gainesville. She has clinically served as a hospitalist at the University of Colorado Hospital since 2012 and became its first physician advisor in 2015.  Her current administrative role is senior medical director of CDI and inpatient coding for UCHealth. She is also an active member of the ACPA CDI committee. Her primary interests surround CDI education and how documentation directly impacts quality metrics, research, and patient care.

Marlene Besnoff, RN, BSN, CCDS
Clinical documentation integrity program director
BayCare Health System
Clearwater, Florida

  Lynette Byerly, RN, CCDS, CCS
  Clinical documentation specialist auditor/trainer
  University of Colorado Health
  Aurora, Colorado

Byerly has been a nurse for 15 years, starting her career in ortho/neuro, then transferred in the emergency department. While in the ED, she took on the role of trauma nurse coordinator for six years. In 2014, Byerly had the opportunity to join the CDI team part-time and fell in love with it. She has worked full time as a CDI specialist for nine years now. Byerly joined ACDIS in 2018 and obtained her CCDS shortly after. She is currently an auditor/trainer of CDI specialists. Byerly joined the ACDIS Regulatory Committee in August of 2020, and in April 2021 obtained her CCS.

Kathy Dorich MSN, RN, CCDS, CPHQ
Director of CDI operations
Advocate Aurora Health Care
Downers Grove, IL

Dorich is a proven leader responsible for operational oversight of 10 hospital-based clinical documentation integrity programs as well as ensuring alignment within the Advocate Health enterprise of the 43 hospitals CDI programs. Under her leadership, Advocate was awarded “best in CDI practice” recognition by the Huron consultant group.
Accomplishments include consistent achievement of quality outcomes relative to CDI operations such as financial benefit, provider engagement, CDI productivity measures, and documentation accuracy of the hospital’s patient safety measures.

Dorich is a member of the ACDIS CDI Leadership Council, and consistently shares leadership insights and networks with CDI leaders to advance CDI. Additional contributions include an ACDIS Podcast presentation discussing PSI 90 and HACs, and articles in the CDI Journal on increasing staffing levels and reconciliation process.

  Crystal E East, BSN, RN, CDIS, CPHQ, CCPS
  CDI assistant nurse manager
  VA St. Louis Healthcare System
  St. Louis, Missouri

East is currently the CDI assistant nurse manager with four to five years of experience in inpatient CDI. She holds a BSN and a BS in CDIS. She has a certificate in CDIS, CPHQ, and CPPS. She received her BSN from McKendree University in Lebanon, Illinois, and her CDIS at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. East educates physicians, CDI specialists, and nurses on clinical documentation in her current role. East belongs to the St. Louis, Kansas City, and Minnesota ACDIS chapter. She has over 20 years of experience in quality before her CDI role. She was the IPPS coordinator for five years and the regulatory specialist in her facility for eight years.
 

  Cheryl Ericson, RN, MS, CCDS, CDIP
  Clinical program manager
  Iodine Software
  Charleston, South Carolina

Ericson’s body of work includes expertise in the mid revenue cycle with a focus on CDI and utilization review as well as quality. She is recognized as a CDI subject matter expert for her body of work which includes many speaking engagements and publications for a variety of industry associations. She has helped establish industry guidance through contributions to white papers, books, conference presentations, and practice briefs for both ACDIS and the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA). Ericson is a current member of the ACDIS CCDS Certification Subcommittee of the Certification Committee. She is also a member of the AHIMA CDI Practice Council. She is a past member of the ACDIS Advisory Board. 

  Jenny K. Esper, RHIT, CDIP, CCS, CCDS 
  Clinical documentation specialist
  University of Michigan Health System

After twenty years in different facets of inpatient coding, Esper made the transition to clinical documentation in 2018. Having a passion for documentation integrity, physician education, and coding accuracy, Esper feels at home in her current CDI role.   

  Penny Jefferson, MSN, RN, CCDS, CDIP, CRC, CHDA, CCDS-O, CPHQ
  CDI manager
  UC Davis Health

Jefferson entered the world of healthcare 32 years ago as a medic in the United States Army Reserves in Denver, Colorado. Following her training as a medic, she entered the acute care hospital system as a certified nursing assistant. Her career progression included obtaining an associate degree in nursing in 1998. Over the next 14 years, she worked in all areas of critical care intensive care unit around the US and two years in Australia. She served in many nursing roles at the bedside including preceptor, charge nurse, and hospital nursing supervisor.

In 2012, Jefferson entered the world of clinical documentation integrity at a level one trauma center in Denver, Colorado. She accepted a position with Mayo Clinic in 2019, where she started as a concurrent CDI review and progressed up to supervisor of CDI at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. As a nurse and CDI specialist, she went on to obtain her BSN and then MSN in Nursing informatics. In December 2022, she accepted a position with UC-Davis as CDI manager, where she is excited to continue her career path in CDI. Jefferson is a member of AAPC, AHIMA, ACPA, ACDIS, NAHQ, and is a California ACDIS chapter board member.

  Christina Merle, MS, RHIA, CCDS, CDIP, CCS, CRC, CIC 
  Inpatient consultant
  Administrative Consultant Service

Merle is an inpatient consultant with Administrative Consultant Service who has experience in the HIM field, coding, CDI, and education. She holds coding and CDI credentials from AHIMA, ACDIS, and AAPC. Merle is active at the state and national level with AHIMA, and is an AHIMA-approved ICD-10 trainer and ICD-10 ambassador.

  Jo-Anne Mullins, DNP, MSN, RN, CCDS
  Clinical documentation improvement director
  The University of Miami

Mullins is a registered nurse with 21 years of experience in nursing and holds a Doctorate in Nursing Practice and a Master’s Degree in Leadership in Healthcare. She is certified as a clinical documentation specialist (CCDS) and her current role is CDI manager at The University of Miami. Her former positions include clinical auditor for Tampa General Hospital, CDI senior manager for Huntsville Hospital, quality improvement director and staff development coordinator for TN Department of Health. Her accomplishments include the ability to make system changes for quality outcomes. She has been published in the CDI Journal and was a guest speaker on an episode of the ACDIS Podcast. Mullins joined the ACDIS Regulatory Committee in 2023.

   Alyce Reavis, RN, MSN, CCDS
   CDI Auditing Coordinator
   Evangelical Community Hospital
                      Lewisburg, Pennsylvania

Reavis is the CDI auditing coordinator at Evangelical Community Hospital in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. She has been a registered nurse for more than a decade after being a public educator for 12 years. Since joining the CDI ranks, she has served as a preceptor for new team members, developed educational materials for CDI staff, coders, and providers, and helped her team members prepare to sit for the CCDS exam. She was a 2021 recipient of an ACDIS CDI Scholarship award.   

 Leah N. Savage, MSN, RN, CCDS
 CDI auditor/educator
 Baptist Health Systems
 Louisville, Kentucky

Savage is a CDI auditor/educator at Baptist Health Systems in Louisville, Kentucky. She has 19 years of experience in nursing and 14 years of experience in CDI. Savage was co-founder and co-chair for the ACDIS Pediatric Networking Group (APDIS) from 2016 to 2020. She also served as the president of the Kentucky/Southern Indiana chapter of ACDIS (2015-2017). Savage has presented on various topics for ACDIS national conference (2017, 2018, 2022), and speaks regularly for local chapters of ACDIS. She also served as a contributor and reviewer of the book, Pediatric CDI: Building Blocks for Success.

  Mark Spoolstra, MD, FACP
  Senior physician advisor
  Trinity Health Saint Mary’s
  Grand Rapids, Michigan

Spoolstra has been the senior physician advisor for Trinity Health Saint Mary’s for 12 years and has been involved in CDI work for over 20 years. He oversees utilization review and physician documentation and is actively involved in appeals, denials management, HAC/PSI reviews, multiple quality initiatives, and research activities at the hospital. He has worked on multiple initiatives within Trinity Health system including documentation, CDI, denials, insurance contracting, and the role of the physician advisor. He has 36 years of GME and internal medicine hospital practice experience, and continues to practice part time as a hospitalist and as a core faculty member. He has a passion for teaching documentation improvement to residency programs from all specialties.

  Lizabeth Volansky, BSN, RN, CCDS, RHIA, CDIP, CCS
  CDI nurse auditor 
  St. Louis Health Care System
  St. Louis, Missouri

Volansky has experience as a registered nurse for 28 years working in direct and indirect patient care, in addition to being a medical coder for 24 years with experience in the acute hospital setting and as a specialist regional coder. In her current role, she develops and executes strategies for the CDI program ensuring the medical records are accurate, complete, and contain consistent clinical documentation reflecting the quality and integrity of patient care. She earned her BSN from St. Louis University School of Nursing and BS in Health Information Administration from Stephens College.

Cherryl D. Young, RN, MSN, MSHSA, CCDS
Clinical documentation educator 
Jackson Health System
Miami, Florida

  Jennifer Young, MSHCM, BSN, RN, CCDS, CDIP, CCS
  CDI regional director
  McLaren Port Huron, Oakland, St. Luke’s and Karmanos Cancer Institute

Young is the regional director for CDI at McLaren Port Huron, Oakland, St. Luke’s and Karmanos Cancer Institute. In this capacity, she leads the day-to-day operations of the CDI teams with a focus on dashboard metrics and outcomes, resource utilization, clinical validation, quality reporting, physician engagement/education, and staff development. Young has been involved in all aspects of clinical documentation improvement for the last nine years. Beginning her clinical documentation specialist career at McLaren Flint, she has been the regional director for the last three and a half years. Young has done extensive work in CDI on quality metrics, especially mortality reviews, PSI/HAC, clinical validation, and complication reviews. Young’s professional experience includes ICU and Cardiac Cath Lab.

A graduate of University of Michigan Flint with a Master’s in Public Administration/Health Care Administration, as well as a Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing and a Bachelor of Science in General Studies from Oakland, Young is a Certified Clinical Documentation Improvement Specialist (CCDS), a Clinical Documentation Improvement Specialist (CDIP) and a Certified Coding Specialist (CCS). Young is a member of the Association of Clinical Documentation Improvement Specialists (ACDIS) and a member of the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA).

Objectives:

1. Inspire CDI professionals of all races, nationalities, gender identities, sexual orientations, abilities, and ethnicities to thrive within the profession
2. Improve recruitment and retention in the CDI industry and promote an even playing field for all qualified professionals
3. Educate the CDI community about behaviors and actions that promote inclusivity
4. Provide support and bring awareness to biases and discrimination within CDI and the broader healthcare community
5. Recognize organizations that promote diversity and inclusion and implement actionable policies to ensure follow-through

Click here to watch a video interview with three members of the Diversity and Inclusion Task Force.

Click here to download the committee scope of work. For questions about this committee, contact ACDIS Associate Editorial Director Linnea Archibald (linnea.archibald@hcpro.com).
 

  Viji Anchan, MSN, RN, CPN, CRC, CCDS-O
  CDI specialist
  Nemours Children’s Health
  Delaware Valley

Anchan is a CDI specialist, who specializes in risk adjustment for Nemours primary care sites. With 24 years of nursing experience encompassing adult medical-surgical, geriatric, and pediatric care. She has acquired extensive expertise during her 15-year tenure at Nemours, working across departments such as the orthopedic and transplant unit, surgical-intermediate unit, and post-anesthesia care unit. Anchan has worked as a CDI specialist for the past five years, providing comprehensive coverage for both inpatient and outpatient CDI at Nemours.

Anchan holds a deep commitment to pediatric CDI and has presented at the 2024 ACDIS Outpatient Symposium on “Developing and Growing a Pediatric Outpatient CDI Program,” as well as at two Nursing of Children Network conferences.

Beyond her clinical role, Anchan is the founding leader of the DESIaN ARG at Nemours, an associate resource group established in 2019. This group convenes associates from the South Asian region and their allies, collaborating to address the distinctive needs of this community. Furthermore, the group is dedicated to nurturing the professional development of its members through mentorship, advocacy for diversity, equity, and inclusion, and the promotion of awareness regarding mental health and autism in the South Asian community.
 

  Lourdes Cacanindin, MD, CCDS
  CDI specialist
  Sutter Health
  Antioch, California

Cacanindin practiced her medical degree with specialty in pediatrics for almost 15 years in Manila, Philippines, before embarking into the HIM world to become a clinical documentation reviewer at Sutter Delta Medical Center in April 2010. She has contributed to the CDI Journal, attended every ACDIS conference since 2010 (including participating six times as a poster presenter), and is an active member of the California ACDIS local chapter and AHIMA. She is also proactive in providing aid to indigent patients through medical missions in the Philippines serving in the University of Santo Tomas Medical Alumni Association in America. USTMAAA aims to give assistance to the medical students through scholarships at Cacanindin’s alma mater. She was the recipient of the 2024 Melissa Varnavas Spirit of Service ACDIS Achievement Award and will be a speaker at the 2025 conference.

Cacanindin has 14 years of CDI experience with a history of collaboration across departments to deliver provider education, and improve malnutrition documentation, case mix index and the mortality observed to expected ratio related to sepsis, and length of stay accuracy. She has also helped to supervise newly hired CDI staff, and she conducts second-level reviews for CDI/coding mismatches and PSI 13 (post-op sepsis) reviews for the Sutter Health Bay area region.
 

  Angelica Cage, MBA, BSN, RN, CCDS, CCS, CDIP
  CDI director
  Tufts Medicine
  Boston, Massachusetts

Cage has eight years of CDI experience including acute care hospital and health system CDI management and senior advisor for consulting services. Her background includes critical care nursing in the trauma/surgical/neuro ICU, burn ICU, PACU, as well as in case management, utilization review, and quality/risk management. With a passion for CDI advancement, ethics, and quality improvement, Cage has brought success to CDI programs by integrating a more collaborative workflow and relationship between CDI and HIM, establishing advanced CDI training, implementing quality-focused objectives, participating in appeals and denials management, and serving as SME to hospitalist readmissions reduction council. 

Cage has been a speaker at the 2021, 2022, and 2023 ACDIS national conferences, a guest speaker on the ACDIS Podcast, and a guest columnist in the CDI Journal. She currently serves as the Texas ACDIS local chapter co-leader, and is a member of the Chapter Advisory Committee, Regulatory Committee, the chair of the Diversity & Inclusion Committee, and 2024/2025 CDI Leadership Council member.
 

  Chinedum Mogbo, MBBS, MsHIM, RHIA, CDIP, CCDS, CCS
  Manager, CDI
  Tenet Healthcare
  Dallas, Texas

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.

  Buddy Morgan, BSN, RN
  CDI Program Manager
  Providence St. Joseph Health
  Renton, Washington

Morgan has formally worked in healthcare for almost 20 years starting as a CNA in the early 2000s. After graduating nursing school, he jumped feet-first into a charge nurse role on a progressive care unit, eventually landing in the ICU. His passion as a bedside nurse includes advocating for equality of care and inclusivity for fellow members of the LGBTQIA+ community.

CDI has opened a whole new world of nursing for Morgan and where he truly found his home as a nurse. Several years into his CDI career, I Morgan was selected to lead a 12-person team as a CDI supervisor. In his current role as CDI program manager, he oversees programs at four facilities and has more than 20 caregivers under his wings. Morgan’s goals are to support caregivers, encourage diversity and inclusivity, and lead his team to success.
 

  Catherine Sheika, BSN, RN, CCDS
  System CDI manager
  AdventHealth
  Winter Garden, Florida

Sheika has been a nurse for 17 years and began her CDI journey in 2015. She has since held various roles, including second level reviewer, CDI regional educator, and currently AdventHealth system operations manager. Sheika was instrumental in creating the AdventHealth CDI Educator Council and now serves as mentor. Additionally, she is a member of the ACDIS/HCPro Product Advisory Committee and is a 2024/2025 CDI Leadership Council member. Go Cubs!
 

  Andrea Smith, RN, BSN, MSN, CCDS
  CDI Manager for Inpatient and Outpatient CDI
  Washington Regional
  Eureka Springs, Arkansas

Smith is the CDI manager for inpatient and outpatient CDI. She has been an RN for 21 years. Her nursing background includes ICU, cardiology, dialysis, and medical-surgical She entered CDI in 2014 and has been a CDI manager since 2018.

  Nicole Tebo, RN
  Director of CDI Operations
  Advocate Health
  Marinette, Wisconsin

Tebo is the director of CDI operations in the Wisconsin region of Advocate Health. Her nursing background ranges from medical-surgical, oncology, and leadership. She has worked in CDI for more than 10 years, beginning with implementing a CDI program at an independent hospital with much success. When her hospital joined Advocate Aurora Health, Tebo moved into a regional CDI manager role overseeing teammates across the north region of Wisconsin. In 2022, she became the director of CDI operations overseeing CDI team in all 16 hospitals across Wisconsin.  
 

  Melody Tyiska, MBA-PM, RHIA, CCS, CPC, CPMA, CHA, OHCC, CCP-P
  Director of HIM & CDI
  St. John's Episcopal Hospital
  Far Rockaway, New York

Tyiska has 15 years of experience as a coding educator. She is a graduate of an HBCU, Coppin State University with an undergrad degree in interdisciplinary studies with core areas in health information management and education. She started her career in coding education, auditing outpatient provider documentation, and providing feedback and training, and in 2013, she began working on in the inpatient side of the house.

Tyiska has an excitement for all things related to education. She has had the opportunity to teach medical insurance and coding at the community college level. Enjoying being a student as well, in addition to coding certifications of RHIA, CCS and CPC she has also earned, Certified Professional Medical Auditor, Certified Healthcare Auditor, Officer of Healthcare Compliance, Certified Compliance Professional-Physician. Being well-rounded in coding, auditing, and compliance makes her an excellent resource for resolving issues of coding and documentation in the medical record.

Tyiska has also earned an MBA with a specialization in project management from the American InterContinental University. Her current project is managing coding and CDI, two sides to the same coin. She is also pursuing additional certifications and has recently completed the ACDIS Clinical Documentation Integrity Boot Camp. 

Objectives:

1. Draft industry guidance in the form of white papers or position papers
2. Provide helpful guidance through CDI Journal articles, or tips for publication in CDI Strategies weekly email newsletter
3. Join conference calls with fellow Committee members and the ACDIS administration on regular meetings conducted via conference call, to discuss ongoing projects and relevant industry updates. (No meetings will be held in December and May.)
4. Contribute to other committee efforts as interest, expertise, and availability permit

To download the Committee's scope of work, click here. Questions or concerns? Email Editorial Manager, Products and Events, Karla Kozak (kkozak@acdis.org). 
 

 Travis Bias, DO, MPH, FAAFP
 Chief Medical Officer
 3M Health Information Systems Division
 Silver Spring, MD
 

Dr. Bias is the Chief Medical Officer of the Clinician Solutions (3M M*Modal) business housed within 3M’s Health Information Systems Division. Travis is a board-certified Family Medicine physician with practice experience in the private and employer-based space, currently practicing via telemedicine. He previously served in a clinical operations consulting role as a Clinical Transformation Physician Consultant within the Performance Matrix consulting team. He has also taught as a lecturer in Comparative Health Systems at the George Washington University School of Public Health.
 

 Eric R. Brown, MD, PhD, FACOG, FACS
 Medical Director for Care Management & Physician Advisor
 Advocate Health
 Milwaukee, WI
 

Dr. Brown possesses a strong background in clinical quality improvement, patient safety, clinical/surgical practice, clinical administration, clinical information technology, care coordination, patient safety, risk management, regulatory compliance, utilization management and clinical documentation improvement/integrity leadership. He has over 20 years of healthcare experience, including over 14 years of clinical practice experience, over eight years as chief of Gynecology, six years as patient safety/quality officer, three years as chief medical officer, over three years as medical director care management/physician advisor, and over five years as performance improvement physician consultant assisting well over one hundred twenty healthcare organizations. He is also a board-certified Obstetrician-Gynecologist with Fellowship status in The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The American College of Surgeons and The American Board for Quality Assurance and Utilization Review Physicians, and currently serves on the Committee on Government Affairs for The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

 AJ Hegg, MD
 CDI Medical Director 
 Essentia Health Systems
 Duluth, Minnesota
 

Dr. Hegg has been the CDI medical director for the Essentia Health System since 2019 and is based out of Duluth, Minnesota. He recently became the medical director and lead physician advisor for utilization management at Essentia in 2022. He is board-certified in critical care, internal medicine, and emergency medicine and practices clinically as an intensivist and emergency physician. He completed residency and fellowship at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan in 2012, and graduated from medical school at the University of Minnesota in 2006.

  Fakhar Khan, MD
  Medical Director, HCC Revenue Cycle
  Hartford Healthcare
  Farmington, Connecticut

Dr. Khan is an experienced hospitalist with a background in internal medicine. After graduating from New York Medical College in 2009, he completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, NC. Since 2012, he has provided high-quality patient care as a hospitalist and continues to be actively involved in clinical practice. In addition to his clinical duties, he is deeply passionate about medical education, particularly CDI. He firmly believes that accurate and comprehensive documentation is crucial for patient care and hospital efficiency. This belief drives his commitment to teaching and mentoring his colleagues about the importance of CDI and the significant impact their documentation can have.

 Disha Mahendra, MD
 Regional Medical Director & Physician Advisor
 Advent Health
 Crowne Point, Indianapolis
 

  Vaughn Matacale, MD, CCDS
  Director, Physician Advisor Group
  ECU Health
  Greenville, North Carolina
 

Dr. Matacale is the director of the physician advisor group at ECU Health in Greenville, North Carolina. Matacale’s advisor team has grown to eight fulltime physicians and one physician assistant, and they are responsible for conducting post-discharge pre-bill reviews; educating and supporting the coding, CDI, and medical staff; and providing full utilization review (UR) support. Matacale has over 19 years of experience in UR work and continues to practice hospital medicine. He currently chairs the Patient Safety Indicator committee and sits on his hospital’s patient safety and quality improvement committee and mortality committee. Matacale serves on the ACDIS Advisory Board, is a past member of the Physician Advisor Mastermind, and is a past attendee of the ACDIS Physician Advisor Exchange.

  Martin Perez, MD, MBA, FHM
  Medical Director, Documentation Integrity
  Accuity Healthcare
  Houston, Texas

Dr. Perez is a board-certified internal medicine physician with a combined 22 years of inpatient and outpatient clinical experience. He has an MBA degree with a major concentration in healthcare administration. He is currently a medical director for a physician-led hospital documentation integrity and review service and has 8 years of combined experience in clinical leadership, utilization review, risk management, quality improvement, and quality assurance. He was a co-author for the recommendations and position statement in vascular access with the Society of Hospital Medicine. He has experience with evidence-based medicine, clinical operations, medical informatics, and population health as well as Medicare Advantage, Medicare, Medicaid, commercial health insurance, HMOs, ACOs, and PPOs. He has a passion for quality management, and evidence-based medical care and enjoys teaching these concepts to healthcare providers and management teams.

  Catherine Pesek Bird, DO, MBA, CHCQM-PHYADV
  Physician Advisor
  Lakeland Regional Medical Center
  Lakeland, Florida

Dr. Pesek is a physician advisor at Lakeland Regional Medical Center, a 910-bed, Level 2 trauma center and teaching hospital with the second busiest emergency department in the country. Her areas of focus include utilization management, CDI, and quality measures. She provides education in these areas, both in formal didactic settings, during rounds, and at the elbow as needed. Before coming to Lakeland Regional Health, Pesek practiced as an academic cardiologist in a large Big Ten medical center, leading teams of fellows, residents, and medical students. She provided direct patient care to cardiac patients, including transplant recipients and pregnant patients with either acquired or congenital heart disease. She worked on quality improvement programs in heart failure, sepsis, cardiac catheterization, and medication adherence.

  Christopher Riccard, MD
  VP of Hospital Medicine and CDI
  Advent Health
  Altamonte Springs, Florida
 
Following undergraduate training Dr. Riccard attended medical school at Ross University. He completed his family medicine residency in Tallahassee, FL which was followed by a relocation to Daytona Beach, FL to work for AdventHealth Daytona Beach. Dr. Riccard originally practiced as a nocturnist prior to accepting a leadership position with the Hospitalist program. Early in his career, he transitioned into a Medical Director role with the AdventHealth Medical Group Daytona Beach Hospitalist team followed by an advancement into the Regional Executive Medical Director of Inpatient Medicine role for the program. In this role he oversaw strategy and clinical operations of the Hospitalist, Neurohospitalist, SNFist and Palliative Care programs across 6 campuses. Dr. Riccard currently serves as the VP of Hospital Medicine and Clinical Documentation Integrity for AdventHealth, a 51 Hospital system covering 9 states, guiding strategy and system operations in these areas.