ACDIS Boards & Committees

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.

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.

Click here to download the committee scope of work. For questions about this committee, contact ACDIS Director Brian Murphy (bmurphy@acdis.org).

Board Members: 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.

Click here to download the committee's scope of work. For questions about the committee, contact ACDIS Associate Editorial Director and Committee Coordinator Melissa Varnavas (mvarnavas@acdis.org).

  Nurse Planner
  Shelia A. Bullock, DHA, BSN, MBA, CCDS, CCS, CAHIMS
  Associate professor/ANCC nurse planner
  University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC)/ACDIS
Jackson, Mississippi
  sabullock@umc.edu

Bullock, associate professor of health informatics and information management programs, helped start the CDI program at UMMC in 2007. An ACDIS Advisory Board member from 2009 to 2011, she has been a speaker at the national conference in 2012 and 2015, served as a resource for ACDIS publications such as the CDI Journal, and currently serves as ACDIS’ nurse planner helping the association ensure its programs meet the educational standards of the American Nurses Credentialing Center.

  Returning 2020 Conference Committee Member
  Barbara Brant, MPA, BSN-RN, CCDS, CDIP, CCS
  CDI specialist
  Cooper Health
  Friendsville, Tennessee
  Barbarajane.brant@gmail.com

Brant, a CDI specialist at Cooper Health, has more than 25 years of clinical nursing experience and more than 13 years’ experience in documentation improvement efforts as a CDI professional, coder, and auditor. With experience working as a Recovery Auditor, her passion is the importance of denial prevention and clinical validation for CDI professionals. She currently resides in TN with her husband.

  2020 Outpatient Symposium Committee Member
  Ashley Chamberland, BSN, RN
  Ambulatory CDI manager
  Northern Light Health
  Bangor, Maine
  achamberland@northernlight.org

Chamberland has 10 years of experience in nursing in the inpatient pediatric setting and has headed Eastern Main Medical Center/Northern Light Health ambulatory CDI efforts since its beginning in April 2017. She is responsible for growing the program from one to three staff members with plans to expand the program to four other member organizations in the near future. A recent speaker at the 2019 ACDIS Outpatient Symposium where she talked about provider buy in and education. She earned her CCDS-O in February 2020.

  2019 Conference Committee Member
  Rhoda Chism, BSN, RN, CCDS, CCS
  Manager, CDI audit and education
  Tenet Healthcare
  Dallas, Texas
  rhoda.chism@tenethealth.com 

Chism serves as the manager of CDI audit and education team at Tenet Healthcare, coming to the organization after having played an integral part in rolling out the CDI program in 2001 at her previous organization. She has more than 30 years nursing experience with an extensive background in critical care, emergency care, case management, utilization review, and clinical documentation improvement.

  2020 Symposium Committee Member
  Andrea J. Eastwood, RHIA
  System director, clinical encounter, and documentation excellence
  Trinity Health
  Detroit, Michigan
  Andrea.Eastwood@trinity-health.org

Eastwood has more than 25 years of HIM experience working in both acute and ambulatory care settings. She has worked at Trinity Health for the past 21 years at the corporate office and hospital setting in various leadership roles including CDI, HIM, care coordination, case management, and cancer program leadership. In her current role, she is responsible for CDI program leadership and oversight for the organization. Eastwood has presented on CDI topics at multiple national conferences.

  Advisory Board Liaison
  Returning 2020 Conference Committee Member
  Karen Elmore, BSN, RN, CCDS
  Documentation Quality Coordinator
  BJC HealthCare
  St. Louis, Missouri
  karen.elmore@bjc.org 
  missouristateacdis@gmail.com 

Elmore began the CDI program at Boone Hospital in Columbia, Missouri, (part of BJC HealthCare) in 2008. Her previous experience includes 18 years as a neurological intensive care unit nurse and the clinical education lead. Elmore earned her CCDS in 2014, and in 2016 became a documentation quality coordinator for BJC HealthCare where she supports 14 CDI specialists and four CDI leaders within four hospitals in the Columbia/St. Louis area. Her current areas of focus include account management, second level reviews, quality measures (patient safety indicators/hospital-acquired conditions), coding and CDI mismatches, physician/provider education, mortality reviews, insurance denial reviews, and orientation of new CDI staff and providers. Elmore started the Heart of Missouri ACDIS local chapter in 2009 and in 2015 brought together other Missouri chapters to hold a state-wide, full-day event. They’ve since held three state conferences gathering more than 100 participants. She also currently serves on the ACDIS Chapter Advisory Board.

  New Member of the 2020-2021 Events Planning Committee
  2019 Scholarship Committee Member
  Julian Everett, BSN, RN, CDIP
  CDI specialist
  Orlando Health
  Orlando, Florida
  julian_everett@yahoo.com

Everett is a CDI specialist, level 3, at Arnold Palmer Medical Center in Orlando, Florida, where she serves as the physician/CDI liaison for pediatric mortality review. With more than 11 years of experience in the health field, Everett has provided mentorship to graduate nurses and new CDI specialists as well as CDI training to more than 100 physicians throughout her facility. She has presented on the ACDIS main conference stage.

  2020 Symposium Planning Committee Member
  Denice Hebert, RN, CNOR, CCDS-O
  Ambulatory CDI specialist
  Ochsner Medical Center
  Houma, Louisiana   
  Denice.hebert@ochsner.org

Hebert serves as ambulatory CDI specialist since 2016 overseeing the podiatry specialty as well as assisting with primary care providers. Her 29 years of nursing background includes clinical work in neurosurgery, orthopedics, urology, and general surgery and served as clinic manager overseeing eight specialty clinics.  Hebert collaborates with EPIC diagnoses engine, providers, and IS to improve diagnoses descriptions and codes within EPIC. She has been recognized by Ochsner as an employee and leader of the month and is a member of the New Orleans ACDIS Chapter.  Her hobbies include fishing, baking, and spending time with family and friends.

   Past 2020 Conference Committee Member
  Cindy Hestir, RN, MSN, CCDS
  CDI specialist
  University of Missouri Health Care
  Columbia, Missouri
  hestirc@health.missouri.edu

Hestir serves as a CDI specialist at University of Missouri Health Care, where she’s worked for more than 25 years. Her experience includes general medicine, cardiology, cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation, staff health, care coordination, and utilization review. She is an active member of the Heart of Missouri ACDIS Chapter serving as the treasurer, and a member of the state conference planning committee. She enjoys traveling, hiking, and visiting her children.

  New Member of the 2020-2021 Events Committee
  2019 Scholarship Committee Member
  Linda Jackson, RHIT
  Director of HIM
  Arkansas State Hospital
  Little Rock, Arkansas
  Linda.Jackson2@dhs.arkansas.gov

Jackson is the HIM director at Arkansas State Hospital in Little Rock. She has more the 35 years of experience, starting her career as a file clerk in the HIM department. Since then, she worked 11 years as a supervisor in birth defect research and the Arkansas Birth Defects Registry and as a supervisor visiting hospitals across Arkansas to collect information on children born with a birth defect. Jackson has spent the last eight years in her current role.

  2020 Symposium Planning Committee Member
  Ellen Jantzer, RN, MSN, CCDS, CCS, CRC
  CDI manager
  Asante Health System
  Medford, Oregon
  Ellen.Jantzer@asante.org

Jantzer has led the Asante CDI team for since 2012. Prior to CDI, Jantzer worked on the cardiology step-down unit and in ICU/CCU. She has experience in discharge planning, resource management, and denials management. In 2017, Asante expanded its CDI program to include the outpatient setting. Its focus is to assist primary care providers in improving the accuracy and specificity of their documentation related to Hierarchical Condition Categories and to ICD-10 codes in general. Jantzer presented at the 2017 ACDIS Outpatient CDI Symposium and at the NW ACDIS local chapter meeting in spring 2018. When not digging through medical records or buried in coding rules, Jantzer enjoys spending time with her husband Jason, her four adult children and their spouses, and her granddaughter hiking, camping, and rafting.

   Returning 2020 Conference Committee Member
  Deb Jones, RN, MSN
  CDI Director
  Brigham and Women’s Hospital & Brigham Faulkner Hospital
  Boston, Massachusetts
  djones32@bwh.harvard.edu   

Jones serves as the CDI director at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a large academic medical center affiliated with Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts. Reporting to the quality and safety department, the CDI team collaborates with quality professionals, clinical teams, HIM, and coding to ensure the accuracy and integrity of the medical record.  Since taking on the director role in October of 2017, Jones expanded the program to include commercial payor reviews and risk adjustment queries, and consequently doubled the number of CDI staff at the facility. She attributes her success to “recruiting and retaining the best and brightest CDI professionals in the industry.” Jones is an inaugural member of the ACDIS Leadership Council and a frequent poster presenter at the national conference.

  2020 Outpatient Symposium Planning Committee
  Sandra Love, RN, BSN, CCDS, CCDS-O, CPC
  CDI coding analyst
  Wake Forest Baptist Health (WFH)
  Winston-Salem, North Carolina
  shlove@wakehealth.edu

Love served as an assistive coordinator, educator, and team leader for both the inpatient and outpatient clinical documentation excellence from 2015-2019. In 2012, she helped develop a pediatric CDI program for Brenner Children’s Hospital at WFH. As the previous president and active board member of North Carolina ACDIS Chapter, she has spoken at numerous meetings, presentations, and educational activities, as well as at the 2018 ACDIS Conference and 2018 Outpatient ACDIS Symposium. She has extensive experience in program development, expansion, and alignment.

  Returning 2020 Conference Committee Member
  Caryn Nowak, RHIA, CDIP
  CDI specialist
  Rady Children’s Hospital of San Diego
  San Diego, California
  cnowak@rchsd.org

Nowak has more than five years of experience in healthcare and has been a CDI specialist at Rady for the last two years. Her previous experience includes inpatient and outpatient coding record reviews and education, CDI education, and ICD-10 transition projects. Nowak served on the 2018 CDI Week Committee among other boards and committees.

  Returning 2020 Conference Committee Member
  Madhu Subherwal, MHA, MBBS, CCDS, CDIP
  CDI manager
  Torrance Memorial Medical Center
  Torrance, California 
  Madhulika.Subherwal@tmmc.com

Subherwal is a physician, completing her medical education from Dayanand Medical College in India. She began her journey in CDI in 2010, while completing her master’s degree in health administration from the University of La Verne, capping her education with her thesis “The Importance of Clinical Documentation Improvement Programs and Physician Documentation Practices in the Hospital Setting.” She is a member of the California ACDIS Chapter leadership team. Her personal interests include walking on the beach with her dog, listening to music and attending concerts, and watching movies.

  2020 Outpatient Symposium Planning Committee Member
  Monique Vanderhoof, RHIT, CPC, CCA, CRC
  Ambulatory CDI manager
  Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU)
  Hillsboro, Oregon
  vandermo@ohsu.edu

Vanderhoof has more than 20 years of experience in the medical field, with emphasis in the past ten years on HCC/risk adjustment coding, with experience as director of coding services, medical assistant, and office manager. She joined OHSU in 2017 and currently serves as program manager for the ambulatory HCC CDI team.

  New Member of the 2020-2021 Events Committee
  Mary Elizabeth (M.E.) VanGelder, MREd, BSN, RN, CCDS, RHIT
  CDI educator
  HonorHealth
  Phoenix, Arizona
  mvangelder@honorhealth.com

VanGelder began her CDI career in 2014 at Mayo Clinic Hospital and now, in her current role, provides physician and staff education across all of HonorHealth’s facilities. With 30 years of nursing experience, including five years in case management, VanGelder is a frequent ACDIS speaker and contributor. She is a member of the HIM Advisory Council for Phoenix College, a current co-chair of the Arizona ACDIS chapter, and a previous founding co-chair of the ACDIS CDI Educator Networking Group.

To read the 2020 conference committee bios, please click here.

To read the 2019 conference committee members' bios, please click here.

To read the 2018 committee members' bios, please click here.

Click here to download the committee scope of work. For information about this committee, contact ACDIS Editor and Committee Coordinator Linnea Archibald (larchibald@acdis.org).

  Samir Akach, MD, MHCM, CPE, CHCQM-PHYSADV, SFHM, FACP, FACHE
  Medical director of documentation, medical coding, and quality coordination
  Geisinger Health
  Pennsylvania
  sakach@geisinger.edu

Dr. Akach has more than 13 years of healthcare leadership experience, with a broad range in community-based, for-profit, non-profit, academic, and integrated healthcare organizations. He has a passion for healthcare redesign with devotion to quality improvement, patient safety and patient experience.

Since joining Geisinger 7 years ago, Dr. Akach took on the responsibility of physician education with a main focus in CDI. Less than a year ago, Dr. Akach was selected by the senior leadership at Geisinger to lead the system effort in quality and clinical documentation coordination. During this relatively short time, he redesigned documentation and coding processes that maintained a high level of collaboration and communication among the staff in the three departments of coding, CDI, and quality. He also designed and implemented educational programs and systematic feedback for clinical providers and supported staff in various departments, which led to optimization in revenue capture and improvement in quality ratings across Geisinger.

Dr. Akach is married with two children, a junior in college, and a freshman in high school. He likes spending time with his family. He also enjoys biking, cooking, and gardening.

  Lori Dellinger, BSN, RN, CCRN-K, CCDS
  CDI specialist
  WellSpan Summit
  Chambersburg, Pennsylvania
  Ldellinger3@wellspan.org

Dellinger has more than 44 years of experience in nursing ranging from open heart ICU, to critical care transport, to PACU, to nurse manager of ICU/CCU.  She started her career in CDI in 2012 as one of the original members of the CDI department at WellSpan Summit. Her interest when not reviewing charts and striving to educate providers about CDI are scroll sawing, gardening, and spending time with her family and friends at the “Creekside retreat”, her home away from home.

  Nancy Franciotti, RN, BS, CCDS
  CDI manager
  Inspira Health
  Cherry Hill, New Jersey
  franciottin@ihn.org

Franciotti began her professional career in 1987 as a social worker and since has worked extensively with the developmental disability population, providing therapy and support. A change in career led to a nursing degree, and management of a Neurobehavioral Stabilization unit at Bancroft where she worked for eight years prior to having children. After, Franciotti worked as a CDI educator at Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center in Camden, New Jersey, then transitioned to Inspira where she started their CDI program in 2018.

Franciotti is a member of the Philadelphia/Southern New Jersey/Delaware ACDIS local chapter. She began her CDI career in 2009 and sat for her CCDS certification in 2014. Her specialties include neurosurgery and cardiac surgery. Franciotti has always sought a role that combines the science of nursing with the values of the social work profession, and has always chosen roles in her career to fit this unique combination.

  Doris Mollenkopf, MBA, BA, CPC, CRC, CCDS-O
  CDI and risk adjustment specialist
  Clinicas del Camino Real
  Valencia, California
 mollenkopfd@gmail.com

Mollenkopf has over 11 years of experience in healthcare. In 2018, she joined Clinicas del Camino Real and her current role is in Risk Adjustment and Clinical Documentation Validation. She provides documentation education to providers at 16 clinics across Ventura County, California. In 2019, she received the Employee of the Year award for her contributions in physician engagement and provider education. Mollenkopf received her Bachelor’s degree from The University of Arizona and her Master’s degree from Northern Arizona University. She will be completing her certified nursing assistant program in October 2020. Doris is particularly dawn to the physician engagement aspect of CDI; her skills and experience in medical coding, auditing, quality and clinical documentation, allow her to implement a user friendly approach that results in provider engagement and cooperation, while improving their clinical documentation.

Mollenkopf’s experience in healthcare includes risk adjustment, home health, pain management, mental health, FQHC, and revenue cycle management. She has been featured as a guest speaker for California Association for Licensed Professional Clinical Counselors (CALPCC) on the topic of mental health telemedicine credentialing and compliance. She strongly believes that to be successful as a CDI professional, one must continuously learn and grow one’s skill set in both work experience and by attending webinars and ACDIS boot camps. In her free time, Mollenkopf enjoys travelling with her family, trying new recipes, and volunteering in her community.

  Audrey Murray, BSN, RN, CCDS
  CDI specialist
  Memorial Hermann Northeast Hospital
  Humble, Texas
 Audrey.murray2@memorialhermann.org

Murray is a CDI specialist with more than 20 years of nursing experience in a variety of settings.  Her primary specialty was neuro rehabilitation, where she served in both supervisory and managerial roles throughout her career.  She discovered CDI while looking for opportunities to transition away from the bedside and has been a part of the CDI world for the past three and a half years.  She credits her organization with providing the education and support needed to thrive in her role and to pass her CCDS exam.  She is passionate about CDI and values both her organization as a whole and her close-knit Northeast team.  When she is away from her desk, Murray enjoys watching movies or baseball with her family, yoga, swimming, playing with her two spoiled dogs, and getting lost in a good book.

  Peggy Rice, RN, BSN, MBA, CCDS
  CDI specialist
  Dixie Regional Medical Center
  St. George, Utah
  peggyrice@live.com

Rice has worked in hospitals since 1967, becoming an RN 10 years later. She has always felt a deep calling to be a registered nurse, however truly blossomed into this role during her undergraduate education where she became one of the first five cardiovascular clinical nurse specialists trained at the St Luke’s Presbyterian Medical Center/Texas Heart Institute. Here, Rice had the privilege of learning and practicing with physicians and surgeons of worldwide repute and skill.

Throughout her career, Rice has held a wide variety of positions including as a charge nurse, multiple management and administrative positions, and starting her own independent consulting firm. Although she had held multiple executive positions, Rice returned to the bedside at Yale New Haven Hospital. She wanted to return to her roots and once again enjoy the daily reward of knowing she made a difference with each patient. Rice began her career in CDI just 4 years ago when she fell in love with the detective-style work it entailed.

Rice has four sons and four grandchildren. Her and her husband of over 20 years enjoy most outdoor activities, though she also enjoys crafting such as quilting, knitting, painting, and creating glass mosaics. Among her creative activities, Rice is also musically talented in playing the flute, piano, and singing in choirs.

  Kerry Seekircher, RN, BSN, CCDS, CDIP
  Director of CDI
  Northern Westchester Hospital/Northwell Health
  Mount Kisco, New York
  kseekircher@northwell.edu

Seekircher is the director of CDI at Northern Westchester Hospital/Northwell Health in Mount Kisco, New York.  She has a background in critical care nursing and has over 10 years of experience in CDI.

Seekircher is the founder and co-lead for the Hudson Valley ACDIS chapter and also serves on the Leadership Committee. She recently was a co-presenter on the ACDIS Podcast: Adopting to remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic.

  Brian Simpson, MS, RRT, CCDS, CCDS-O, CDIP, CCS, CCS-P, CRC
  CDI specialist
  Penn Highlands Healthcare
  DuBois, Pennsylvania
  blsimpson@phhealthcare.org

Simpson has been a registered respiratory therapist for 28 years, spending a large portion of his career involved in pulmonary and cardiac rehab.  He received his Bachelor of Science in respiratory care from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and a Master of Science in exercise science.  Simpson transitioned into CDI after experiencing health issues, but has enjoyed every day for the last four and a half years as a CDI specialist.

Simpson is currently a member of ACDIS, AHIMA and AAPC.  Although there is not a local ACDIS chapter in his home in western PA, he has recently joined the Central PS chapter and is looking forward to attending future meetings. 

  Susan Sweeney, RN, BSN, CCS, CCDS, CDIP
  CDI trainer
  Independent consultant
  Cumming, Georgia
  nursesds1@gmail.com

Sweeney has over 20 years of nursing experience and served in many roles throughout her career, such as cardiac ICU, medical-surgical ICU, and emergency services. Leadership is a passion of Sweeney’s which naturally lead her to the industry of CDI.

Sweeney has worked with a variety of healthcare organizations with the focus of increasing documentation accuracy, requiring collaboration with staff, physicians and coders for quality and acuity of administered care. Through intensive chart audit review, Sweeney can provide recommendations to the team to impact outcomes such as financial reimbursement, improved capture of secondary diagnosis for severity of illness and risk of mortality scores, and meeting the Medicare standards for documentation. She also consults related to redetermination, reconsideration and appeals process for clinical denials. Sweeney has worked with hospital teams to provide education and training to staff, physicians and executive teams. She is a graduate of Michigan State University. 

  Paula Vuksinic, CDIP, CCS
  Coding and CDI manager
  Jennie Stuart Health
  Hopkinsville, Kentucky
 pvuksinic@jsmc.org

Vuksinic has worked in many aspects of healthcare over the last 30 years, both clinical and non-clinical settings, spending many of those years in a coding role.  It was her desire to achieve accurate coding that led to advocating for CDI.  As her mission in CDI evolved, which included the successful development of an outpatient CDI program, she now manages a team of coding and CDI specialists.  Vuksinic also supports HIM students as a member of the HIM Advisory Committee at Western Kentucky University.

Vuksinic is an active member with ACDIS and AHIMA.  When not advocating for CDI, she enjoys reading, spending time with family, hiking, biking, and anything outdoors with her labradoodle.

CDI Week Advisor

  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.)

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.
 

  Jillian Bisbe, RN, MSN, CCDS, CDIP, CCS
  Director of clinical Validation Appeals
  Intersect Healthcare + AppealMatters
  Cape Coral, Florida
  jbisbe@intersecthealthcare.com

Bisbe is a registered nurse with more than 18 years in the profession, the last five of those in CDI. Her clinical background includes labor and delivery, cardiovascular intensive care, and trauma. As well as the Forms and Tools Committee, Bisbe is a member of the ACDIS Leadership Council and a two-time poster presenter at the national ACDIS conference. In addition to her CCDS and CDIP certification, she is a certified coder, member of American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), and member of National Association of Healthcare Revenue Integrity (NAHRI).
 

  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.

Click here to download the committee scope of work. For information about this committee, contact ACDIS Director Brian Murphy (bmurphy@acdis.org).

  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.

  Haaris Ali, MD, CDIP 
  Director of CDI services
  Prospect Holdings at the Nix Health Hospital
  San Antonio, Texas
  Hali1@nixhealth.com

Dr. Ali has served as a leader providing oversight and expertise in CDI, denials management, utilization review, process improvement, and case management. He has trained hundreds of physicians and nurses in denials management, and centralized, standardized, and scaled appeals departments. He currently serves on the Texas ACDIS leadership team and formerly served on the Washington ACDIS Evergreen chapter leadership team.
 

  Valerie A. Bica, RN, BSN, CPN 
  Lead CDI specialist
  Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children
  Wilmington, Delaware
  Valerie.bica@nemours.org

She has 40 years of pediatric/neonatal intensive care unit nursing experience, including case and care management, managed Medicaid, acute care pediatrics, pediatric and neonatal intensive care unit, and high-tech pediatric homecare. She served on the ACDIS Pediatric Respiratory Failure Work Group and is a co-leader for the pediatric ACDIS chapter. Bica also served on the 2017 ACDIS Conference Committee and was a contributing author to the book Pediatric CDI: Building Blocks for Success.
 

  Candace Blankenship, RN, BSN, CCDS
  CDI specialist
  Mayo Clinic  
  Jacksonville, Florida 
  Blankenship.Candace@mayo.edu

Blankenship's journey in CDI began in 2014 in Baltimore City, where she worked until joining the Mayo Clinic CDI team. In 2016, Blankenship was awarded the ACDIS Rookie of the Year award and presented on the topic of APR-DRGs at the 2017 ACDIS Conference. She worked closely with Elsevier to develop effective APR-DRG tools for their CDI education software and was a contributing author to the book Pediatric CDI: Building Blocks for Success. Blankenship is the chair of the Regulatory Committee.

  Sharme Brodie, RN, CCDS
  CDI education specialist 
  HCPro/ACDIS
  Middleton, Massachusetts
  sbrodie@hcpro.com

Brodie is a CDI education specialist for HCPro, a Simplify Compliance brand, in Middleton, Massachusetts. 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.

  Donald A. Butler, RN, BSN
  Director of the clinical documentation physician advisor program
  Vidant Health
  Greeneville, North Carolina 
  DButler@vidanthealth.com

Butler previously served for eight years implementing and managing the 11 member CDI team at Vidant Medical Center in Greenville, a 900-bed tertiary care center serving the eastern third of North Carolina. He served 11 years as a United States Navy nurse with a broad variety of clinical and leadership experiences. He was honored as the 2011 CDI Professional of the Year by ACDIS and has served a term on the ACDIS Advisory Board.
 

  Lori Drodge, RHIT, CCS
  DRG Coordinator and CDI liaison
  Acute care hospital
  Maine
  LDrodge@mmc.org

Drodge has 30 years of experience in the HIM field. She was a coding supervisor for 15 years and has served as a member of the Kennebec Valley Community College Health Information Technology Advisory Board where she taught ICD-9-CM. She has also served as co-chair of MeHIMA’s Data & Reimbursement Committee and is an approved AHIMA ICD-10-CM/PCS Trainer. She has trained CDI teams and coding professionals throughout the United States in her work as a consultant and has presented at various state conferences. Lori is currently serving as co-chair of the regulatory committee.
 

  Andrea Eastwood, BAS, RHIA
  System director, clinical encounter and documentation excellence
  Trinity Health
  Livonia, Michigan
  Andrea.Eastwood@trinity-health.org

Eastwood is a health information management professional with more than 25 years of experience working in both acute and ambulatory care settings. She has worked at Trinity Health for the past 21 years at the corporate office and hospital setting in various leadership roles including CDI, HIM, care coordination, case management and cancer program leadership. In her current role, she is responsible for CDI program leadership and oversight for the organization for both inpatient and outpatient CDI. She has presented on CDI topics at multiple national conferences.
 

  Faisal Hussain, MD, CCDS, CDIP, CCS 
  Corporate CDI director in clinical services
  Large multi-hospital health system
  Tennessee
  smfaisalhussain@hotmail.com

Prior to his current role, Dr. Hussain managed the CDI program at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Somerset and was involved in numerous initiatives, including changing the workflow for patient safety indicators/hospital-acquired conditions, updating query forms for ICD-10 compliance, and creating action plans to collaborate with case management to reduce symptom DRGs. He has served on the ACDIS Conference Committee since 2016, and was also part of 2018 ACDIS CDI Week Committee. He has spoken on ACDIS Radio and was a presenter at the 11th annual ACDIS Conference in San Antonio.
 

  Jeannie Kelly, RN, CCDS, BS, MHA
  Senior consultant 
  Pinnacle Enterprise Risk Consulting 
  Vero Beach, Florida
  jkelly@askphc.com

Kelly is a skilled and accomplished healthcare consultant with more than 25 years of experience, possessing extensive experience in healthcare provider quality of care and Medicare payment safeguard functions, including Medicare policies and procedures, coverage and subrogation as well as case and risk management, reconsideration and appeals, fraud and abuse, compliance, and provider and beneficiary education. She conducted quality assurance of fact-finding surveys and complaint investigations conducted on behalf of CMS to verify healthcare entities’ (hospitals, including EMTALA, ambulatory surgical centers, long term care facilities, home health agencies, hospice and ESRD) compliance with federal quality standards. She worked at a Fiscal Intermediary as an Operations Manager, managing Part A and Part B programs. Jeannie has directed a variety of Medicare projects, including program integrity verification and validation projects, Medicare secondary payer, Medicare medical review (including medical necessity reviews), reconsideration and appeals, fraud and abuse, and DMERC (a.k.a. DMEPOS) program operations, as well as claims research and claims scripting for 1-800-MEDICARE. Jeannie is a Subject Matter Expert in the CMS Two Midnight Rule and medical necessity determinations.
 

  James S. Kennedy, MD, CCS, CCDS, CDIP
  President
  CDIMD-Physician Champions
  Nashville, Tennessee
  jkennedy@cdimd.com

Dr. Kennedy's expertise includes physician and hospital leadership, healthcare systems improvement, healthcare documentation and coding compliance, and government relations. He previously served on the ACDIS advisory board. Dr. Kennedy is also the lead instructor for the ACDIS/HCPro boot camp The Physician Advisor’s Role in CDI.
 

  Teresa Krepps, RHIT, CCS, CCDS
  Educator, clinical documentation excellence
  Johns Hopkins Health System
  Baltimore, Maryland
  tkrepps1@jhmi.edu

Krepps has more than 30 years of experience working in clinical documentation, regulatory finance, and hospital coding. As a consultant, she piloted and implemented some of the first CDI programs in Maryland hospitals. In her current role, Krepps works with providers to increase awareness of the effect of their documentation on publicly reported healthcare data and research. She also works closely with CDI specialists and HIM/coding staff at Johns Hopkins to ensure compliant, consistent documentation, and coding for acute inpatient hospital encounters.
 

  Cesar Limjoco, MD 
  Chief medical officer 
  T-Medicus 
  Indianapolis, Indiana
  dr_cesar_limjoco@me.com

For more than 25 years, Dr. Limjoco has focused on assisting hospitals in establishing clinical documentation integrity and delivered CDI services to critical access hospitals, community hospitals, regional referral centers, large academic medical centers, and multi-facility health systems located throughout the United States. He works with the hospital leadership, medical staff, CDI teams, coding units, quality and utilization management, appeals management, clinical dietitians, wound care, laboratory, and physical/occupational therapy. He has built a solid reputation of integrity and accuracy through a commitment to documentation and coding excellence that leads to accurate reporting of patient data. Dr. Limjoco’s philosophy is to provide the most accurate documentation of the patient encounter. This is accomplished through peer-to-peer physician education with the principal focus on the underlying CLINICAL TRUTH™️. Dr. Limjoco’s career path has brought him to work for a regional hospital association, a big four consulting firm, and a state quality improvement organization. A prolific author on clinical documentation and coding, he has presented at ACDIS national conferences, AHIMA national conference, various state and local AHIMA, HFMA and HCCA conferences. Dr. Limjoco has also been a guest speaker in national webinars and podcasts. He is also an editorial board member for the ICD10monitor.
 

  Angelica Naylor, MBA, BSN, RN, CCDS
  CDI supervisor
  North Kansas City Hospital
  North Kansas City, Missouri
  angelica.naylor@outlook.com

With a love and desire for CDI advancement, ethics, and quality improvement, Naylor relocated to the Midwest after working as a CDI specialist for a major corporate health system in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, where she received numerous awards for her fast-paced learning style, professionalism, and swift rise in CDI. Awards included Corporate Top Performer (multiple quarters) and Corporate CDI specialist Rookie of the Year. She also served as CDI mentor to fellow CDI specialists, especially in PCS coding and DRG assignment. Naylor possesses a wealth of knowledge and experience in many areas of nursing: Trauma/surgical/neuro ICU, burn ICU, PACU/recovery, utilization review, case management, and quality/risk management. Naylor has brought much success to the CDI program at her hospital by integrating a more collaborative workflow and relationship between CDI and HIM, establishing new CDI training, revising physician education, participating in denials management, and maintaining direct involvement with monthly hospitalist meetings. Naylor is a co-chair leader of the Kansas City ACDIS chapter.
 

  Joan Oliver, MHA, BSN, RN, ACM, CCDS
  CDI specialist
  Duke University Hospital
  Durham, North Carolina
  joan.oliver@duke.edu

In her current role as a CDI specialist, Oliver covers the cardiothoracic and CCU teams. Before joining the CDI team, Oliver worked in case management and assisting in embedding case management in the ED at Duke University. She has also worked as a legal nurse consultant, an ICU nurse, and home care nurse. She completed her MHA and in addition to her CCDS certification, holds a ACM certification. During her years as a case manager, she assisted on the planning committee of the North Carolina chapter of ACMA.
 

  Howard Rodenberg, MD, MPH, CCDS
  Physician advisor for CDI 
  Baptist Health
  Jacksonville, Florida
  Howard.Rodenberg@bmcjax.com

An emergency physician by training, he has served as an associate professor at the University of Florida; as emergency services medical director; and as health department director for Florida’s Volusia County and the state of Kansas; he has also worked with NASA. He has authored multiple publications and book chapters and given presentations around the world. His writing is featured on the ACDIS blog as well as at writingwithscissors.blogspot.com.

  Joanne Schade-Boyce, MS, BSDH, CPC, ACS
  Director of revenue integrity 
  Large healthcare system
  Maine
Schade-Boyce has more than 35 years of experience working in both acute and ambulatory care settings with a master of science focused on education and management from Old Dominion University. She has been a lead instructor of educational courses for most of her career, and an expert in the development of user-friendly training and instructional manuals. Her areas of expertise include outpatient revenue cycle audits for hospital departments, surgical coding boot camps, as well as extensive experience natively coding and educating utilizing the ICD-10 coding system for HIM departments across the country. She was the creator of an ICD-10-PCS webinar series where she coined the phrase “Mental Gymnastics with Root Operations”. Schade-Boyce is a nationally recognized speaker and her lectures include groups such as Annual AHIMA Conferences, AHIMA State Chapters, AAPC State and Local Chapters, and other prestigious organizations.

Click here to download the committee's scope of work. For questions about the committee, contact ACDIS Editor and Committee Coordinator Linnea Archibald (larchibald@acdis.org).
 

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

Anyika became a registered nurse in 2004. Her areas of specialization are in critical care, telemetry, ER float, and medical/surgical. She obtained her medical/surgical board certification shortly after starting her career. When Anyika started her CDI career, she was the lead CDI specialist and one of the pioneers of CDI at the hospital. She later transitioned to a 100% remote CDI position, where she learned about all areas of CDI.

In her current role, Anyika manages 14 CDI specialists. Her role includes, among other things, supervising day-to-day CDI operations/activities, providing CDI training or education to the CDI staff and providers within various services, and performing comprehensive data analytics to show CDI and provider performance metrics/feedback. Anyika is a member of the ACDIS CDI Leadership Council.
 

  Keisha Downes, BSN, RN, CCDS
  CDI manager
  Tufts Medical Center
  Boston, Massachusetts
  KDownes@tuftsmedicalcenter.org

Downes is the CDI manager at Tufts Medical Center in Boston. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Liberty University and she has 16 years of nursing experience with focuses in trauma, neurosurgery, intensive care (earning the Critical Care Registered Nursing Certification [CCRN]), and interventional radiology. Beginning in 2013, Downes has had the privilege of working in large academic medical centers as a CDI specialist in Virginia, Wisconsin, and Massachusetts. She earned her CCDS certification in 2016. She was the CDI educator for Tufts Medical Center as a consultant prior to relocating to Boston and accepting the leadership role in April 2017. Downes is active with ACDIS, recently serving as co-leader for the Massachusetts local chapter, and participating on the Scholarship Committee and the ACDIS CDI Leadership Council.
 

  Erin Head, MBA, RHIA, CHDA, CHRS-TR
  Director of HIM and medical staff services
  Parrish Medical Center
  Titusville, Florida
  Erin.Head@parrishmed.com

Head is an active professional in the healthcare field and currently serves as the director of health information management, quality, and medical staff services at Parrish Medical Center. Additionally, she is a contract coder and coding auditor with Code and Comply Specialists. She holds the credentials of a registered health information administrator, certified health data analyst, and certified healthcare technology specialist.
 

  Brandi Hutcheson, RN, MSN, CCM, CCDS
  Remote CDI specialist
  Community Health Systems
  Franklin, Tennessee
  bhutcheson1980@gmail.com

Hutcheson began her nursing career as an LPN. She has more than four years of experience in utilization review and case management. She attended the HMA resource management and physician advisor training in 2011 and 2012. Hutcheson has five years of experience in clinical documentation. She had an article published in the July/August CDI Journal.
 

  Hiral Patel, RN, BSN, MHI
  CDI specialist
  Cook Children’s
  Fort Worth, Texas
  hiralhp@gmail.com

Patel started her nursing career as a critical care nurse after graduating from Northern Kentucky University in 2012. She also has a master’s degree in health informatics from Northern Kentucky University, which she obtained in 2015. Patel started her CDI career in April 2019 at Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas. In her current role, she is continuously learning and increasing her knowledge. She is an active member of the Texas ACDIS local chapter.
 

  Molly Seibert, RHIA, CCDS
  CDI specialist
  Legacy Health System
  Portland, Oregon
  msiebert@lhs.org

Siebert joined her facility’s CDI program in 2013, coming from a background in HIM since 1975. In that role, she spent time working for a quality improvement organization conducting Medicare reviews. Her experience includes time working in hospitals on quality, trauma and cancer registries, systemwide EHR development, and HIM operations management.

Siebert is past-president of the Oregon Northwest ACDIS local chapter and helped the team develop updated bylaws to include current standard board practices including financial duties and board structure. She co-authored an ACDIS white paper proposing CDI minimal documentation standards. She had been active in professional associations and civic groups, serving on the OrHIMA board, and participating in two different AHIMA work groups. She is also a member of the ACDIS Chapter Advisory Board.
 

  Beth Simms, BSN, RN, CCDS
  CDI systems specialist
  Banner Health
  Phoenix, Arizona
  beth.simms@bannerhealth.com

Simms has experience working in multiple critical care settings including adult and pediatric intensive care units, emergency trauma, and cardiovascular surgical intensive care unit. In April 2015, Simms moved into a CDI reviewer position and fell in love with chart reviews and finding the missing pieces of the documentation puzzle. As part of the CDI team, she has worked as a reviewer, preceptor, mentor, manager, and system specialist.

In her current role, she works with the IT department and multiple software vendors to increase her knowledge of the computer systems that are used within our health system and how the CDI department can implement them for optimal results.  
 

  Priscilla Stuart, MS, RHIA, CCS
  CDI specialist
  Baylor Scott & White McLane Children’s Hospital
  Temple, Texas
  Priscilla.stuart1@bswhealth.org

Stuart joined Baylor Scott & White Health Care in the HIM department in July 2008. In HIM, she was a coder, a coding auditor, and a division coding manager, where she led a team of inpatient coders responsible for seven hospitals in central Texas. 

After attending a CDI Boot Camp taught by Laurie L. Prescott, Education Specialist at HcPro, Stuart saw an opportunity to take her skillset to the next level. The role of the CDI specialist allows her to continue to share education with providers and serve as a resource to peers. Stuart was a member of the 2018 CDI Week Committee.
 

  Rebecca Truett, RN, MSN, MBA
  CDI specialist
  Novant Health
  Winston-Salem, North Carolina
  rtruett@novanthealth.org

Truett has 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 performed the role of director of quality and risk management for nine years, and nursing director for an ambulatory surgery center for five years. Her current role at Novant health includes a service line approach to provider education for the surgical service line at Forsyth Medical Center, an 800-bed acute care facility. She also supports the CDI team as an Epic workflow super user.