Amy Campbell, RN, MSM, CCDS-O        
  Risk Adjustment Subject Matter Expert
  Wolters Kluwer Health Language
  Denver, Colorado/Works remotely in Pennsylvania

Background/Qualifications in CDI and/or ACDIS

Amy has been a nurse for over thirty years working predominantly in the critical care setting but also in the assisted living and medical legal industries. Over the last five years she has been active in risk adjustment from both the auditor and outpatient CDI perspectives. She has been a member of ACDIS since 2017 and partnered to present a poster about starting an outpatient CDI program at the 2018 ACDIS Conference in San Antonio, TX. In March 2021, Amy joined a technology team at Wolters Kluwer as a Risk Adjustment SME. She enjoys building new outpatient CDI programs, and collaborating with and teaching providers, payers, and HIM partners about accurate chronic condition capture bounded by compliant documentation and query practices. Amy completed her Master of Science in Business Management focusing on Health Care Administration at Wilmington University in December 2020. This program honed Amy’s skills in strategic analysis of metrics, transformational and developmental leadership, as well as refining CDI program goals to the unique needs of each health system. In her spare time, Amy is active in her church’s recovery ministry, spending time with her family and pets, beekeeping, and crocheting.

Reason(s) why you are interested in serving on the Advisory Board, and one idea to improve ACDIS and/or the CDI profession

I enjoy working with others to move organizations forward toward best practices. If elected, I hope to represent others who have moved into this collaborative role as Clinical Documentation Specialists. It is a unique position to act as a liaison between so many professionals to capture each patient’s story. As an outpatient CDS on the advisory board, I hope to increase the exposure of the risk adjustment process and HCC or chronic condition capture for all CDSs, auditors, health systems, and payers. The impact of COVID-19 has been nearly universal across our industry leading to unfathomable losses. ACDIS must light the way to recovery by teaching those with whom we interact to accurately measure our population’s disease burden. An accurate measure of disease burden will lay the foundation for reallocation of health resources and move our society closer to health equity. ACDIS has the membership and resources to lead this charge across all settings.
 

  Stacey McCarthy, RN, BS, CCDS
  Director of Operations Clinical Documentation Integrity
  Guidehouse
  Various Locations in the United States, home office is in Michigan

Background/Qualifications in CDI and/or ACDIS

I have been a Registered Nurse for 24 years. I started as a cardiac nurse, and then became a float nurse at our Level 1 Teaching Hospital in Lansing MI/Sparrow Health System. I was offered an opportunity to join the Epic build team on the clinical documentation team, and when the hospital decided to delay the inpatient Epic build, as I was returning to my float nurse position, the Director of Nursing sent me an email asking if I would consider applying for their new department position in Clinical Documentation Improvement, so I decided to apply. I was given the position of CDI and never looked back. We started as a five-nurse unit, and after three years I was promoted to manager of the CDI department where it grew to 14 nurses, and then another 15 nurses that did Utilization Review. I received my CCDS certification. I introduced clinical validation and mortality review committees and became involved with several length of stay management opportunities. I then joined Guidehouse where I became the National Director of Operations of Clinical Documentation Integrity. This is not a consulting position, as I run several CDI programs around the nation including Texas, California, Maryland, and Alabama. Since then I have started CDI programs with both onsite, remote, hybrid and even offshore, provided education to providers, coders, and CDI, and have started working/learning the role of outpatient CDI. To say I love CDI would be an understatement, it has truly become my passion.

Reason(s) why you are interested in serving on the Advisory Board, and one idea to improve ACDIS and/or the CDI profession

In the years I have been a CDI professional I have watched my career evolve from being excited I added an MCC or CC to a chart, to now understanding the complexities of quality, mortality scores and PSI’s, and that every code can make a difference not only for reimbursement, but for telling the patient’s story.  I believe that with my wide variety of experiences in different hospital settings, community-based, teaching, Level 1 Trauma, in Maryland with my experience with Maryland PPC’s, that I would bring a wealth of perspective to the board and continue to assist in continuing to grow and educate our CDI population. 

I am a true champion of the CDI-provider and CDI-coder relationships and want to continue to work on how to bring CDI and providers together as well as CDI and coders more to understand the importance of a great working relationship, and that CDI is here to ultimately help them with telling the patient’s story, and the provider’s work and thought process. One of my favorite images of CDI is that CDI is the bridge between coding and physicians. I truly believe that, and that our strength is as a bridge that will bring about a quality, well-told patient story, representing the hospital, the provider, and the patient in a truthful, well-thought, compliant manner.
 

  Autumn Reiter, BSN, RN, CCDS, CCDS-O, CDIP, CCS
  AHIMA Certified ICD-10 Trainer, AHIMA Certified CDI Trainer
  Director, CDI
  CorroHealth
  Plano, Texas

Background/Qualifications in CDI and/or ACDIS

Autumn Reiter began her bedside nursing career in the ICU. She transitioned into Clinical Documentation nearly ten years ago. She served as a Clinical Documentation Specialist and eventually as the Clinical Coordinator for a CDI program in Chesapeake, Virginia before coming to CorroHealth (formerly TrustHCS) in May 2015. She performed CDI IP and OP audits as well as concurrent CDIS reviews and Interim Management before advancing to her current role. She is now the Director of CDI Services, where she works with clients from multiple facilities of various sizes across the country to serve in their Clinical Documentation Integrity needs. She provides assistance with concurrent staffing needs, clinical denial reviews, and auditing for the clients she works with. She has developed a CDI review solution for the ED and leads the CDI HCC review process with her team. Additionally, she performs GAP analysis for new program start-ups as well as improvement and rebuilds of existing programs. Autumn delivers education sessions to all levels of CDIS through bootcamps remotely and onsite. During her time at CorroHealth, she has created a quality assurance program as well as multiple policies to promote continuity and guidance for the team. She served as the Virginia State ACDIS Association leader from 2015-2016 and presented at the ACDIS and AHIMA Annual Conferences. Autumn has authored several articles regarding CDI concerns and expansion, participated in ACDIS Radio, spoken at multiple state conventions, and contributed in the creation of the CDI Outpatient Pocket Guide for 2020.

Reason(s) why you are interested in serving on the Advisory Board, and one idea to improve ACDIS and/or the CDI profession

I would be honored to serve on the Advisory Board because I am passionate about CDI and want to share that enthusiasm and eagerness to grow with others. From the providers creating the documentation, to the teams that perform the reviews, to the HIM professionals assigning the codes, my goal is to ensure that every patient has an accurate and clear story of their medical journey. As CDI we have the privilege of being the editors of that journey, we have a responsibility to the patients and providers that we work with to ask the needed questions, quantify the care given, and capture the true story. I find joy in sharing my knowledge with others, finding solutions for programs, and teaching the skills that are needed to be successful in this profession and grow.

Many facilities sent their teams home to work remotely when COVID-19 hit. Although there are advantages to working remotely, there are disadvantages as well. The lunch time discussion regarding challenging cases may not occur, the second opinions on the query verbiage, and team education once performed may have decreased or ended completely. These are important for growth and comradery, but also for the well-being of most CDIS who naturally flourish in social situations. To counteract this isolation, I would like to develop a way for small groups to meet, during lunch, or after-hours and talk “CDI,” and get opinions on a difficult query topic, hear others opinions, and most importantly talk to others with the same passion and goals.
 

  Kelly Sutton, RN, BSN, CCDS
  CDI Educator West Florida Division
  West Florida Division, AdventHealth
  Tampa, Florida

Background/Qualifications in CDI and/or ACDIS

I have 27 years of nursing experience with six years in the CDI profession. My CDI career started in 2015 as a front line CDS in a suburban 170+ bed facility in Sebring, FL. The transition to CDI was enjoyable as I was able to utilize my clinical knowledge and experience to drive the quality-based reviews in the CDI role. Navigating through a rapidly changing financially-based program as it transitioned to a quality-based program was a challenge which excited me. I achieved CCDS certification in 2018 and was promoted to a newly created CDI Educator role in January 2019 as the CDI program transitioned away from facility based to a divisional lead program. The educator role allowed me to participate in the creation of the policy and process for the division. Current responsibilities include oversight of the onboarding process for all new employees. Additional responsibilities include creating and implementing education for 40+ employees and multiple physician groups across 11 facilities. I facilitate weekly lunch and learn education presentations for the division. My professional organization memberships include ACDIS, FL ACDIS, and NAHRI Leadership Council. My passions include education and lifelong learning. I jumped at the chance to participate in the success of our three recent ER CDI pilot projects. It was an energizing experience to present during the ACDIS Virtual Education Curtain Call in 2020. I am waiting to see if I will be chosen to present at this year’s ACDIS conference to share my experiences related to the ER pilots.

Reason(s) why you are interested in serving on the Advisory Board, and one idea to improve ACDIS and/or the CDI profession

I have a contagious passion and enthusiasm for CDI and learning. Serving on the ACDIS Advisory Board would allow me to give back to the profession that has challenged and inspired me. My focus would be on engaging and empowering others to advance their CDI education and their careers in CDI through expanding knowledge bases. My goals for serving on the board include encouraging and invigorating CDI growth through information sharing, collaboration, and idea exchanges. My service would improve ACDIS and the CDI profession through increasing awareness of ACDIS and promoting membership. An additional focus to improve and expand the CDI profession will be to advocate for CDI programs to achieve complete and accurate documentation starting in the Emergency Department, at the point of entry. I would appreciate your consideration and vote to allow me to serve on the ACDIS Advisory Board. It would be an honor.

  Mindy Davis, RHIT, CDIP, CCDS, CCS                                                                     
  Corporate Coding Compliance Manager
  Valley Health
  Winchester, Virginia

Background/Qualifications in CDI and/or ACDIS

My involvement with CDI began in the Health Information Management arena in 2009. It’s amazing to think back as to how much things have changed in the last 12 years! Since then, I have designed and implemented CDI programs in two hospital systems (not-for-profit and for profit). I have extensive experience with two of the leading CDI software programs and like to incorporate their best features into optimal CDI program design and query practices. I was a member of the 2018 CDI Week Committee and was a presenter on the 2018 State of the CDI Industry webinar. In 2019, I was a co-presenter of a poster presentation on how CDI can impact pressure ulcers in the rural healthcare setting at the ACDIS annual conference in Orlando. Also in 2019, I had the opportunity to co-author the book, The CDI Director’s Cut: A Guide for Effective Program Management. I have held various leadership positions in the HIM and CDI industry. I am currently employed as the Corporate Coding Compliance Manager at Valley Health, a six hospital system based in Virginia and West Virginia. Having an extensive background in outpatient coding, I am excited to see CDI evolve into the outpatient setting and look forward to seeing outpatient coding and outpatient CDI complement each other in the fastest growing sector of healthcare.

Reason(s) why you are interested in serving on the Advisory Board, and one idea to improve ACDIS and/or the CDI profession

It is an exciting time to be a part of the CDI profession! While some healthcare organizations are advanced with incorporating CDI into areas such as denials management and the outpatient setting, I do think a fair amount of CDI programs struggle with how they are going to accomplish these initiatives while also keeping traditional Inpatient CDI afloat. Furthermore, CDI is also being tasked with additional responsibilities in supporting quality outcomes. I think the opportunity exists to streamline work that is being done within the CDI, HIM/coding/revenue cycle, and quality areas to promote efficiency and improved outcomes for the healthcare organizations we serve. My idea to improve the CDI profession is to optimize our efforts with the work already being done in these other areas of healthcare. There is a wealth of knowledge to be gained from our peers in these respective areas. I am interested in serving as an Advisory Board member as I would like to share my knowledge and experience in these areas to promote the continued growth of the CDI profession in the outpatient setting as well as within denials management and quality outcomes.
 

  Lena N. Wilson, MHI, RHIA, CCS, CCDS   
  RCS Specialized Manager–Clinical Documentation Integrity (Inpatient & Professional Operations) and ICD-10 Clinical Education
  Indiana University Health
  Indianapolis, Indiana

Background/Qualifications in CDI and/or ACDIS

Wilson has a Bachelors in HIM (2002) and Masters in Health Informatics (2009) both from Indiana University. She holds credentials of CCS (Certified Coding Specialist) and CCDS (Certified Clinical Documentation Specialist). She began her career as an inpatient coder and continued to grow from there, expanding her skills into quality auditing and then into various leadership roles in HIM/coding/CDI. 

She now has almost twenty years of HIM, coding, and CDI experience and has been at IU Health for the last 16 years. During her tenure, she has worked in various roles supporting the CDI team from direct leadership/program oversight as well as solely focusing on physician documentation education leading up to and through the ICD-10 code set conversion.

The IU Health inpatient CDI program was implemented in 2005/2006 and she has been involved since the inception of this program in every aspect and its continued growth. Over the last 15 years, the program has expanded to cover 16 inpatient and critical access facilities across the health system with 24 team members and one team lead. She has worked with others to support the implementation of a computer assisted CDI tool as well as a production and quality monitoring programs.

The IU Health CDI program is continuing to expand into the professional space. The professional CDI program will focus on the documentation of HCC diagnoses in the physician office. This is currently still in the pilot stage and will continue to evolve over 2021 and beyond.

Reason(s) why you are interested in serving on the Advisory Board, and one idea to improve ACDIS and/or the CDI profession

I served on the ACDIS Advisory Board from 2010-2012. I was very new to the profession itself and had the pleasure to present at two national conferences. I was extremely eager to share my knowledge at that time. I read over those position statements recently and I still have that same drive and passion for the CDI profession as I did back then! I can say that CDI is truly my professional calling.

I have learned so much in terms of communication at various levels through the organization, providing educational content and even how to adjust/adapt to the ever-changing needs and many more pearls of wisdom along the way. I would still like to be able to share that with others at the national level.

I am interested in serving on the ACDIS Advisory Board to help participate in the continual evolution of CDI into other patient settings. Most of us have implemented some type of inpatient program, and are working to determine the benefits of CDI in other spaces. CDI in other non-traditional settings is an aspect I would like to see ACDIS/CDI profession provide more focus on.

As a CDI governing body, facilities are looking to ACDIS to provide guidance on how to implement programs in these non-traditional settings and what the risks and benefits would be. And even within the inpatient settings, other service lines that have historically been considered out of scope for inpatient operations could also receive benefit from CDI education/reviews.

  Ahmed Abuabdou, M.D., MBA, CHCQM-PHYADV, CCDS
  Associate Chief Medical Officer
  University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
  Little Rock, Arkansas

Background/Qualifications in CDI and/or ACDIS

Ahmed Abuabdou, M.D., completed his Internal Medicine residency at St. Elizabeth Health Center/Northeast Ohio Medical University College of Medicine in 2011. He then completed a Blood Banking and Transfusion Medicine fellowship at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) in 2012. He joined the Division of Hospital Medicine at UAMS in 2012 and currently holds the academic rank of Associate Professor of Medicine. He completed a Master’s degree in Business in Administration at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2019. He also serves as an Associate Chief Medical Officer for UAMS Medical Center and leads its Physician Advisory program. He championed the Clinical Documentation Integrity (CDI) program at UAMS and is the Editor of “Concise is Nice,” the UAMS CDI Newsletter providing faculty, fellows, and residents with CDI best practices and documentation tips. He chairs the UAMS CDI Committee tasked with developing strategies to improve documentation practices and ensure its integrity. Ahmed is an active member of the CDI Committee of the American College of Physician Advisors (ACPA) since its inception in 2016. He authored several educational materials for ACPA including Atrial Fibrillation, Acute Blood Loss Anemia, Post-Procedural Respiratory Failure (PSI-11), and Perioperative Hemorrhage and Hematoma (PSI-9). He achieved CCDS certification from ACDIS in 2018.

Reason(s) why you are interested in serving on the Advisory Board, and one idea to improve ACDIS and/or the CDI profession

Serving on ACDIS Advisory Board is an outstanding opportunity to have a physician voice in the premier healthcare community of CDI specialists. Physician input on CDI best practices, clinical validation, physician engagement and education, to name a few, is a valuable benefit to ACDIS members. Serving on the board will provide an opportunity to deliver recommendations to ACDIS’ Executive Management team in areas of strategic interest. Providing documentation education at the Graduate Medical Education (GME) level is an area of particular interest to me. Physicians typically do not receive education or training on why accurate and clear documentation is important, how to document accurately and compliantly in the medical record, and how appropriate documentation impacts the organization they work for. ACDIS can play a strategic and historic role by addressing the issue of documentation at the GME level by developing concise curricula for residents of different specialties on the importance of documentation and documentation best practices. This will help future physicians document as accurately and specifically as possible for the betterment of patient care and their home institution. This intervention will add a personal touch to the advancements in deployment of technological solutions (artificial intelligence and machine learning) to aid with documentation improvement by validating reported diagnoses.
 

  Christopher Petrilli, MD, SFHM, CCDS
  Medical Director, Clinical Documentation Improvement
  NYU Langone Health
  New York, New York

Background / Qualifications in CDI and/or ACDIS

Petrilli is an assistant professor of medicine at the NYU School of Medicine. He serves as clinical lead of the Manhattan campus for value based management and medical director for CDI for NYU Langone Health. He has authored 30 peer reviewed publications, including a first author manuscript in the British Medical Journal, which was one of the first major papers describing the risk factors for COVID-19 in the United States.

In his role as medical director for CDI, he takes great pride in strengthening the collaboration among health system leaders, CDI team and providers to improve documentation efficiency and effectiveness. He achieves this through education and novel electronic health record solutions. His work has been featured in the ACDIS CDI Journal, ACDIS CDI strategies and The ACDIS Podcast: Talking CDI. He has a true passion for teaching, methodologically implementing rigorous process improvement strategies, and tracking process, as well as outcomes metrics to assess for sustained improvement over time.

Prior to medical school, Petrilli was a financial analyst for JPMorgan Chase Bank and Senior Financial Analyst for Nexxar Group. He received his Medical Degree from Georgetown University, and completed his residency training in internal medicine at University of Michigan where he also served as chief medical resident. He received his undergraduate degree in finance and accounting at Georgetown University, where he served as co-chairman and CEO of the Georgetown University Alumni Student Credit Union, the largest entirely student run financial institution in the nation. 

Reason(s) why you are interested in serving on the Advisory Board, and one idea to improve ACDIS and/or the CDI profession

I’m incredibly excited to serve on the Advisory Board during this period when technology companies are working to enhance software to include machine learning/artificial intelligence-based solutions to improve documentation and automate many current functions of CDI specialists. These solutions should be embraced rather than feared – ACDIS should be provident by creating clear recommendations/guidelines regarding a hospital’s use of these solutions. This is a tremendous opportunity to strengthen the position of our members by ensuring that this technology is used to elevate our profession to the next level.

Additionally, the perception of CDI across the country is astoundingly variable – ACDIS should continue to develop resources for members such as leadership training programs. This should include an ACDIS best practice guide/playbook for how to ensure the C-Suite understands the importance of CDI leadership presence when relevant decisions are made. CDI should not be considered a “service” that is provided, but rather an integral collaborator, not only in regards to optimizing reimbursement, but also as a provider of invaluable, critical insight in order to improve externally-reported quality metrics (e.g. USNWR, Vizient, STS, etc.) and allow for accurate and specific health services research which relies on coding data on claims to be meaningful. I sincerely hope you will give me the opportunity to further strengthen ACDIS’ tradition of providing outstanding education and support to our members. I will do my best to make sure that all CDI specialists receive the training they need to excel in their field and to succeed in career advancement.