Note from the Director: ACDIS conference turns 10

By Brian D. Murphy

Wow, ACDIS is turning 10. Sometimes I still find it hard to wrap my head around that fact.

We’ve managed to accomplish a lot in our first decade, growing from little more than an idea in 2006, to launch in October 2007, to more than 5,400 members nationwide, today.

What am I most proud of? That we’ve brought so many people together. That’s what we do. Here is just a sample:

• 40 local chapters under the banner of ACDIS
• Thousands on our membership conference calls and ACDIS Radio
• Thousands more in the classrooms of our boot camps
• And gathered here in Las Vegas, thousands of CDI specialists from around the country, to help us celebrate

That’s what ACDIS is all about—fellowship, networking, and learning from each other. The plan is, 10 years from now we’ll still be bringing people together. Because in the end that is what CDI is all about. It’s the ultimate team sport. What do I mean by that?

Patient registration, up front, doing their job so the process of review can begin.

All the efforts of the query go nowhere without an HIM/coding professional applying the code which he or she believes is supported by the documentation.

All those efforts go for naught without billing professionals submitting the claim on the back end.

And of course, CDI is completely hamstrung without an engaged physician willing to put pen to paper, or fingers to the keyboard. Or just to listen.

It’s a team, all working together, to move an object that can seem very heavy.

And CDI is the tie that binds all this together. CDI is the glue, the jet fuel that makes this engine run. How many more clichés can I spout? You get the idea. Every day you accomplish amazing things in your pursuit of the integrity of the medical record.

CDI specialists move that heavy object every day, meeting regulatory burdens head-on and marrying administrative codes to clinical practice.

And I like to think we, at ACDIS, have played a part, taking a turn and shouldering some of the burden right alongside you.

So, thank you for 10 years of ACDIS.

For 10 years of crossing the country to come to our conferences, 10 years of learning from us while we learn from you.

For 10 years of memories, and many fond meetings.

Team ACDIS is looking forward to the next 10!

Editor’s note: Contact Murphy at bmurphy@acdis.org.