Note from the ACDIS Director: Paying attention to ethics

by Rebecca Hendren

Right now, reading a piece about the Code of Ethics probably doesn’t rank high on the exciting list of topics you could be reading about. And yet we all know how important ethics are to the CDI profession (and to life). So, bear with me, because I think you’ll find this a relevant update.

The ACDIS Advisory Board took on a project, led by former Interim Director Laurie Prescott, to review the ACDIS Code of Ethics with the intention of ensuring that the document is still current, relevant, and, perhaps most importantly, practical.

“The ACDIS Code of Ethics serves as a standard to which CCDS or CCDS-O credential holders are expected to adhere and offers guidance to all healthcare professionals who impact health record documentation regarding code assignment, reimbursement, medical necessity, professional billing, and quality reporting, including complications and mortalities,” the code states.

Post review, the direction, intent, and general sentiment of this document has not changed. Hopefully most of my readers have reviewed this document at some point in their CDI career and are familiar with these principles. Nevertheless, we hope this revised update makes the document more user friendly and more reference-friendly: we want CDI professionals to easily turn to it when they have practical questions regarding their professional-ethical conduct. Additionally, the document has been trimmed down so that it is shorter, more direct, and some of the redundancies have been removed.

It still contains scenarios and questions that everyone should read. These scenarios provide help as you navigate your professional responsibilities.

The original Code of Ethics, as well as this updated version, were both written to help CDI professionals. It is our hope that this current iteration of the Code may help serve as a guide for any ethical problems you or others may encounter on your CDI journey.

For more information about how to use the Code of Ethics, please listen to this discussion with Former Interim Director Laurie Prescott on the ACDIS Podcast earlier in the year: https://acdis.org/acdis-podcast/ethical-cdi-practice

We encourage you to take a look at this updated document. And as always, we welcome your feedback and thoughts.

Editor’s note: Hendren is the director of ACDIS. Contact her at Rebecca.hendren@hcpro.com. To examine the new updated Code of Ethics, click here. To listen to Hendren and Prescott’s discussion on the Podcast, click here.