Q&A: Quality analytics to identify documentation gaps
Q: I would love to learn from other organizations that are using Vizient or Premier data to focus their CDI teams on documentation opportunities. Do you have any CDI-specific positions on your team that drill down and work with the data analytics to improve outcomes relative to quality measures, Patient Safety Indicators (PSI), readmissions, mortality, etc.? If so, how are they using Premier or Vizient data to drive documentation improvement?
Response #1: We do build and support CDI processes around data from Vizient. I find it helpful to ensure the CDI focus is aligned with like organizations for case mix index (PSI), mortality, and safety appropriateness/accuracy. Having this data is pivotal to ensuring CDI key performance indicators align with organizational goals.
Response #2: We used our Vizient data to support CMI work by service line at our health system and presented on the topic at the 2026 ACDIS conference. We did not assign a CDI specialist to this but I worked with our director of physician advisors and our quality analyst and then met with each specialty area to show them where they had gaps.
Response #3: We have an operations manager that we use to pull data from Vizient on a quarterly basis by physician groups to evaluate where their opportunities are and we meet with leaders of those areas to share where they are doing well, and where we can make improvements. We also use the Vizient data to adjust the prioritized CDI worklist in our CDI software. We also use the Vizient API to review cases that fall into the below/well below the observed-to-expected category.
Response #4: We use Vizient in both the concurrent and retrospective space to help drive our CDI program. Concurrent reviewers use the Vizient mortality calculator with their initial review and any DRG changes to look for specific diagnoses which are Vizient drivers. We also have a second level team that analyzes our diagnosis capture rates compared to the cohort or for specific service lines.
We also look at query types/volumes to see if our query opportunities correlate to our opportunities in diagnosis capture rates when compared to the cohort. This information helps to drive education topics for providers and determine true areas of focus versus going down a rabbit hole.
We have a robust CDI program and second level review support and have worked closely with Vizient for years.
Editor’s note: This question was answered by members of the ACDIS CDI Leadership Council and originally appeared in the CDI Leadership Insider, the exclusive newsletter for Council members. For the purposes of this article, all Council member answers have been deidentified.