October 1, 2014—the compliance date of ICD-10—is looming larger and larger. So how prepared are the nation’s CDI specialists for this impending change? Most are well underway with training, but the results still concern Clinical Documentation Improvement Week survey advisor Walter Houlihan, MBA, RHIA, CCS, director of health information management and clinical documentation at Baystate Health in Springfield, Mass.

“I’m a little surprised that only 50% have begun formal training, and even more so that 7.3% [of respondents] say they have not begun and have no plans in place,” he says.

In other survey developments, physician engagement continues to be the most difficult obstacle for most CDI programs; most CDI specialists see little room for advancement in their own hospitals but believe there is plenty of room for growth in the broader healthcare industry; and CDI specialists are growing more accustomed to electronic health records (EHR), finding them beneficial to their CDI efforts.

Following is an overview of the survey results beginning on p. 5 and Houlihan’s commentary.