Open letter to the President

Editor’s Note: The following is a mock letter, an editorial expression representing my response to President Barack Obama’s speech before elected officials on Wednesday, September 9, 2009.

Dear President Barack Obama, and esteemed and honored elected officials,

I write to you not in any official capacity related to my position as the associate director for the Association of Clinical Documentation Improvement Specialists (ACDIS) but rather as a citizen who is a firm believer in the cause these healthcare professionals represent.

Perhaps you have heard of clinical documentation improvement (CDI), perhaps not.  As a profession, CDI is relatively young. ACDIS itself is merely two years old. Hardly even a toddler. But the physicians, nurses, and coders who consider themselves CDI specialists are making great strides to help their facilities. Many of them save their programs millions in otherwise lost revenue annually. But while saving money represents a positive outcome from their venture it is not their mission.

These professional men and women crossed barriers of experience, reached out to each other to meet a singular goal–to improve patient care. They know that once all parties involved begin to speak the same language, dialogue begins to take place. They take the clinical knowledge of the physician and translate it into the complex languages of the healthcare coding and billing world.

The government already parses data collected by coders for all manner of initiatives. No doubt with an increased emphasis on electronic medical records an avalanche of information will be available to improve patient care, cut healthcare expenses, and seek out fraud and abuse in healthcare spending.

But none of these worthwhile initiatives will matter if the basic information written in the patient’s medical record by the physician cannot be correctly and compliantly translated into the coding and billing payment structure.

Physicians just want to take care of their patients. CDI helps them do just that.

The current struggle over healthcare reform appears to most Americans unending, the battle unwinable. And as you must realize those who vehemently seek to improve their current station will do just that. Just ask our ACDIS membership. I do not write this letter to say that the efforts of clinical documentation improvement specialists will solve all of the American healthcare system’s ills. This letter is written merely to inform you that they are out there working hard to do what they can to help.

Sincerely,

Melissa J. Varnavas