Back from Boot Camp
If I’m looking a bit sore and stiff this week, it’s because I’m still recovering from our latest Clinical Documentation Improvement Boot Camp in Alpharetta, GA. No, no push ups or early morning runs were involved, just a lot of exercise for the mind.
I had the chance to attend the first 2 1/2 days of the four-day Boot Camp, and can honestly say I
There's no screaming at the CDI Boot Camp. We promise.
learned a lot from our instructor, Catherine O’Leary of CSG Solutions. Catherine has extensive experience as a nurse in medical/surgical intensive care, and her clinical knowledge and experience shines in the heart of the Boot Camp–a guided tour of the Major Diagnostic Categories (MDCs), including infectious diseases, the respiratory, circulatory, digestive, endocrine, and neuro systems, and much more. I learned more about “the left shift” and neutrophils than I ever did before, as well as coding/sequencing guidelines for sepsis.
Another strong point of Catherine’s background is her familiarity with the RAC program. She worked with several New York hospitals hard-hit by the RAC demonstration program, and has some great ideas to share for getting CDI specialists more involved with the RACs to prevent denials on a proactive basis.
The CDI Boot Camp is also a great place for discussions and networking with your colleagues. The goal of the CDI Boot Camp is to provide a small, classroom-like learning environment to teach the core skills and basics of the CDI profession. This small teacher-student ratio allows for a lot of dialogue with the instructors and each other. Many of our students took the opportunity to meet up for dinner and exchange business cards and phone numbers. I personally got to speak with several ACDIS members, including a few who I knew by e-mail signature only. It was a pleasure to be able to put real faces to names.
In summary, I hope all of our new CDI specialists, or CDI specialists in need of some additional training, make it out to a Boot Camp. And don’t fear the name: No sit ups and pull ups required, I promise.
About the Author: Brian Murphy, CPC, is director of the Association of Clinical Documentation Improvement Specialists (ACDIS). Brian is also an executive editor in the revenue cycle division of ACDIS’ parent company HCPro, Inc.
Lynne Spryszak, RN, CCDS, CPC-A | Oct 20, 2009 | Reply
Good to know that this is filling a need that was projected long ago. Something for all CDS to consider: even if your facility declines to underwrite attendance at a boot camp, it should be considered as an investment in your professional future.
Don | Oct 22, 2009 | Reply
Would sure like to hear from any additional attendees of their experiences! The cost of the conference seems moderate but difficult to sell, and having feedback would help that conversation within the budget process.
Am interested both from the perspective of any current CDS (6 months or more) and a new CDS where this bootcamp might have been used to start or as an early supplement in an orientation process.
Brian — would be interesting to note if this plays a positive role for anyone in the future who takes the CDI certification exam.
Thanks, Don
Brian Murphy | Oct 22, 2009 | Reply
Hi Don, while the CDI Boot Camp was not designed with exam prep in mind, much of the content that it includes–diagnosis recognition, query opportunities, ICD-9-CM sequencing and basic coding guidelines, the AHIMA physician query practice brief, MS-DRGs, etc.–is on the exam.