All Entries Tagged With: "benchmarking"

ACDIS launches 2009 CDI specialist salary survey

Nearly 300 people have already responded to the 2009 ACDIS annual CDI salary survey. In the survey, we ask for your open and honest input to help us develop the most accurate picture of the CDI profession today. Your answers help illustrate the average salary clinical documentation improvement specialists receive. Your answers help illuminate the design of a “typical” CDI program. Your answers help depict the average experience of CDI specialists.

Please only take this anonymous survey if you are a CDI specialist. If you are not a CDI specialist, please ask the CDI specialist(s) in your hospital to fill out this survey. Visit www.zoomerang.com to take the survey. A complete analysis of the survey will be provided to ACDIS members on the association Web site www.cdiassociation.com.

Here’s a sample of the results so far.

ACDIS CDI Work Group update: Group chosen, work to begin

Hi everyone, I thought I would take a moment to provide an update on an exciting new initiative going on with ACDIS: the CDI Work Group. This is a group that, beginning in the next few weeks, will start a series of bi-weekly meetings to discuss common obstacles and best practices in the field of clinical documentation. Its goal is to produce detailed surveys, benchmarks, and best practices to share with the membership.

I’m personally very excited about this group and strongly believe that the diverse expertise it brings to the table–and the work it ultimately produces–will be of immense value to our ACDIS members.

We had over 50 applicants for the CDI Work Group but in the end we had to narrow it down to 15. The CDI Work Group consists of the following members:

• Cheryl Ericson, MS, RN, Clinical Documentation Improvement Manager for The Medical University of South Carolina
• Lisa Peterson, BS, RHIA, Manager of the Medical Record Department for the University of Tennesee Medical Center
• Jennifer Woodworth, RN, BSN, Manager of Clinical Documentation for MultiCare Health System in Tacoma, WA
• Glenda Hebert, RN, BSN, CCM, Clinical Documentation Specialist for CHRISTUS Hosptial St. Elizabeth in Texas
• Susan Payne, RN, BSN, Manager of Case Management/Social Services for Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center in California
• Eileen Hickey, RHIA, Coordinator of Medical Record Services for Atlantic Health-Morristown Memorial Hospital in New Jersey
• Karen Frosch, CCS, Clinical Documentation Manager for Christiana Care in Delaware
• Lena Wilson, RHIA, CCS, Manager of HIM Operations/Clinical Documentation Improvement Program for Clarian Health in Indiana
• Thenia Nesbeth-Blades, RN, MSN, CDI Specialist for New York Presbyterian Hospital-Columbia
• Luanne Jennex, RN, CDI Specialist for Westchester Medical Center in New York
• Donald Butler, RN, BSN, Manager of Clinical Documentation for Pitt Country Memorial Hospital in North Carolina
• Sue Muse, RHIA, CDI Director for Precyse Solutions in Kentucky
• Marta Boyd, RN, Documentation Specialist for Valley Hospital and Medical Center in Washington
• Adelaide LaRosa, RN, Director of the Clinical Documentation Improvement Program for St. Francis Hospital in New York
• Pat Danks, CCS, CPC, CPC-H, CCDS, Coding Quality and Compliance Consultant for Kindred Healthcare

The group will be directed by three members of the ACDIS Advisory Board, including Shelia Bullock, Wendy DeVreugd, and Garri Garrison. In addition, I’ll be participating as well.

The CDI Work Group will be an ongoing project and will attempt to address many issues within the profession, starting with staffing considerations. Over time we may be looking to add members of different backgrounds and experience to participate, so stay tuned.

Thanks,

Brian

How is your CDI program structured? Take this ACDIS survey

Benchmarking tools are an important part of measuring your CDI program’s success. You need to know how you stack up against other facilities of the same size and structure as you. This rings particularly true you hope to expand your current clinical documentation improvement program or start one from scratch. Furthermore, as ACDIS continues to build and define these benchmarking reports we hope we’ll be able to identify some significant trends and best practices for our membership.

For example, as you can see from the chart below 73% of respondents so far said MCC/CC DRG optimization represents their program’s priority. We hope you’ll add your voice and experience to the survey to help us provide the best picture of CDI programs today. To take the survey, click here.

Physician query benchmarking report released

More than 350 people responded to the 20-question physician query benchmarking survey launched earlier this year. The survey asked respondents  a wide range of physician query questions:

• What should you query?
• When should you query?
• How should you query?
• Why should you query?
• What information do you need to track once physicians respond?
• What’s the best way to track CDI information?
• And oh, by the way, how often do you do all this?

Most CDI professionals want to know how other facilities fare in getting physicians to respond to queries. In response to question 18 on the survey, 19% said they have an 81%-90% response rate, followed by 17% with a 71%-80% response rate. Thirteen percent of respondents say they’ve achieved a 96%-100% response rate.

ACDIS members have full access to this report at www.cdiassociation.com, click on the “Helpful Resources” section and scroll down to the links beneath the White Paper title.

Participate in Physician Query Benchmarking Survey

CDI professionals spent the bulk of 2008 worrying and wondering what guidance AHIMA would finally offer for conducting physician queries. The back and forth negotiation of final guidance development proved fruitful for many healthcare stakeholders from compliance to finance, health information to clinical documentation improvement.

But it’s time to take the guidance off the shelf and see how those in our profession actually use the physician query process every day. Please take a moment to participate in our ACDIS Physician Query Benchmarking Survey.

We will analyze the results and issue a report later this spring. While the best part of participation really comes from the sharing of information and the general condition of creating community. . . ACDIS Director Brian Murphy sweetened this incentive by adding a little contest to the mix.  One lucky participant will be chosen at random to receive a free admission to this year’s ACDIS conference at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. If the winner already has a paid seat to the conference then he or she gets a free pass to the pre-conference event, ICD-9 Coding Essentials: What every CDI specialist needs to know.

So, click here, take the survey, help your fellow CDI professionals, and enter for a chance to win! Note that we plan to conduct these benchmarking surveys on a quarterly basis, and offer them exclusively for ACDIS members.