All Entries Tagged With: "conference"

2010 ACDIS Conference agenda set

It’s been a real pleasure to be a part of the 2010 ACDIS Conference Committee, the 12-member volunteer group planning the annual conference behind the scenes, especially since we’ve completed most of the hard work and can move on to some of the more fun planning items.

The 2009 ACDIS Conference Committee did a great job. I'm looking forward to Chicago so I can capture a photo of my new 2010 committee friends.

ACDIS sent out the call for presentations shortly after the 2009 conference concluded. A record number of respondents offered a true plethora of programs to choose from so the group had some due diligence and research to do. From the list of nearly 40 speakers, each committee member picked his or her top 15 choices.  ACDIS Director Brian Murphy compiled their responses and when the group reconvened everyone discussed the results.

The 2010 conference June 3-4 at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago will follow a similar format to previous years. It features two general sessions, a closing session question and answer panel, and 18 breakout programs for a total of 21 sessions. Highlights include programs on physician advisor strategies, risk adjustment for Medicare’s mortality and readmission indicators/AHRQ patient safety and inpatient quality indicators, performing CDI in outpatient ED setting, data mining, and tips to enhance the CDI program, among other topics.

The committee’s work continues, however. In the next few months we will explore opportunities for a poster session and develop ideas for some extracurricular fun. Sure a day of intensive learning is it’s own reward, and we will be in the beautiful Windy City, but you know what they say about all work and no play… so, stay tuned for more details on the way.

CDI takes center stage at forum in Chicago

Two ACDIS board members discuss CDI in Chicago this week.

Today and tomorrow the World Research Group holds its fourth annual Clinical Documentation Improvement & Coding Expo at the Hilton Suites in Chicago. We are extremely happy that ACDIS members will be well represented. The roster of presenters includes ACDIS Board Members Colleen Stukenberg, MSN, RN, CMSRN, CCDS, Clinical Documentation Management Professional at FHN Memorial Hospital in Freeport, IL, and Garri L. Garrison, RN, CPC, CMC, CPUR, director of Acute Care Services at 3M health information systems in Atlanta, GA.

Stukenberg will present “A CDI Orientation Process: A Checklist to Get Started.” Even when a healthcare organization hires consultants to start the CDI program staffing turnover and program growth requires ongoing training, she says. Her presentation later today explores the scope of a CDI orientation process. Tomorrow, Stukenberg moderates a panel discussion “How to Bridge the Gap Between Physicians, CDI Specialists, and Coders.” The discussion will have equal representation from each profession, naturally. Topics on the agenda include problematic terminology, evidence-based principles, common pitfalls in physician documentation, and clinical indicators in the medical record, among other items.

Before I stop touting Stukenberg’s expertise I want to just take a moment to laud her new book “Successful Collaboration in Healthcare: A Guide for Physicians, Nurses & Clinical Documentation Specialists,” which ties in quite nicely to her prestation tomorrow. The book describes ways in which nurses and physicians can collaborate to enhance patient safety and quality, and how this collaboration can have a positive effect on the financial aspects of an organization, Stukenberg says.

Garrison moderates a panel of professionals tomorrow afternoon to discuss “The Metrics for Evaluating a CDI Program.” Many ACDIS members say that once their CDI programs have been in place for a while, they need to ramp up their benchmarking and data collection. Garrison’s presentation explores how three different facilities tracked their CDI outcomes based on financial, quality, and other ratios.

We are so proud to have such talented board members and know that many ACDIS members also do their part to demonstrate the importance of clinical documentation improvement in their own communities. If you are an ACDIS member and have an upcoming speaking engagement we’d like to hear about it. Let us know by posting a comment here on the ACDIS Blog, on our LinkedIn or Facebook pages, or by shooting us an e-mail.

2010 conference committee holds first meeting

The 2010 ACDIS Conference Committee held its first meeting on August 13, 2009. The committee includes:

• Sandy Artusi
• Margi Brown
  

  Discussions begin for 2010 conference.

• Ann-Marie Carducci
• Sharon Cole
• Lynn Edwards
• Frances Frank
• Gail Gall
• Kara Masucci
• Vicki McMahon
• Lois Rubin
• Teri Sholder
• Arinda Skinner-Kennedy

At the first meeting participants reviewed their likes and dislikes of the 2009 conference and brainstormed ideas for 2010. The committee greatly enjoyed keynote speaker, Dr. Carl Hammerschlag and supported the inclusion of a general healthcare motivational speaker for the 2010 program even if he or she does not specifically address clinical documentation improvement.

The group also discussed the format of the 2010 conference. As many will remember the 2009 program offered three different breakout sessions per time block except for the general session held day. The conference committee supported this concept but will examine whether these sessions would better be tracked as specific to job title, theme, or level of CDI experience.

We’ll keep you updated in future posts regarding potential topic ideas and additional conference items.

ACDIS member weds while attending 2009 conference

This cake by Freed's Bakery in Las Vegas bears the title "Lucky in Love"! ACDIS member Vicki McMahon and now hubby Ron tied the knot while there for the conference-talk about lucky!

Vicki and Rod lived in the same small town most of their lives and although they each knew of each other’s families, they’d never met. Then about four years ago, Vicki and a friend decided to go out for dinner and drinks. Rod and his friend played music on the jukebox. They asked the ladies to dance. . .

Ah, romance.

Of course, there weren’t immediate sparks, but over time Rod and Vicki realized how much they enjoyed seeing each other. Soon they were inseparable. In February of 2008, Rod asked Vicki to marry him and of course she said “yes!”

When she signed up for the 2nd Annual ACDIS Conference in Las Vegas the couple joked about having “drive-thru” wedding. “We both laughed and then reality sat in,” says Vicki (now) McMahon RN, MSN, Clinical Documentation and Coding Nurse Manager at St. John’s Hospital in Springfield, IL. “We both lead very busy lives so a formal wedding was totally out of the picture, and besides that is not what we wanted. We played around with the idea and by January that is what we decided we would do.”

The couple kept it a secret from everyone and when they arrived in Vegas on May 12, they checked into their hotel, freshened up, put their “wedding attire” on, and off they went to the court house to pickup their paperwork.

“As we were traveling there, we joked about if we would go through a drive up or a walk through wedding. Yes, we are kinda cheesy that way,” McMahon jokes.

With the appropriate papers in hand however the couple headed over to the Stained Glass Wedding Chapel in downtown Las Vegas, tied the knot, and proceeded to enjoy the Vegas highlights, and of course the ACDIS conference!

“I must say this was one of the better organized conferences I have ever attended,” McMahon says. While she and husband are looking forward to attending next year’s show in Chicago, she says, “I’m not sure what we will do to improve on this trip…”

Congratulations Vicki and Ron from all your ACDIS friends!

ACDIS seeks volunteers for work group projects

Update: These work groups are no longer accepting applications.

ACDIS is forming two work groups and is looking for volunteers to take part in these important projects. Participation in both groups is limited. Please note, you MUST be an ACDIS member in good standing to participate. Committees  include:

1. ACDIS 2010 Annual Conference Committee

As its name implies, the ACDIS 2010 Annual Conference Committee will help us plan and shape next year’s conference in Chicago. The committee will provide feedback on past conferences, help select sessions and speakers for 2010, help us decide on any other conference-related activities, and select our annual CDI Professional of the Year.

2. ACDIS CDI Work Group

The ACDIS CDI Work Group will meet on a regular basis to discuss best practices, definitions, and suggested benchmarks on a number of issues in the CDI profession. Its ultimate goal is to produce a series of best-practice articles available to the ACDIS membership.

Joining this group requires you to view its time commitment, objectives, and to fill out an application form. Please read and download the form here, fill out the necessary information, and e-mail it to ACDIS Director Brian Murphy at bmurphy@cdiassociation.com.

We will have a few members of the ACDIS Advisory Board participating on the ACDIS CDI Work Group as well.

Thanks, and I hope to hear from you on these two important projects.

Brian Murphy, CPC
Director
781-639-1872, ext. 3216
bmurphy@cdiassociation.com

ACDIS conference photos posted

Believe it or not, I’m still jet-lagged from our whirlwind trip to that desert oasis. My husband and I planned to fly out of Vegas on Sunday

Here's a shot of ACDIS Director Brian Murphy before one of the sessions started.

 but our flight was delayed due to some engine trouble. We missed our connection flight in Cleveland and had to spend the night there. So we arrived back in Boston on Monday. . . Better late than never!

Hope you’re all back in the swing of things. If you’re on Facebook I’ve posted a few photos from the trip on the ACDIS group page. There’s more on the way. These are just the ones I took with my little digital. If you have any please post them, too. If I took one of you and neglected to label you, please tag your photo to help us put “names to faces” as Mr. Murphy says. We’ll be compiling a photo page to publish in the next CDI Journal.

ACDIS 2009 conference powerpoints posted; conference feedback requested

Hi everyone, the 2009 ACDIS 2nd annual conference powerpoints and attendee list are now posted in the forms and tools section of our Web site. You can find them by clicking here.

Feel free to use these powerpoints for a refresher or internal training needs. The conference attendee list does not contain contact information, but does contain the names of conference attendees by name and facility if you’d like to track down some new (or old) acquaintances.

Finally, I would really like to hear from you about what you thought about the 2009 conference, which sessions or speakers you enjoyed, and how we can improve or what we can do differently in 2010. If there’s a session you’d like to see next year, I want to hear about it. Feel free to post your comments right here, or you can e-mail me at bmurphy@cdiassociation.com

Thanks again to all the folks who made it out to Las Vegas, it was great to put so many faces to names!

Take care,

Brian

Member generosity highlights ACDIS conference

It was great to get to know so many ACDIS members down in Las Vegas last week. I need to send out a special thank you to my fellow blogger Sylvia Hoffman and her colleague Darlene Shelffo. Sylvia wasn’t able to make it to this year’s show due to prior engagements but sent along a beautiful crystal vase and a lovely card for me in Darlene’s care. I couldn’t believe the extent of their generosity. But I guess that’s really just emblematic of the rest of the wonderful people I met this week.

Take the professionals recognized during Thursday’s luncheon. A 13 member committee worked with ACDIS Director Brian Murphy to develop the second annual conference. They met frequently to sort through possible conference topics and iron out the agenda, establish multiple conference tracks, and work out any potential cliches. Without them the conference couldn’t become a reality. The members included:

• Susan Boley
• Wendy Clesi
• Tiffany Colliver
• Julie Doy
• Vicki Ellinger
• Alice Hayden
• Robin Holmes
• Kyle McElroy
• Maria Narvaez
• Wendy Poskanzer
• Kimberly Richert
• Teri Shoulder
• Teri Wilson

It was also the generous efforts of volunteers that enabled ACDIS to launch the Certified Clinical Documentation Specialist exam on Saturday, May 16. The CCDS board members included:

• Deborah Biskner
• Jill Brocker
• Margi Brown
• Mary Beth Brown
• Gloryanne Bryant
• Tamara Hicks
• Kathy Kerfoot
• Wanda Myers
• Mary Phelps
• Suzanne Rogers
• Lynne Spryszak

First ‘official’ day of ACDIS conference goes over great

You can say 450 in any number of ways. . . 450 is, for example, the number 10 multiplied by 45. . . and it’s also the weight of a black marlin recently caught off the coast of Australia. . . And it’s around the number of attendees who registered for the second annual ACDIS conference last night and this morning. Although I tossed the number 450 around quite a bit in the past few weeks I did not have enough respect for the words I typed.

Everyone I spoke with throughout the course of the day today had their ‘ah-ha’ moment whether it came from Dr. Carl Hammerschlag’s keynote address or Gloryanne Bryant’s general session discussion regarding the AHIMA physician query practice brief. Actually, I had several ‘ah-ha’ moments today.

The first came when a packed room actively engaged speakers Martha Collins, RN, Trey La Charite, MD, and Carla Stump, RHIT, CCS, seeking to learn from the University of Tennessee Medical Center at Knoxville’s experience starting a CDI program. It was amazing to witness the UTMC team’s generosity as they shared the experiences of their CDI program’s first year. We all need to learn from each other, to hear each other’s struggles, in order to improve our own programs.

The second ‘ah-ha’ moment of mine was ACDIS Director Brian Murphy’s award luncheon speech. As you know I joined the ACDIS group in October 2008 but Mr. Murphy’s been working so hard for ACDIS for more than two years now. As he talked about the organization’s growth, discussed CCDS credential developments, and outlined plans for the future it was impossible not to see how much work Brian and all our advisory panels put into the growth of this association. (I’ll talk more about all these wonderful folks in a seperate post.)

My third ‘ah-ha’ moment came later when the breakout sessions ended and attendees poured out into the hallways, talking in groups of ones, twos, threes, their purple ACDIS bags in hand chatting about the session, talking about what they’d learned. The exhibit hall was full. New/old friends from ACDIS local chapters greeted me like we’d known each other for years.

Essentially, my ‘ah-ha’ moments all added up to one big one. . . 450 is just a number. . . ACDIS is an association that’s bouyed by the hard work and guinine good will of all of you. . . and all those moments, all those good intentions add up to a good deal more than any number can measure.

I promise to blog more later about the specific sessions I’ve attended and the award winners. . . There’s so much to say, I swear it will take weeks to sort through everything I’ve learned. . .  On to day two! Ready for the chapter breakfast! I’m so excited.

ACDIS precon addresses coding, CDI, and more

Wow! My head is spinning. A beautiful 5+ hour flight from Boston last night. It was the longest sunset I’ve ever watched. By traveling across time zones I was able to see the sun set the entire time. What the light does to the clouds. . . simply a landscape for dreamland.

And while ICD-9-CM may not be your idea of dreamland, I swear I learned so much today that I might as well have been in intellectual heaven. Shannon McCall took a class of more than 100 people on a tour of the Manual, which she followed up with a lession in specific diagnoses and the importance of their related Coding Clinics. Shannon’s presentation in this area generated a number of discussions both in-session and outside of the pre-conference. She covered items like HIV and related illnesses, sepsis and septicemia (what a hot-button item, huh!), neoplasms, CKD, obesity, and so much more.

After lunch, we continued this conversation regarding the Coding Clinic guidelines about congestive heart failure, respiratory failure, pregnancy related conditions, and pressure ulcers. . .  Is now a good time to say “wow” again? Or, “my head is spinning,” again?

After all this Shannon gave us a quick tour of MS-DRGs, and a crash course in ICD-10. . . Did I already say “wow”?