ACDIS Conference Preview

Education Highlights Expanded Schedule
By Michael Arnold

The Association of Clinical Documentation Improvement Specialists (ACDIS)—the nation’s only association dedicated to the unique needs of CDI specialists—is hosting its sixth annual conference in Nashville, Tennessee, from May 21 to 23. Responding to industry needs and membership demands, the ACDIS expanded this year’s conference to 2 1/2 days of sessions and networking.

At this year's conference, attendees will gain a deeper understanding of how to measure their facility's level of risk and ensuring readiness for ICD-10, strengthen their medical records from recovery audit contractor (RAC) audits, and take their program down new avenues, such as reviewing patient safety indicators and discharge codes. Sessions on encephalopathy, malnutrition, chronic heart failure, and acute coronary syndrome will deepen attendees’ understanding of pathophysiology and open up new query opportunities.

As always, the conference offers peer-to-peer networking and recognition for the CDI profession. On the first day of the conference, the ACDIS will introduce the 2013 CDI Professional of the YearandRecognition of CDI Professional Achievement winners at an awards luncheon for all attendees.

Attendees will have another opportunity for peer-to-peer education with a poster session in the exhibit hall. The poster session is a great way to network and share tools and ideas with other CDI professionals across the nation. There will be 26 posters on permanent display, with dedicated viewing time on the second day of the conference.

The ACDIS exhibit hall will be full of dedicated CDI exhibitors from all walks of the profession, including consultants, electronic query and transcription vendors, recruiters, and publishers.

As usual, the backbone of the ACDIS conference is its educational sessions. Three concurrent tracks will run throughout the conference, focused on pathophysiology, ICD-9/ICD-10 coding, CDI and quality, denials prevention, physician education and engagement, CDI innovations/program expansion, and leadership and department management. The following is a sample description of three of the 36 separate breakout sessions:

“Understanding and Implementing the New Definition of Malnutrition” with Jane White, PhD, RD, FADA, LDN, and Trey La Charité, MD: This session will review the evolution of how clinicians traditionally have assessed a patient’s nutritional status, revealing the incompleteness and inaccuracy of prior definitions that are no longer valid in today’s hospital environment. It also will review how the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition reached its new consensus guidelines and describe the physical components of today’s clinically based nutritional status evaluation. It also will describe the challenges faced in gaining acceptance and using the new definition and provide strategies that were employed to achieve success in a 500-bed academic medical center.

“Successful Strategies for Avoiding RAC Denials and DRG Downgrades, Intermediate” with Adelaide LaRosa, RN, BSN, CCDS: This session will focus on RAC denials for inpatient medical necessity as well as diagnosis-related group (DRG) downgrades. It will highlight the successful appeals strategies developed by St Francis Hospital supporting an inpatient level of care and appropriate DRG assignment. It will detail how St Francis incorporated its CDI program into the RAC defense, both preemptively and in appeals writing, and will include chart review and coding scenarios.

Gaining Consensus on PSI Documentation? It's Not Impossible” with Kathy Vermoch, MPH; Gene Peterson, MD, PhD; Leslie Prellwitz, MBA, CCS, CCS-P; Suzanne Rogers, RHIA, CCS, CCDS; and Qiaoyan Hu, MS: This panel session will present results of a large-scale study conducted by the University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC) to assess the accuracy and consistency of the documentation and coding of Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality patient safety indicators (PSIs). The results include an analysis of PSI data submitted by more than 200 hospitals along with the findings of a survey of 671 providers and 112 coders and CDI specialists regarding their perceptions and approaches for PSI documentation.

— Michael Arnold works with inside sales for the Association of Clinical Documentation Improvement Specialists. For more information about the annual conference, he can be contacted at marnold@hcpro.com.