CDI Companion for Physician Advisors: Notes From the Field

Trey La Charité, MD, FACP, SFHM, CCDS

When it comes to clinical documentation, physician advisors have a range of important responsibilities, from query escalation to denials management and everything in between. With all these tasks on their plate, physician advisors are constantly pulled in different directions, making it hard to make the best use of their time. CDI Companion for Physician Advisors: Notes From the Field is designed to help physician advisors structure their time properly and carry out their CDI duties effectively and efficiently.

This book will help physician advisors:

• Find their feet in the CDI role
• Identify tools to provide effective documentation education for physicians and CDI staff
• Engage medical staff in documentation improvement efforts
• Understand common documentation deficiencies for difficult diagnoses such as sepsis, heart failure, and kidney disease
• Work with their CDI team to tackle advanced record reviews in areas such as quality, audit defense, and outpatient HCCs
• Figure out how to best structure their time to carry out CDI duties

About the Author:

Trey La Charité, MD, FACP, SFHM, CCDS, is a hospitalist with the University of Tennessee Medical Center (UTMC) and a past ACDIS Advisory Board member. He serves as the physician advisor for UTMC’s clinical documentation integrity program, coding, and Recovery Auditor response. La Charité is a regular contributor to CDI Journal, co-author of the Physician Advisor’s Guide to CDI, and a co-lead instructor for the popular Physician Advisor Boot Camp.

Published: November 2016

Page Count: 150
Dimensions: 7 X 9
ISBN: 978-1-68308-170-8

Table of Contents

Dedication

About the Author

Introduction

Chapter 1: A Bucket of Cold Water: Starting a CDI Program

Keeping the Doors Open
Picturing a CDI Program

Chapter 2: The Physician Advisor’s Role

Juggling Responsibilities
Choosing the Right Fit
Assigning Responsibilities

Chapter 3: Program Development and Staff Selection

Professional Backgrounds
Homegrown or Outsourced Staff?
Staffing Ratios
CDI Reporting Structure
Training New Staff
CDI and Provider Interaction

Chapter 4: Teaching and Engaging Physicians

Recasting the Financial Focus
Turning Back the Clock
Addressing the Bad—and the Downright Ugly
Underperforming Service Lines
Passing Over the Noncompliant

Chapter 5: Clinical Conditions and Concerns

Clinical Definition Evolution
Troublesome Diagnoses
Clinical Conundrums

Chapter 6: Achieving and Maintaining Compliance

Program Origins
Expansion Opportunities
Compliant Queries and Materials
Unexpected CDI Effects
Patient Status Shifts
Questions of Clinical Validity
Vendor Promises
Denial Prevention
Hospital Status: Endangered!

Chapter 7: Next Steps

The Natural CDI Evolution
Patient Safety Indicators
Patient Mortality Reviews
Outpatient Reviews