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UASI Experts to Present “Key Steps to Successfully Implement Outpatient CDI in Physician Practice” at AHIMA 2018

HIM directors, coding managers and healthcare leaders consistently tell us that accurate hierarchical condition category (HCC) capture, coding error prevention and compliance planning remain top-of-mind.

It’s critical that provider groups broaden their understanding of these areas — especially as they pertain to outpatient settings — and address them in their clinical documentation improvement (CDI) efforts.

Although best practices for inpatient CDI programs have been well-described, processes and approaches for successful outpatient CDI implementation are less standardized. It can be a challenge for physician practices to decide where and how to start.

That’s why UASI’s vice president of HIM consulting, Mary Stanfill, and CDI and utilization review service lines director Staci Josten developed a presentation on the subject, which they’ll give at the American Health Information Management Association’s (AHIMA) 2018 gathering in Miami.

“Key Steps to Successfully Implement Outpatient CDI in Physician Practice is scheduled for Wednesday, September 26, 10:00 – 10:45 am. Stanfill and Josten will provide context and goals for outpatient CDI programs, starting with a brief overview of the importance of accurately capturing HCCs and risk adjustment factor (RAF) scores.

Then, they’ll detail 10 key steps that must be addressed to successfully design and launch an outpatient CDI program, providing real-world examples and insights drawn from their experiences with physician practices.

In this interactive presentation, attendees will learn how to conduct assessments of their organizations’ areas of opportunity — denial rates, RAF scores, quality scores — and how to conduct a comprehensive review of their existing processes. Specifically, attendees will learn how to:

  • Establish clear, achievable outpatient CDI goals
  • Align data collection with measurement methods
  • Capture pre- and post RAF scores
  • Leverage electronic medical record (EMR) systems to help physicians accurately report the HCC-correlated conditions they address during patient visits
  • Tailor workflows to prompt providers for documentation that properly supports coding

Overall, attendees will come away with a better understanding of how to avoid common pitfalls in outpatient CDI implementation and with a proven approach that ensures ongoing documentation improvement.

Coming to AHIMA 2018? Stop by Booth #513

Come connect with other members of our team, including Laura Barron. We want to hear about your greatest challenges and best opportunities – and share what we’ve learned since last year’s show. Plus, you can register to win fun giveaways.