Coming swiftly on the heels of the fiscal year (FY) 2018 IPPS final rule release, the 2018 ICD-10-CM/PCS Official Guidelines for Coding and Reporting were released on Thursday, August 10. As with the final rule, these Guidelines are in effect October 1, 2017, through September 30, 2018.

When reviewing the new Guidelines, note the following designations within the release:

• Bolded text indicates narrative changes
• Underlined items have been moved within the Guidelines since the FY 2017 version
• Italics indicate revisions to headings

CDI professionals should review convention 15, covering the use of the term “with.” The convention now specifies that, when another existing Guideline specifically requires a documented linkage between two conditions, the word “with” does not suffice. As an example, the guidelines site the sepsis guidelines for “acute organ dysfunction that is not clearly associated with sepsis.”

Though the convention 15 update certainly carries implications for CDI, CDI professionals should review the entire release and familiarize themselves with the changes to ensure their querying and reviews are held to the most current standards.

Editor’s note: To review the full release, click here. To read about the FY 2018 IPPS final rule release, click here.

CMS now plans to cancel two mandatory bundled payment programs, according to a new rule title posted to the Federal Register on August 10. The two rules, the Advancing Care Coordination through Episode Payment Models and the Cardiac Rehabilitation Incentive Payment Models, were set to take effect in 2018.

The cancellation comes after two delays to the implementation of these rules. The first delay moved the implementation date from February 18 to March 21, 2017; the second moved the date from July 1 to October 1, 2017.

Implicitly, this cancelation seems to be linked to the new administration’s mission to “reduce administrative burden.” Health and Human Service Secretary Tom Price, MD, was also no fan of the canceled bundled payments. In a 2016 letter to CMS, Price wrote that the cardiac bundles would lead to providers consolidating and turning away Medicare beneficiaries, according to Cardiovascular Business.

“Medicare providers and their patients are blindly being forced into high-risk government-dictated reforms with unknown impacts,” he wrote. “Any true medical experiment requires patient consent. However, patients residing in an affected geographical area will have no choice about their participation.”

The rule has not been officially withdrawn yet, but it is set to be finalized on January 1, 2018.

Editor’s note: To read ACDIS’ coverage of the delays, click here. To read the coverage from Cardiovascular Business, click here. To read an exposé from the RAC Monitor, click here.

The effect of the meaningful use incentives and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2009 have been hotly contested. While some say the programs increased the rate of EHR adoption, early studies showed that that was not the case.

A new study, however, published on August 7 in Health Affairs, contradicts such analysis, showing that adoption rose from 3.2% three years prior to the rule to 14.2% five years following implementation, according to research from  the University of Michigan and Harvard University, FierceHealthcare reported. Hospitals that were ineligible for incentive payments saw a lower adoption rate increasing from 0.1% per year prior to the law to 3.3% after, according to FierceHealthcare.

“Our results support the argument that recent gains in EHR adoption can be attributed specifically to HITECH, which suggests that the act could serve as a model for ways to drive the adoption of other valuable technologies,” the researchers wrote.

Though the incentives increased EHR adoption rates, the researchers did not call the implementation an “unqualified success,” but rather a first step in the right direction. Regardless, the researchers wrote, “there are likely very few other policies that have driven such substantial change in such a short period.”

Editor’s note: To read FierceHealthcare’s coverage of this study, click here. To read the study in its entirety, click here. To read about leveraging artificial intelligence for CDI, click here. To read about leveraging technology in general for CDI, click here. 

Every year, facilities across the country celebrate the efforts of their CDI teams for one week in September. Though ACDIS believes CDI professionals deserve accolades throughout the year, CDI Week is a time to pull out all the stops.

This year’s festivities take place September 18-22 and the theme is “The Wild West: New Frontiers for CDI.” Don’t forget to let ACDIS know what you’re planning for this year’s celebration and send plenty of pictures! We’d love to celebrate with you!

One change this year is the incorporation of the CDI Week Committee. As the ACDIS community and activities grow, ACDIS includes more of its members in planning festivities. The 2017 CDI Week Committee members include:

• Cornelius Delogramtic
• Nancy Ignatowicz
• Laurie Morelle
• Brenda Ng
• Caryn Nowak
• Rhonda Peppers
• Kristie Perry
• Terry Simmons
• Rosita Waddell
• James Wall
• Leigh Wolff

Be sure to watch for more information about them in the coming weeks. Additionally, following are a few items to expect and some we’ve already posted to help you get excited and plan for your own CDI Week events:

• Two CDI Week posters (found here and here)
• A 2017 CDI Week fact sheet and a list of suggested activities
• A list of suggested activities from the 2017 CDI Week Committee
• An in-depth look at the 2017 CDI Industry Survey results
• Daily Q&As with the 2017 CDI Week Committee members on the topics covered in the survey
• ACDIS and CDI themed merchandise
• ACDIS and HCPro giveaways and discounts (via ACDIS social media)

If you have any questions about CDI Week or want to share your plans for the celebration, email ACDIS Editor Linnea Archibald at larchibald@acdis.org.

Medicare Administrative Contactors (MAC) have new revised audit targets, according to a CMS announcement  Monday, August 14. MACs will first identify providers with billing errors and then provide corrective educational outreach, in targeted “probe and educate” reviews (TPE), according to Medscape. Under this new process, the MACs select claims for services or items “that pose the greatest financial risk to the Medicare trust fund and/or those that have a higher national error rate,” according to CMS.

Next, the MACs review 20 to 40 claims per service for each of the selected providers—a smaller number than previous probe reviews, according to CMS. If that group of claims shows that the provider is noncompliant, they receive education. This process continues up to three rounds of reviews.

“Providers/suppliers with continued high error rates after three rounds of TPE may be referred to CMS for additional action, which may include 100% prepay review, extrapolation, referral to a Recovery Auditor, or other action,” the release says.

Editor’s note: To read Medscape’s entire coverage, click here. To read the entire CMS release, click here. To register for an upcoming ACDIS Live! event about CDI, denials, and audits, click here.

While the American Medical Association (AMA) supports some of CMS’ proposals for year two of the Medicare Quality Payment Program (QPP), in some areas, it’s urging CMS to do more to simplify value-based payments, according to Revenue Cycle Advisor.

“CMS has been a good partner in smoothing out the bumps [in the QPP], but the program still needs to be more understandable and less burdensome,” said AMA President David O. Barbe, MD, MHA, in the AMA’s letter to CMS.

In the fiscal year (FY) 2018 QPP proposed rule, CMS recommended that year two (2018) of the QPP under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) should be transitional to allow providers additional time to adjust to value-based payments. Participation in the QPP in 2018 affects 2020 payments. Comments on the proposed rule were due by August 22.

The AMA believes CMS should take its time developing a standard methodology for performance improvement rewards. “CMS should continue to seek feedback and analyze data before adopting an approach to measure and score improvement, which may add complexity to the program and, once implemented, may be difficult to change,” AMA Executive Vice President and CEO James L. Madara, MD, said in the AMA’s letter.

“The AMA strongly supports many of CMS’ proposals that will create stability within the quality-performance category for physicians—including not increasing the number of quality measures a physician is required to report,” said Madara.

Editor’s note: To read the release from the AMA, click here. To read the complete QPP proposed rule, click here. To read a recent issue of the CDI Journal focused on quality measures, click here.

A May 2017 HealthLeaders Intelligence Report on Value-Based Readiness found that 74% of surveyed providers depend on fee-for-service payments, and the remaining 26% rely on value-based payment. Providers, however, say that mix will change to 48% fee-for-service and 52% value-based payments in three years, according to HealthLeaders Media.

Furthermore, 77% of net patient revenue in the surveyed provider organizations currently comes from fee-for-service payments while 23% comes from value-based payment. In that three-year time period, though, the survey respondents expect those numbers to change to 52% and 48% respectively.

These numbers mean an ever increasing need to focus on quality for CDI professionals. While, according to the 2017 ACDIS Physician Queries Benchmarking Survey, more than 50% of respondents conduct CDI reviews for primarily financial reasons, only 15.86% of respondents to the 2017 ACDIS CDI Industry Overview Survey reported not reviewing for quality. (Stay tuned: The CDI Industry Overview Survey will be released during CDI Week—September 18-22!)

According to all signs, the shift toward value-based payments continues. Over the next three years, CDI departments will potentially need to move further toward quality-focused reviews  as more and more reimbursement will be tied to it.

Editor’s note: To read the full article regarding the HealthLeaders Media survey, click here. To read the 2017 Physician Queries Benchmarking Survey report, click here. To read about CDI and quality, click here.

Did you know there’s a new CDI tip, trick, or post on the ACDIS Blog every day? In case you haven’t subscribed just yet, the ACDIS team put together a list of the articles you might have missed from the last month.

Here’s what’s been happening from August 1-August 31.

• ACDIS Tips:
  
  • A how-to on joining in on the discussions surrounding ACDIS articles
  • A how-to on saving articles for later on the ACDIS website
  • A how-to on registering for ACDIS Radio
• CDI Tips and Q&As:
  
  • A Q&A from Boot Camp Instructor Laurie Prescott, RN, MSN, CCDS, CRC, on coding chronic kidney disease, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus
  • A Q&A about denials management teams from the Revenue Cycle Advisor
  • A tip of diversifying education to keep staff engaged from one of our e-learning experts, Amanda Southworth
  • Some tips for improving CDI-physician relationships from the Nurse Leader Insider
• ACDIS Symposium: Outpatient CDI previews:
  
  • A Q&A with Yvonne Whitley, RN, BSN, CRCC, CPC, CRC, about ambulatory CDI
• Guest Posts:
  
  • A two-part series of articles from James Kennedy, MD, CCS, CDIP, on altered mental status in ICD-10 (part two can be accessed here)
  • A two-part series of articles from Crystal Stalter, CPC, CCS-P, CDIP, on CDI and natural language processing (part two can be accessed here)
  • A guest post from Jocelyn E. Murray, RN, CCDS, about embracing the changes in CDI
  • A two-part series of articles from Richard Pinson, MD, FACP, CCS, and Cynthia Tang, RHIA, CCS, about clinical validation (part two can be accessed here)
• Summer reading:
  
  • A book excerpt in a two-part series from Elizabeth Lamkin, MHA, ACHE, about CDI and coding standards and revenue cycle (the second part will be available on September 1)

Editor’s note: To learn how to subscribe to the blog, click here. To visit the blog homepage, click here.

Fall is one of the busiest times for ACDIS’ many local chapters. With school starting again, it seems the educational CDI events are keeping stride with those back-to-school schedules.

In order to keep ACDIS’ event information up-to-date on the chapter pages and help get the word out, please remember to keep ACDIS in the loop as you plan your next great event.

Once you have an event in the works, please send the following information to Melissa Varnavas (mvarnavas@acdis.org) and Linnea Archibald (larchibald@acdis.org):

• The date and time of your event
• The event location
• The contact person and email for your event (should be one of the principal local chapter leadership team)
• The type of meeting (e.g. quarterly; if applicable)
• Any relevant agenda items and speaker information to include (e.g., Halloween theme, etc.)
• CEU information (if applicable)

If you do plan to offer CCDS continuing education credits, remember to send in the application and relevant information to Penny Richards (prichards@acdis.org) at least 30 days in advance of the event. Please also CC Linnea Archibald on all CEU application emails. To download the Local Chapter CEU application, click here.

ACDIS wants to help you publicize the events you worked so hard to plan, but we need your help. Please remember, when in doubt, communicate. We’d love to hear from you!

The following is a list of upcoming events for ACDIS local chapters. If you have an upcoming event you would like to include, please email Melissa Varnavas and Linnea Archibald.  

September:

• The Pediatric ACDIS Chapter meets Thursday, September 7, 3-4:30 p.m., via WebEx. For information, contact Leah Savage (leah.savage@nortonhealthcare.org).
• The Connecticut ACDIS Chapter meets Thursday, September 14, 1:30-3 p.m., at the Hospital of Central Connecticut in New Britain. For information, email napolitanonancy@hotmail.com.
• The New York City/Five Boroughs ACDIS Chapter meets Thursday, September 14, 5-7:30 p.m., at NYU Langone Medical Center. For information, contact nyc5b.acdis@gmail.com.
• The California ACDIS Chapter holds its third-annual conference Friday, September 15, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., at Torrance Memorial Medical Center. To register, click here. For information, contact Rani V. Stoddard (stoddardrv@henrymayo.com).
• The Alabama ACDIS Chapter holds an all-day fall event on Friday, September 15, 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., at Baptist Shelby in Alabaster. For information, contact Jeffrey Morris (jwmorris@health.southalabama.edu).
• The Indiana and Kentucky ACDIS Chapters hold a meeting on Friday, September 15, 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., at Ivy Tech Conference Center in Indianapolis, Indiana. For information, contact Leigh Wolff (lwolff@beaconhealthsystem.org).
• The Central New York ACDIS chapter meets Friday, September 22, 2-4 p.m., at SUNY Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse. For information, contact Dawn Burr (dawnburr@crouse.org).
• The next Colorado ACDIS chapter meeting will be Thursday, September 28, 4-6 p.m., at Good Samaritan Hospital in Lafayette. For information, email Rita.Kolberg@sclhs.net.
• The Maine ACDIS Chapter holds its next meeting on Friday, September 29, 12-4 p.m., at Maine General's Alfond Center for Health, conference room 2, in Augusta. For information, contact Valerie Parent (vparent@emhs.org) and Denise Worcester (denise.worcester@mainegeneral.org).

October:

• The South Carolina ACDIS Chapter meets on Friday, October 6, 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., at AnMed Health in Anderson. For information, contact Karen Bridgeman (bridgema@musc.edu) or any other member of the chapter's leadership team.
• The Westchester/Hudson Valley ACDIS Chapter meets Thursday, October 12, 2017, 2-4 p.m., at St. Luke's Cornwell Hospital-Newburgh campus in the Drake Conference Room. Please RSVP by Friday, September 22. For information and to RSVP, contact Kerry Seekircher (kseekircher@northwell.edu).
• Missouri’s three ACDIS local chapters join for a full-day conference event on Saturday, October 14, at the University of Kansas Hospital. To register, click here. For information, contact Michael McKelvey (michael.mckelvey@bjc.org).
• The Oregon ACDIS Chapter holds its fall conference on Friday, October 20, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the McMinnville Grand Ballroom in McMinnville. For information, contact Molly Siebert (msiebert@lhs.org).

November:

• The Kentucky ACDIS Chapter meets on Thursday, November 2, 1-4 p.m., at Norton Audubon Hospital in Louisville. For information, contact Leah Savage (leah.savage@nortonhealthcare.org).
• The North Carolina ACDIS Chapter holds its fall conference with Carolinas Healthcare System Northeast on Friday, November 10. For information, contact Linda Rhodes (Linda.Rhodes@nhrmc.org).

December:

• The Maine ACDIS Chapter holds a meeting on Friday, December 1, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor. For information, contact Valerie Parent (vparent@emhs.org).

Save-the-date:

• The Kentucky ACDIS Chapter meets on Thursday, February 1, 2018, 1-4 p.m., at Hardin Memorial Hospital in Elizabethtown. For information, contact Leah Savage (leah.savage@nortonhealthcare.org).

Last week’s Talk10Tuesday podcast featured one of ACDIS’ own members, Tracy Boldt, RN, BSN, CCDS, CDIP, for a chat about outpatient CDI. Boldt is the system manager of CDI at Essentia Health, an integrated health system serving patients in Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, and Idaho, and helped to rollout their outpatient CDI program in July 2017.

Before even starting the outpatient program, Boldt suggests doing some research to prove your expansion is worth the trouble. “We did a full gap analysis on between 200 and 400 accounts to find any evidence that we had either coding issues or actual documentation issues,” she said on the program.

The results, according to Boldt, won’t be surprising to anyone venturing into outpatient CDI. Some of their areas for improvement were:

• Amputations
• Morbid obesity
• Diabetes with complications
• Cancer
• Cerebral palsy in the pediatric population

After the gap analysis was completed, Boldt said, the CDI team at Essentia spent time shadowing the providers. This was to gauge the need for CDI specialists’ help in the various service lines and measure the providers’ knowledge of CDI concerns.

From there, the Essentia team began educating the providers identified as needing CDI input. This was, and is, a big task, Boldt said on the program. There are currently four outpatient CDI specialists reviewing more than 500 charts each week.

“What we ended up doing was identifying some RNs at the clinics and doing time-studies to figure out if they could fit a little more into their schedules. Now, they work alongside the CDI-coders and the CDI-RNs,” Boldt said.

By employing CDI specialists from both coding and clinical backgrounds, Essentia plays to everyone’s strengths, Boldt said. “The coders keep a spreadsheet of all the patients they see and the RNs go in and take care of the clinical piece,” she said.

Though Essentia’s outpatient CDI program is fairly new, Boldt said she’s optimistic of what they can accomplish. “We’ve had some hurtles along the way, but all-in-all, we have a great program going,” she said.

Editor’s note: To listen to the Talk10Tuesday episode from August 29, click here. To read the May/June issue of the CDI Journal focused on CDI expansion, click here. To listen to a recent episode of ACDIS Radio focused on outpatient CDI, click here.

CMS released a new Program for Evaluating Payment Patterns Electronic Report (PEPPER) with statistics from the second quarter fiscal year (FY) 2017 for short-term acute care hospital.

The reports, distributed by TMF Health Quality Institute under contract with CMS, summarize facility-specific data statistics for Medicare services that may be at risk for improper payments. Facilities can then use the data to support internal auditing and monitoring, according to CMS. 

The reports were distributed this week through a QualityNet secure file exchange to hospital QualityNet Administrators and user accounts with the PEPPER recipient role, CMS says.

Each PEPPER release summarizes data statistics from specific hospitals for MS-DRGs and discharges at risk for improper payments.

“If you’re a high outlier on any of the focus areas, you might be receiving improper payments and could be at risk,” said Kurt Hopfensperger, MD, JD, on a June 27 webinar regarding PEPPER. “On the other hand, if you’re a low outlier, you may have an opportunity for improvement, which is where CDI could come in.”

Editor’s note: To learn how other facilities have used their PEPPERs, click here. To read about how best to use PEPPER, click here. For information about using PEPPER to search for CDI targets, click here. To listen to the June 27 webinar, click here. To view a presentation about using PEPPER to revitalize your CDI program, click here.

What happens to physicians who did not meet the qualification thresholds for the advanced Alternative Payment Models (APM) track of MACRA’s Quality Payment Program by August 31? They’ll be placed into the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) for the 2017 performance year and the corresponding 2019 payment year.

To qualify as an advanced APM, according to Modern Healthcare, a group’s participants must use certified EHR technology, pay for covered professional services using quality measures similar to those under MIPS, and the group must be either a medical home model or take on significant risk.

Participants in the program have to receive a certain percentage of their Part B payments or see a certain percentage of patients through an advanced APM. In exchange for this participation, CMS will administer 5% bonus payments in 2019 to successful advanced APM participants, according to Modern Healthcare.

Those who fail to qualify for an advanced APM have to hustle in order to qualify for payments under MIPS, which is running under a new model this year. In this new model, participants are penalized for not submitting anything and rewarded for submitting data, though CMS specified that participants aren’t technically required to submit anything. There will be increasing rewards based on the portion of data reported. 

Editor’s note: To read more about the new quality program updates for the 2017 reporting year, click here. To read about CMS’ resources regarding quality payment programs, click here.

The fiscal year (FY) 2018 IPPS final rule includes updates to payment rates and quality initiatives, but some of the most extensive changes pertain to MS-DRG classifications and relative weights, according to JustCoding.

Most pertinent for CDI, CMS made changes to the classification of the diagnoses of functional quadriplegia and precerebral occlusion or transient ischemic attack (TIA) with the use of a thrombolytic in Major Diagnostic Category (MDC) 1, Diseases and Disorders of the Nervous System, which covers MS-DRGs 020-103.

“There are always DRG reassignments every year, so this is expected,” said Shannon E. McCall, RHIA, CCS, CCS-P, CPC, CPC-I, CEMC, CRC, CCDS, director of HIM and coding at HCPro, an H3.Group division of Simplify Compliance LLC, located in Middleton, Massachusetts. “There may be a few more than normal as CMS is still encountering issues transitioning from ICD-9 to ICD-10, and those maps resulted in inaccurate reimbursement. This could be reflected in a relative weight change or seen as a perceived or real inaccurate DRG assignment.”

The use of updated comparative data from providers will help to create a more accurate DRG assignment for CMS, according to McCall.

“Now that CMS has a full set of ICD-10 data to use for DRG analysis, they will not be using comparisons to how something was coded in ICD-9 going forward,” McCall said. 

This week, we’ll review changes for TIA.

CMS received a request by James S. Kennedy, MD, CCS, CCDS, CDIP, president of CDIMD—Physician Champions in Smyrna, Tennessee, to add the ICD-10-CM codes currently assigned to MS-DRGs 067 and 068 (Nonspecific cerebrovascular accident and precerebral occlusion without infarction), and 069 (Transient ischemia), to the MS-DRG version 35 GROUPER logic for MS-DRGs 061, 062, and 063 (Acute ischemic stroke with use of thrombolytic agent).

CMS noted concerns regarding documentation and quality of the ICD-10-CM-based data for these diagnoses. For example, it was noted that the terms “stroke-in-evolution” and “aborted stroke,” both of which are classified as a cerebral infarction in the ICD-10-CM Index, may be documented as a workaround for a patient exhibiting symptoms of a stroke who receives tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) and has symptom resolution within 24 hours of their onset, resulting in assignment to MS-DRG 061, 062, or 063.

Also, Kennedy said, in cases where the patient’s stroke symptoms completely resolved within 24 hours upon receiving tPA and the patient clinically suffered a precerebral occlusion or transient ischemia, this documentation practice is incorrectly labeling these patients as having had a cerebral infarction and ultimately leading to inaccurate data.

With new ICD-10-CM data present and relative weights shifting, Kennedy said this change is necessary so that hospitals can receive the additional revenue needed to defray the cost of tPA administration due to acute ischemic brain injury when the final result is that a cerebral infarction was prevented by the intervention. 

“Since the inception of the special DRGs for tPA in acute brain ischemia around 2005,” Kennedy said, “additional payments were made only if the principal diagnosis was a cerebral infarction, but not for acute brain ischemia when a cerebral infarction did not occur.”

After reviewing data, CMS proposed to modify the GROUPER logic for MS-DRGs 061, 062, and 063 to better account for the subset of patients who are treated successfully with tPA at the onset of stroke symptoms. New principal diagnosis codes will now include transient ischemic attack and occlusion and stenosis of the various carotid and cerebral arteries, among others. 

CMS also finalized the retitling of MS-DRGs 061, 062, and 063 as Ischemic stroke, precerebral occlusion or transient ischemia with thrombolytic agent with MCC, with CC and without CC/MCC. CMS also retitled MS-DRG 069 as “Transient ischemia without thrombolytic” effective October 1 for the ICD-10 MS-DRGs version 35.

As CMS continues to refine the ICD-10 MS-DRGs for FY 2019 it welcomes feedback on areas where MS-DRGs can be improved. Any comments should be sent to MSDRGClassificationChanges@cms.hhs.gov by November 1.

For more information on the rule, see CMS’ fact sheet. Changes become effective October 1 and the IPPS final rule is slated for publication in the Federal Register on August 14.

Editor’s note: This article was adapted from an article in JustCoding. To read more about the IPPS final rule, click here. See last week’s CDI Strategies for additional information regarding functional quadriplegia changes. To register for a webinar focused on the changes within the final rule, click here.

CMS hopes to pilot a new, hybrid, hospital-wide readmissions measure that would estimate unplanned readmissions by leveraging Medicare claims data and clinical data from within the electronic medical record, according to the fiscal year 2018 IPPS final rule, Modern Healthcare, reported. CMS currently uses only its own claims data to evaluate unplanned readmissions. As it stands, hospitals face millions of dollars in readmission penalties next year and are still required to submit data for multiple quality measures.

The pilot is a precursor for a mandatory change (effective 2021) in hospital readmission penalties but CMS expects few volunteers to help in the pilot program, according to Modern Healthcare. Though the mandatory stage will incur penalties for readmissions, hospitals participating in the pilot program will not be penalized during the voluntary phase.

One potential reason for the low participation in the readmission pilot program could very well be the required metrics, according to Modern Healthcare.

Despite the roadblocks, CMS will need to find ways to entice hospitals to use the new voluntary measures. Without higher participation, the pilot program’s data may not accurately represent the 3,000 hospitals and therefore lead to a flawed quality measure.

Editor’s note: To read more about the 2018 IPPS final rule, click here. To read the 2018 IPPS Fact Sheet, including information on the readmissions programs, click here.

The deadline for speaker submissions for the 2018 ACDIS 11^th Annual Conference has been extended due to the devastation brought by hurricanes Harvey and Irma. The new deadline is September 25. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all who live and work in the affected areas.

The conference will be held May 21-24 in San Antonio, Texas, at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center. Based on the learning needs identified by participants of the successful 2017 ACDIS Conference, several topics have emerged as areas of great interest within the ACDIS community, including two new tracks—outpatient CDI and pediatric CDI. Accepted speakers and co-presenters will have their admission fee waived.

Click here to read a full list of suggested sessions and tracks.

Click here to view and complete the speaker application.

Here are some helpful tips regarding the application process:

1. You will need to create a login for your account and a passcode will be emailed to you.
2. You do not need to complete your application in one sitting. You can save and exit and return to complete the application.
3. You may submit more than one proposal.
4. Only one presentation example may be uploaded per proposal.
5. If you plan on having more than two presenters, please indicate that fact in the synopsis section of the proposal.

We seek speakers to present on all aspects of clinical documentation improvement (CDI). Advanced CDI sessions geared for mature programs are particularly welcome and will receive additional consideration but the 2018 Conference Committee also seeks to meet the needs of those new to the profession and those at an intermediate level. Click here to meet the conference committee volunteers.

CDI and/or HIM/coding professionals typically present at ACDIS, but we also welcome practicing physicians, case management and quality personnel, healthcare auditors, lawyers, and other professionals with a tie to or an interest in CDI.

We look forward to hearing your ideas on making the 2018 the best conference yet!

Editor’s note: To read a list of the tracks and suggested session topics, click here. To listen to an ACDIS Radio show about submitting an application, click here.

A few seats have become available at next week’s ACDIS Symposium: Outpatient CDI in Oak Brook, Illinois. If you’re interested in attending, contact Caison Morisey at 800-650-6787 ext. 8108, cmorisey@hcpro.com or Corey Campbell at 800-650-6787 ext. 8803, ccampbell@hcpro.com.

Every year, ACDIS calls on CDI professionals to participate in its salary survey to gain insight into how those in the field are being compensated for their work and to assess the growth of the roles and requirements related to the industry.

This 27-question survey should take less than five minutes to complete. The results will be shared with the ACDIS membership in a special report published in October.

Thank you for your input!

Many of today’s quality monitoring activities require hospitals to review and validate events that may affect quality measures after the patient is discharged and the medical record is coded.

Through the new One-Minute Matters video, in partnership with Optum360, you’ll learn how taking proactive measures today can ensure the care provided by your organization is captured and translated into the appropriate outcomes.

Just a little over a minute in length, this video is a great, quick resource for CDI specialists’ use themselves or to help explain quality measures and care to other stake holders involved in CDI, such as physicians, coders, and physician advisors.

Editor’s note: To watch the One-Minute Matters video, click here. To learn more about the various quality reporting programs and publically reported quality data, click here.

The following is a list of upcoming events for ACDIS local chapters. If you have an upcoming event you would like to include, please email Melissa Varnavas (mvarnavas@acdis.org) and Linnea Archibald (larchibald@acdis.org).   

September:

• The Connecticut ACDIS Chapter meets Thursday, September 14, 1:30-3 p.m., at the Hospital of Central Connecticut in New Britain. For information, email napolitanonancy@hotmail.com.
• The New York City/Five Boroughs ACDIS Chapter meets Thursday, September 14, 5-7:30 p.m., at NYU Langone Medical Center. For information, contact nyc5b.acdis@gmail.com.
• The California ACDIS Chapter holds its third-annual conference Friday, September 15, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., at Torrance Memorial Medical Center. To register, click here. For information, contact Rani V. Stoddard (stoddardrv@henrymayo.com).
• The Alabama ACDIS Chapter holds an all-day fall event on Friday, September 15, 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., at Baptist Shelby in Alabaster. For information, contact Jeffrey Morris (jwmorris@health.southalabama.edu).
• The Indiana and Kentucky ACDIS Chapters hold a meeting on Friday, September 15, 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., at Ivy Tech Conference Center in Indianapolis, Indiana. For information, contact Leigh Wolff (lwolff@beaconhealthsystem.org).
• The Central New York ACDIS chapter meets Friday, September 22, 2-4 p.m., at SUNY Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse. For information, contact Dawn Burr (dawnburr@crouse.org).
• The next Colorado ACDIS chapter meeting will be Thursday, September 28, 4-6 p.m., at Good Samaritan Hospital in Lafayette. For information, email Rita.Kolberg@sclhs.net.
• The Maine ACDIS Chapter holds its next meeting on Friday, September 29, 12-4 p.m., at Maine General's Alfond Center for Health, conference room 2, in Augusta. For information, contact Valerie Parent (vparent@emhs.org) and Denise Worcester (denise.worcester@mainegeneral.org).

October:

• The South Carolina ACDIS Chapter meets on Friday, October 6, 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., at AnMed Health in Anderson. For information, contact Karen Bridgeman (bridgema@musc.edu) or any other member of the chapter's leadership team.
• The Westchester/Hudson Valley ACDIS Chapter meets Thursday, October 12, 2017, 2-4 p.m., at St. Luke's Cornwell Hospital-Newburgh campus in the Drake Conference Room. Please RSVP by Friday, September 22. For information and to RSVP, contact Kerry Seekircher (kseekircher@northwell.edu).
• Missouri’s three ACDIS local chapters join for a full-day conference event on Saturday, October 14, at the University of Kansas Hospital. To register, click here. For information, contact Michael McKelvey (michael.mckelvey@bjc.org).
• The Oregon ACDIS Chapter holds its fall conference on Friday, October 20, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the McMinnville Grand Ballroom in McMinnville. For information, contact Molly Siebert (msiebert@lhs.org).
• The Virginia ACDIS Chapter meets on Saturday, October 21, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., at Stafford Hospital in Stafford. For information, contact Shelly McBrayer (shelly.mcbrayer@chesapeakeregional.com). 
• The Massachusetts ACDIS Chapter meets on Thursday, October 26, 12-3 p.m., at St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester. Please RSVP by October 13. For information and to RSVP, contact Lara Faustino (lara.faustino@bmc.org).

November:

• The Kentucky ACDIS Chapter meets on Thursday, November 2, 1-4 p.m., at Norton Audubon Hospital in Louisville. For information, contact Leah Savage (leah.savage@nortonhealthcare.org).
• The North Carolina ACDIS Chapter holds its fall conference with Carolinas Healthcare System Northeast on Friday, November 10. For information, contact Linda Rhodes (Linda.Rhodes@nhrmc.org).

December:

• The Maine ACDIS Chapter holds a meeting on Friday, December 1, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor. For information, contact Valerie Parent (vparent@emhs.org).

Save-the-date:

• The Kentucky ACDIS Chapter meets on Thursday, February 1, 2018, 1-4 p.m., at Hardin Memorial Hospital in Elizabethtown. For information, contact Leah Savage (leah.savage@nortonhealthcare.org).