Seminars

Final 2010 conference layout
Two general sessions and 18 breakouts—total 20 sessions, plus Q&A panel

Track listings
Track 1: Clinical chart review
Track 2: Program management
Track 3: New initiatives and ideas

Day One—Thursday, June 3
7-8: Registration and breakfast
8-9: Keynote Address: Momentum Leadership: Using Momentum to Maximize Your Leadership Potential
Kathy Pagana
9:10-15: General session
CDI hot topic
Catherine O’Leary, RN, BSN
10:15-10:45: Networking break in exhibit hall
10:45-12:00: Breakout sessions (choose one of three)
Track 1: Clinical potpourri: A review of problematic diagnoses
William Haik, MD
Every day, CDI specialists have to sift through medical records and make sense of complex diagnoses, many of which are documented in "physician speak." Taught by a physician, this session will provide a brief, quick-hitting overview—no more and no less than what you need to know—to recognize and clarify the following diagnoses:

• Respiratory failure
• Types of pneumonia
• Sepsis
• Acute blood loss anemia
• Acute renal failure vs. acute renal injury
• Decubitus ulcer staging
• Malnutrition

Track 2: Best practices for managing CDI staff across multiple campuses
Lena Wilson, RHIA, CCS
Clarian Health in Indianapolis has a CDI program that spans six campuses across the state of Indiana. This has created several challenges, especially taking into consideration the economy and having eight employees to handle this workload. This session will cover:

• Overview of Clarian Health’s CDI program
• Challenges of managing multiple facility types
• Best practices for managing CDI staff in large and smaller facilities

Track 3: Inpatient Medicare Advantage: HCC capture through CDI
Gloryanne Bryant, RHIA, CCS, CCDS
Understanding the inpatient payment methodology under Medicare Managed Care is often left out of CDI and even the HIM world. This session will provide insight into the documentation and coding aspects of Medicare Advantage (MA) and information about the payment methodology. This session will cover:

• Overview of Hierarchical Condition Categories (HCCs) and payment
• Similarities and differences between MS-DRGs and HCCs
• Documentation and coding issues
• Incorporating MA into your CDI program and processes

12-1:30: Networking lunch and awards ceremony
1:30-2:30: Breakout sessions (choose one of three)
Track 1: CDI hot topic
Robert Gold, MD
Track 2: Understanding the role of process mapping in clinical documentation improvement
Darice Grzybowski, MA, RHIA, FAHIMA; John Trusten
Process mapping provides a unique new approach for facilities to evaluate their current CDI program against industry best practices and improve their performance. While focusing on roles and processes that impact CDI from an HIM perspective, this session will provide a case study example from a client site to help organizations understand the importance of establishing an effective CDI program and how to manage a program through the use of analytic data metrics. This session will cover:

• Process/performance mapping: Getting started
• How process/performance mapping can be used to make CDI programs more effective
• Tackling key organizational change management points to make CDI programs more effective
• Business metrics – how ongoing data collection is critical to CDI success

Track 3: A case study approach for adapting the EHR to CDI
Michelle Callahan, BSN, RN, CCDS; Katie Miller, RHIA, MA
As a program that was created in the paper medical record world, Hennepin County Medical Center’s program was dramatically impacted with the transition to a full electronic medical record in 2007. Two speakers will share their insight into the successes and challenges that face CDI programs during EHR conversion. This session will cover:

• Defining the team
• Managing and delivering expectations
• Managing change and fostering interpersonal relationships
  • Physician
  • CDS
  • Organizational
• Defining success
• Avoiding the common pitfalls

2:30-3: Networking break in exhibit hall
3-4: Breakout sessions (choose one of three)
Track 1: CDI and the ED: Understand physician thinking to conquer documentation challenges
Pamela P. Bensen, MD, MS, FACEP
Emergency department (ED) notes are among the most critical part of the medical record, as they help establish diagnoses that are carried throughout the patient’s stay. But they are frequently neglected or incomplete. Presented by a physician with more than 30 years of practice in emergency medicine, this session will cover:

• Common ED roadblocks and challenges
• Understanding physician thinking patterns
• Problematic ED diagnoses
  • CHF
  • PNA
  • AMS
  • SIRS
  • Acute renal failiure
  • Acute respiratory failure
  • Acute blood loss anemia
• Physician education strategies and query opportunities

Track 2: From the bedside to the business side of CDI
Natalie Leagan, RN, BSN, CCDS
Documentation is the key to unlocking opportunity throughout your organization. As difficult as these changing times are, the CDI specialist is in a unique position to impact multiple areas of risk within an organization – inpatient and outpatient, compliance, reimbursements, data quality, and more—through improved documentation. This session includes the following:

• Introduction to the concepts of revenue cycle – "Revenue Cycle 101"
• Identify how CDI can support and impact various aspects of revenue cycle
• Examine the impact of increased scrutiny by regulatory agencies and the impact on the hospital’s finances
• Explore how the data quality which is derived from improved documentation can affect the bottom line for providers
• Discuss the risk of noncompliance as it relates to the financial security of an organization.
• Patient care and advocacy with a business perspective.
• On becoming the "expert" – how to position yourself and your career for a move to "The Business Side"

Track 3: Bridging the CDI gap: Bringing the clinical/coding reconciliation process together
Lynne Spryszak, RN, CCDS, CPC-A; Margi Brown, RHIA, CCS, CCS-P, CPC, CCDS
Viewing the medical record with different lenses results in differing conclusions, resulting in a reconciliation gap. This session will cover CDI program set-up strategies, the process of MS-DRG assignment through the working DRG to the final reconciliation process, and some steps for improvement along the way. This session includes:
Starting off on the right foot

• How to structure a program and get the support necessary for a successful and sustainable program
• Structuring the program with a blended model: RN and HIM as partners
• Understanding how we see the medical record differently
• Comprehensive approach

Starting the program and incorporating the "interdepartmental" involvement: CM, quality, core measures, departments

• Learning about the "driver"
• The driver = the running principal diagnosis
• How clinical people can easily keep the "driver" in mind without becoming coders

Tightening the reconciliation process

• The evolvement of the admitting DRG to the working DRG to the final DRG
• Developing and maintaining the full circle program

Day Two—Friday, June 4
7-8: Breakfast
8-9: General session: Gray areas in CDI: Negotiating the relationship
James S. Kennedy, MD, CCS
ICD-9-CM requires a cooperative relationship between the provider and the coder in the definition, diagnosis, documentation, delineation, and defense of the patient conditions and treatments affecting the final ICD-9-CM coded output. As CDI specialists work to bridge the gap, recognition and negotiation of troublesome areas will occur. This session addresses the more current dilemmas, such as:

• Principal diagnosis selection – what matters?  Is it the circumstances of admission, the diagnostic approach, or the treatment rendered?
• Uncertain diagnoses – do they really have to be documented at the time of discharge in order to be coded?
• Disease definitions –How do CDI and coding professionals become clinically savvy?
• To what extent can a licensed clinician lead to a specific diagnosis when discussing a CDI-pertinent case with a documenting physician?
• Complications – those pesky 900 codes that pay now but pay back later
• Current Coding Clinic and DRG controversies – A good lawyer know the law; the best knows the law, the judge, and the jury
• Disruptive physicians and pseudo-accountability – their role in clinical documentation quality

9-10:15 Breakout sessions (choose one of three)
Track 1: Best practices at University of Washington Medical Center: Care documentation as a clinical process
Mel Tully MSN, CCDS; Holly Flynn RN, CCRN
With an unprecedented strain on the federal budget, Congress identified mechanisms to maintain Medicare’s viability. After a series of demonstration projects, Value Based Purchasing (VBP) is moving forward. At the University of Washington Medical Center (UWMC), patient safety, quality, and clinical documentation improvement have been priorities for many years, but recently, UWMC made it a further priority to more fully integrate RN documentation specialists into the clinical team as the hospital moved to improve diagnosis clarification using an electronic health record. The presentation will cover:

• An in-depth case study of UWMC’s development of an expert level CDI program resulting in a comprehensive, clinically integrated, collaborative model, improving patient outcomes and reflecting accurate severity of illness
• How UWMC transitioned to a fully electronic EHR, optimizing the EHR to  clarify diagnoses and obtain authentication by treating physicians
• The development of collaborative partnerships with the physicians, coders and others to identify improvement opportunities
• How UWMC has achieved a real improvement in quality and patient safety by incorporating care documentation as a clinical process (e.g. expected and observed mortality ratios demonstrate less mortality than expected), in addition to real increases in their case mix index

Track 2: Catch them and hold them: A CSI approach to documentation education
Monica Dancu, RN, BSN; Sylvia Hoffman, RN
Doctors are bombarded with information on a daily basis. This session will provide new and dynamic ideas for using MS PowerPoint presentations to educate your physicians/providers as well as tips for capturing the attention of your audience and increasing their "buy in". The session will include:

• Innovative approaches for making physician contact
• Getting and keeping physician interest
• Creating a win- win situation--How to get buy-in
• Using Q&A sessions to create competitive learning atmosphere
• Tips and tools that work

Track 3: Creating a point of entry CDI specialist/case manager
Kathleen A. Bower, DNSc, RN, FAAN, CMAC; Arinda F. Kennedy, RN, CCDS
A plethora of CMS initiatives (RAC, MAC, MIC, ZPIC, etc.) is causing a shift from inpatient admissions to outpatient observation and denying admissions outright.  A point of entry CDI specialist/case manager is the key to success in reversing the increasing trend of denials. This session will include the following:

• Evaluating the current regulatory environment
• Developing a point of entry CDI specialists/case manager
• Conducting a comprehensive and detailed review of patients at each point of entry
• Querying physicians for documentation to support level of care designation and stimulate more extensive diagnostics

10:15-10:45: Networking break in exhibit hall
10:45-12: Breakout sessions (choose one of three)
Track 1: The power of case studies: Death review and SOI/ROM
Cheryl Ericson, MS, RN
Case studies can be used to increase the proficiency of the CDI staff as well as to elicit the cooperation of the medical staff. Learn how one facility used this approach to develop an effective, comprehensive review of its death charts to dramatically improve its severity of illness (SOI)/risk of mortality (ROM) scores. This session will cover:

• The importance of defining the mission of a CDI program i.e., quality of documentation or reimbursement focus
• What type of reviews work well as case studies and how to widen the focus
• Improving SOI/ROM on death records – initial steps and broadening the patient population
• Areas of opportunity in death charts
• The benefits of case studies to the CDI staff, i.e., learning physician speak
• Samples of presentations to MUSC medical staff – helping the medical staff make the connection between their documentation and how it represents their care
• Metrics and processes impacted by effective case studies

Track 2: Physician champions to CDI: Developing the role and achieving medical staff compliance
Trey La Charité, MD; Richard S. Eisenstaedt, MD, FACP
Led by two physician champions at their respective facilities, this session will include laying the groundwork for a physician champion to CDI, including identifying appropriate candidates, training, and maximizing their effectiveness. This session will also describe techniques developed and implemented by a physician advisor to obtain sustained physician buy-in at a 500-bed, academic medical center. This session will include:

• Description of initial and continuing medical staff education presentations emphasizing the necessity and importance of improved documentation in the medical record.
• Promotion of the CDI program as a team effort between all participants for the purpose of collaboratively producing new ideas that maintain program success.
• Generation and implementation of CDI compliance tools including "Shame!", "The Blitz", and various maneuvers around the chronically noncompliant service-lines to obtain needed results.

Track 3: CDI and the RAC: Lessons learned from the demonstration and an update on the permanent program
Ann-Marie Carducci, RN, MPA, CCS, CPC, CPUR, CPHQ
Presented by a facility with first-hand experience of the Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) program during its demonstration phase, this session will cover:

• Key points on preparing for RAC and how to prevent recoupments
• RAC focus areas and the implications for CDI programs
• Recommendations for a RAC team
• Key points for the appeals process of RAC recoupments

12-1:30: Lunch (poster sessions)
1:30-2:30 Breakout sessions (choose one of three)
Track 1: Risk adjustment methodology for Medicare’s outcome indicators
Kristen Geissler, MS, PT, MBA, CPHQ
Several of the measures included in Medicare’s ‘pay-to-report’ program –30-day mortality, 30-day readmission, and selected AHRQ Patient Safety Indicators – use risk adjustment methodology to account for differences in the severity of illness of patients across different hospitals. This session will teach CDI specialists how to query physicians for secondary conditions that may more accurately reflect the severity of the patient and potentially improve outcome measure rates. Topics covered will include:

• Risk adjustment concept – expected versus actual performance
• Specific inclusions and exclusions for Medicare’s 30-day mortality and 30-day readmission measures
• Role of the POA indicator and the importance of its accuracy in risk adjustment
• Various secondary conditions which impact each of the mortality measures, such as renal failure, pneumonia, and dementia
• Query opportunities for the clinical documentation specialist to impact risk adjustment

Track 2: Data mining and reports: Using data to drive your CDI program
Nancy Rae Ignatowicz, RN, MBA
Physicians and financial executives are data driven, and most CDI departments would like to be as well, but shortages of time and/or staff present formidable blockades. Increasingly, CDI specialists are asked to do more without increasing staff or changing productivity and financial targets. Learn you too can be data driven with your limited resources to promote change. This session will show you how can use data to:

• Identify missed opportunities
• Direct CDI staff education
• Evaluate CDI staff on productivity
• Direct provider education
• Evaluate provider performance

Track 3: "Bring CDI to your emergency department STAT!" Implementing a CDI program in an outpatient setting
Laurie Cianfrini, RN
CDI programs have traditionally focused on inpatients. Using a case study approach, this session will demonstrate the positive impact a focused CDI program had on the outpatient ED setting of Buffalo, NY-based Kaleida Health. This session will include:

• Documentation improvement facility E/M coding and charge capture
• RN documentation: Compliance vs. revenue
• Bridging the gap between clinical, coding, and clerical staff
• Evolution of CDI based upon changes in site policy, CMS, and Joint Commission guidelines

2:30-3:30 Q&A Panel Discussion
3:30 Adjourn

Learning objectives
At the conclusion of the program, participants will be able to:

• Develop strategies to improve physician participation in CDI programs
• Create a plan to ensure Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) preparedness through CDI
• Construct optimal techniques for medical record review and appropriate queries in traditional and severity of illness-based CDI programs
• Modify existing CDI programs to include outpatient review and electronic health records processes
• Apply greater clinical knowledge of complex diagnoses and conditions to strengthen physician queries
• Use data mining and reporting in your CDI program
• Explain how CDI specialists can assist with documentation under Medicare Advantage and risk-adjusted payment methodologies
• Develop policies for integrating physician champions and HIM/coding staff into CDI programs

Who should attend:

• CDI specialists
• CDI managers/directors
• Coding compliance directors/managers
• HIM directors
• Coding compliance specialists
• DRG coordinators
• Inpatient coders
• Coding managers/supervisors
• Case management directors/managers
• Revenue cycle directors
• Physician champions/advisors to CDI
• Quality improvement professionals

Pamela P. Bensen MD, MS, FACEP

Dr. Bensen is CEO of Medical Education Programs, Inc. Bensen has practiced emergency medicine since 1971, taught severity of illness documentation to physicians for 28 years, and has spent almost four decades consulting on ED administration, performance improvement for patient care, patient flow, risk management, compliance, CPT and DRG coding, EMTALA, and HIPAA.

Kathleen A. Bower DNSc, RN, FAAN, CMAC

Ms. Bower is principal and co-owner of The Center for Case Management, Inc. Bower was a member of the team that invented clinical paths and provider based case management at New England Medical Center (Boston). She has provided education and consultation on a national and international basis regarding patient care management strategies, including clinical paths, case management, patient outcomes and critical indicators, management skills, and documentation redesign.

Margi Brown RHIA, CCS, CCS-P, CPC
Director of Corporate HIM Coding Quality and Education

Ms. Brown has worked as a consultant with Precyse Solutions, FTI, DCBA, and has implemented or enhanced CDI programs in large and small hospital systems. Her hands-on experience of more than 25 years covers a wide range of HIM issues in a variety of settings. She specializes in CDI; inpatient, outpatient, and physician audits and education; denials management; and other HIM activities for hospitals, clinics, third party payers, and law firms.

Gloryanne Bryant BS, RHIA, RHIT, CCS
Corporate Senior Director of Coding HIM Compliance

Ms. Bryant has more than 28 years experience in the health information management (HIM) profession and is the Regional Managing HIM Director for Kaiser Foundation and Hospitals (N. California). In her new role at Kaiser, Gloryanne has responsibility for the hospital and professional fee coding, documentation improvement, and HIM operations for 21 acute care facilities. She is an ACDIS board member and assisted in the development of the new Certified Clinical Documentation Specialist (CCDS) credential.

Michelle Callahan BSN, RN, CCDS

Ms. Callahan has more than 10 years of acute-care hospital and clinic nursing experience in a variety of clinical specialties ranging from neurology/neurosurgery and cystic fibrosis to OB/post-partum. She has been working in CDI since 2005, when, as a clinical documentation specialist, she helped to pioneer the program at Hennepin County Medical Center. She has been the lead/supervisor of the CDIP program at HCMC since February 2008. She has also helped create a local chapter of ACDIS in Minnesota.

Ann-Marie Carducci RN, MPA, CCS, CPC, CPUR, CPHQ

Ms. Carducci has more than 30 years of experience in the nursing profession. She is currently the Director of Utilization Management at Montefiore Medical Center located in Bronx, NY. In this role she is responsible for utilization review, appeals management, documentation improvement and she has a collaborative role in discharge planning. She was the RAC liaison under the CMS RAC demonstration program and she continues as the RAC liaison under the permanent program. Her organization reversed 40%-50% of the complex case recoupments under the RAC demonstration.

Laurie Cianfrini RN

Ms. Cianfrini is the corporate manager of CDI for Kaleida Health in Buffalo, NY, where she manages a staff of 15 employees. In coordination with health information, she developed a point system, compliant with CMS guidelines, for charge capture and appropriate E&M facility charges in the ED, and she is currently working to bridge inpatient and outpatient CDI. She has 16 years of clinical RN experience, including OR, ICU, and ED management.

Monica Dancu RN, BSN

Ms. Dancu is a graduate from the University of Tampa. She has been a nurse at Tampa General Hospital for over 30 years. This has included nurse manager of the Medical ICU and Adult Step Down Unit. She had an article published in the Nursing Spectrum Magazine, "My Nurses Made a Difference". She has been a clinical documentation specialist for 1 ½ years.

Richard Eisenstaedt MD, FACP

Dr. Eisenstaedt is chair of the department of medicine at Abington Memorial Hospital (AMH) and clinical professor of medicine at Temple University. He has more than 30 years of experience as a medical educator, primary care internist and hospitalist, with leadership roles in such process improvement and safety initiatives as acute infarct angioplasty, surviving sepsis, rapid response team, and CDI, for which he serves as AMH's physician "champion".

Cheryl Ericson MS, RN

Ms. Ericson is the Manager of Clinical Documentation Integrity and Utilization Review at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) in Charleston, South Carolina. She has extensive knowledge of the healthcare revenue cycle, data management, and training. She has worked with professionals who provide healthcare as well as those who authorize healthcare in both the public and private sectors. She has worked within a Medicare and/or federal payment system for more than 10 years including IPPS, Hospice, Ambulatory Care and DME.

Holly Flynn Rn, CCRN

Ms. Flynn has more than 24 years of critical care and leadership experience in Canada and the United States. She is the Manager of the Clinical Documentation Program in the Center of Clinical Excellence at the University of Washington Medical Center.

Kristen Geissler MS, PT, MBA, CPHQ
Associate Director for Navigant Consulting, Inc.

Ms. Geissler is an associate director for Navigant Consulting, Inc. Geissler has more than 15 of years experience in healthcare systems, both in direct patient care and administrative leadership roles. Prior to joining Navigant Consulting she was the director of quality improvement for a nonprofit medical center in Baltimore, MD

Robert S. Gold MD
CEO and Cofounder of DCBA, Inc.

Dr. Gold is CEO and cofounder of DCBA, Inc., a consulting company that provides physician-to-physician programs in clinical documentation improvement for the purposes of properly reflecting disease processes in inpatient and outpatient medical records. He has more than 40 years of experience as a physician, medical director and consultant. A graduate of Hahnemann Medical College in Philadelphia, he trained in general surgery in the U.S. Navy, where he spent his professional career as a practicing surgeon.

Darice Grzybowski MA, RHIA, FAHIMA

Ms. Grzybowski is President of HIMentors, LLC, a health information management consulting firm specializing in HIM, EHR, and revenue cycle processes. Grzybowski has over 25 years experience as a hospital administrator, consultant, strategist, teacher, and sought after speaker and author. Grzybowski has won numerous awards in the HIM field for advancement of computerization of health records and best practice development and has worked with hundreds of health care facilities across the US to improve HIM operations.

William E. Haik MD
Director of DRG Review, Inc.

Dr. Haik is director of DRG Review, Inc., in Fort Walton Beach, FL, where he has practiced medicine since 1980. He has received board certification in internal, pulmonary, and critical care medicine. His coding background has included AHA's editorial advisory board and expert advisory panel of Coding Clinic for ICD-9-CM, as well as participation in the preparation of the original CCS examinations.

Sylvia Hoffman RN

Ms. Hoffman has been a clinical documentation specialist for 2 1/2 years at Tampa General Hospital. She has 15 years of acute care-hospital based experience and 10 years case management experience. She serves as president of the Florida ACDIS regional chapter and is a featured writer for ACDIS Blog.

Nancy Ignatowicz RN, MBA

Ms. Ignatowicz is the System Manager of Clinical Documentation for Provena Health. She has more than 30 years of health care experience including data presentation. In her current role she has operational responsibility for Provena Health's six CDI programs in each of their acute care hospitals across Illinois. She directs a 14 person team of nurse clinical documentation specialists in using data to educate and change processes.

Arinda F. Kennedy RN, CCDS

Ms. Kennedy has been a consulting associate for The Center for Case Management, Inc. (CCM) since 2003. She has more than 20 years experience in ED and ICU nursing and 10 years' experience in performance improvement based in a HIM department where she was cross trained to inpatient coding. In 2002 she researched, designed, and established a CDI program for a large health system in Alabama. She has extensive experience in coding and documentation audits, providing education and training in both CDI and case management redesign on a national level.

James Kennedy MD, CCS

Dr. Kennedy is a director in the FTI Healthcare group of FTI's Corporate Finance practice in Brentwood, TN. His experience includes the private practice of medicine along with successful, entrepreneurial, healthcare-related business startups in the public and private sector. His expertise includes physician and hospital leadership, healthcare systems improvement, healthcare documentation and coding compliance, and government relations.

Terry La Charité MD
Physician Advisor

Dr. La Charité is the physician advisor for the University of Tennessee Medical Center's clinical documentation integrity project. Dr. La Charité completed his internship and residency training in internal medicine at UTMCK and is currently an assistant professor in the department of internal medicine and a hospitalist at UTMCK.

Natalie Leagan RN, BSN, CCDS

Ms. Leagan has 27 years experience in nursing with an extensive clinical background in emergency nursing, critical care air medical transport, and ER case management. Over the past 10 years, she has been an educator, a CDI specialist, and was a senior associate/consultant for a healthcare revenue cycle consulting practice. She is the director of case management at Habersham Medical Center in Demorest and has recently implemented an integrated program which includes case management, documentation, and inpatient/outpatient coding.

Katie Miller RHIA, MA

Ms. Miller has a background that includes records technology manager, electronic health records analyst, and most recently the director of HIM at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, MN. Her work as an EHR analyst during the conversion to the electronic medical record included the build for the electronic query process for the CDI program. Miller was hired as the director of HIM in early 2008 and was tasked with the revitalization of the CDI program.

Catherine O'Leary RN
Managing Director of CSG Health Solutions, LLC

Ms. O'Leary is managing director of CSG Health Solutions, LLC, and is a registered nurse with over 20 years of varied clinical healthcare experience. She has been delivering documentation improvement projects since 1996 and specializes in DRG validation, documentation management, electronic documentation processes, and compliance issues surrounding Part A Medicare. She is the developer and primary instructor for the ACDIS-sponsored CDI Boot Camp.

Lynne Spryszak RN, CCDS, CPC-A
CDI Education Director

Ms. Spryszak is the CDI Education Director for HCPro, Inc., in Marblehead MA. Her areas of expertise include clinical documentation and coding compliance, quality improvement, physician education, leadership and program development.

Prior to joining HCPro, she was a manager with Precyse Solutions, LLC, and a Senior Consultant with FTI Healthcare's Clinical Documentation and Coding Integrity Program, assisting with Clinical Documentation Integrity (CDI) Program implementations. She has several years' experience as the manager of the CDI Program at Alexian Brothers Medical Center, a 400-bed acute care facility.

John (JT) Trusten

Mr. Trusten is the president of John M. Trusten LLC. He has over 30 years in improving business value using a solutions model and unique tools created for business performance mapping and business improvement. He aligns opportunities with business strategy, plans and priorities. His entrepreneurial approach integrating people, products, and processes has created unique ways to exceed business goals and objectives.

Melinda Tully MSN
Senior Vice President of Clinical Services & Education

Ms. Tully is senior vice president of Clinical Services and Education with J. A. Thomas & Associates, Inc. Her previous experience includes administrative and clinical management responsibilities in an acute care academic facility. She is a recognized national speaker for compliance, clinical documentation, and the Hospital Quality Initiative. She provides leadership and education to JATA staff and clients in the areas of CMS compliance, quality, and clinical documentation.

Lena Wilson MHI, RHIA, CCS

Ms. Wilson is the HIM operations manager for Clarian Health in Indianapolis, Indiana. She has been involved in various aspects of CDIP since August 2005. In October 2007, she was named the manager of all CDIP operations. In her current role she manages eight clinical documentation liaisons across six Clarian Health facilities located throughout the state. During her time at Clarian Health, she has also worked with coding quality and auditing and also managed the inpatient coding operations. Wilson obtained her Master's in Health Informatics from Indiana University, where her thesis was based on the impact a CDI program can have on a healthcare facility.

Speakers subject to change.

Continuing education credits will be available for this program. Please check back soon for complete information.

Hyatt Regency Chicago
151 East Wacker Drive | Chicago, IL 60601
312/565-1234
Online Hotel Reservations
Reservations: 888/421-1442

Discounted Room Rate: $184 per night (Deadline: May 4, 2010)

Rooms are available on a first-come, first-served basis and may sell out before the May 4, 2010 cutoff date. Make your hotel reservations immediately to guarantee the rate and availability. Some hotels offer AAA and military discounts. When making your reservation, be sure to ask if this hotel has either of these special rates.

Just off Michigan Avenue in the heart of the Magnificent Mile, the Hyatt Regency Chicago hotel connects you to the city's best shopping, arts, entertainment and nightlife in downtown Chicago. The hotel features several restaurants and lounges including Stetson's Steakhouse, DaddyO's Pub & Piano Bar, Pronto Mama's Italian Kitchen and the "BIG Bar" with beautiful city views. Experience all the Windy City has to offer and visit the theater district, Millennium Park, Lake Michigan's beaches, or the Navy Pier, take in a Cubs game at Wrigley Field, or seek out other culture attractions near Chicago's Loop.

Early Bird Rate (Apr 02, 2010)	$795.00 individual attendee	$3,180.00 team of five
Regular Rate	$895.00 individual attendee	$3,580.00 team of five
ACDIS Member Early Bird Rate (Apr 02, 2010)	$695.00 individual attendee	$2,780.00 team of five
ACDIS Member Regular Rate	$795.00 individual attendee	$3,180.00 team of five

1. Cancellations received by HCPro, Inc. 30 days or more prior to the seminar are eligible for a credit or refund, less a $250 cancellation fee. The credit will be valid for up to 6 months from date of cancellation.
2. Cancellations made 30 to 10 days prior to the seminar date(s) are not eligible for refunds but are eligible for payment transfer (credit) to another HCPro, Inc. seminar, less a $250 cancellation fee. The credit will be valid for up to 6 months from date of cancellation.
3. Participant(s) who cancel less than 10 days prior to the seminar date(s) will be considered as "no shows" and will not be eligible for refunds/credits.

This policy is subject to change.

SPONSORS

PLATINUM SPONSOR

ChartWise Medical Systems

ChartWise:CDI makes the clinical documentation process more streamlined and accurate, maximizing reimbursement and mitigating risk. It helps translate the physician's clinical language to diagnostic terms, giving the CDS better information from the start, making communication more efficient, saving time and cutting down on sticky notes, e-mails and phone calls.

GOLD SPONSORS

3M

3M Health Information Systems delivers comprehensive software and consulting services to help organizations improve performance across the healthcare continuum. 3M offers integrated solutions for transcription, speech recognition, clinical documentation improvement, document management, computer-assisted coding, quality, and revenue cycle management, effectively meeting the industry’s changing needs.

 

DCBA

DCBA, a physician-owned healthcare consulting firm, specializes in clinical documentation improvement and coding compliance with a commitment to revenue integrity.  Through peer-to-peer targeted education, we teach physicians, documentation specialists and coding professionals how to appropriately reflect the level of severity and complexity of the patients they treat. 

EXHIBITORS

MetaHealth

Meta Health Technology is a full-service provider of health information management solutions for hospitals, physician group practices and long-term care facilities. Our software automates critical functions, including clinical documentation improvement, physician query, abstracting and coding, RAC management, chart analysis and completion, release of information, chart tracking, electronic signature, document management, reporting and compliance, and department management.

Click here to download the 2010 Exhibitor Application

Click here to download the 2010 Exhibitor Prospectus

Exhibits and sponsorships are the most direct and cost-effective way to make your products and services visible to the people who matter most—those with buying power. For information about exhibit and sponsorship opportunities for any HCPro seminar or conference, call 877/233-8828 or email info@hcpro.com.