By Brian Murphy

Outpatient CDI has been compared to the “wild west,” and with good reason. It reminds me very much of what the old days of this country were like, when there were wide open frontiers to be explored, gold to be mined, land to be claimed, and a mad rush to get started.

But in the wild west there were hazards and pitfalls, too: Starvation, exposure to the elements, clashes with native Americans, and encounters with dangerous animals. Outpatient CDI might not be as hazardous as California in the days of the gold rush, but it too is fraught with difficulties. These include a lack of focus (what are your metrics for success?), a lack of a coherent workflow, and CDI specialists being asked to do more with the same, limited resources.