Track 1: Clinical & Coding: The much-loved Clinical & Coding track is one of the most-well attended at the annual ACDIS conference. Session speakers provide insight into both the clinical and coding nuances which serve as the bedrock of CDI specialists’ daily duties of concurrent record review. This track also features sessions exploring key coding and documentation regulations.

Track 2: Management & Professional Development: NEW! In the early years of the CDI profession, staff members were often left to their own devices to “figure out” CDI and develop program policies, procedures, and best practices. Today, facilities often employ directors, managers, and create career ladders for their staff. This track focuses on concerns pertaining to program management and individual professional development, so attendees can make the most of their programs and their careers.

Track 3: Quality & Regulatory: As the largest payer of healthcare services, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services consistently adjusts its documentation and payment requirements to ensure its fiduciary duties to the American taxpayer while maintaining the highest quality care possible for its citizenry. CDI professionals need to stay informed about the ongoing shifts in quality reporting measures to understand how documentation improvement efforts may affect the data used for a host of various quality measures. In this track, CDI professionals will learn about coding and reporting requirements, advanced efforts in quality and cross-departmental collaboration, as well as ethical considerations to keep staff on the right side of compliance.

Track 4: Innovation & Expansion: CDI programs continue to find ways to help their facilities target trouble spots and improve outcomes through focused documentation improvement and physician education. In this track, attendees will explore cutting edge advancements such as concurrent coding, second-level chart reviews, data analytics, remote CDI, and more.

Track 5: Idea Laboratory: NEW! The presentation submissions for the 2019 conference included a number of innovative ideas describing ways clinical documentation improvement programs are branching out, collaborating with other departments, conducting academic research, and searching for ways to better capture patient severity beyond hospital walls. ACDIS devotes Track 5 to these sessions combining speakers on similar topics to ensure attendees get a wide-range of viewpoints on cutting-edge CDI ideas.

Track 6: Outpatient & Pediatric: NEW! As the world of CDI continues to expand into distinct settings, ACDIS devotes this educational track to two specific area of expansion—outpatient and pediatric endeavors. Whether charged with expanding your CDI efforts from the traditional inpatient setting to hospital-owned outpatient services or system-wide physician practice settings, this track offers attendees a glimpse into how to rise to the challenges related outpatient record reviews. Similarly, children’s hospitals and hospital-owned pediatric centers will learn valuable tips for embarking on these reviews and for enhancing their existing programs.