Melinda Battaile, MD, is a physician advisor for Vidant Health, a multi-hospital health system based in Greenville, North Carolina. She became a full-time physician advisor in 2014. Dr. Battaile has a master’s degree in management of clinical informatics from Duke Medical School and is a board-certified, practicing fellow of hospital medicine.

Donald A. Butler, RN, BSN, is the director of the Clinical Documentation Physician Advisor Program at Vidant Health. Butler previously served for eight years implementing and managing the 11-member CDI team at Vidant Medical Center in Greenville, an 860-bed tertiary care center serving the eastern third of North Carolina. Butler served 11 years as a U.S. Navy nurse with a broad variety of clinical and leadership experiences. He was honored as the 2011 CDI Professional of the Year by ACDIS and has served as an ACDIS Advisory Board member.
 

Kristen Gonzalez, MHA, RHIA, is the senior HIM administrator at Vidant Health. She has more than 20 years in the healthcare industry serving as area service manager for a national release of information company and director of HIM for a community hospital. In her current role, she oversees HIM for a large health system, which includes a 900-bed academic medical center, seven community hospitals, and more than 80 physician practices. Gonzalez holds a bachelor’s degree in HIM from East Carolina University and a master’s degree in healthcare administration from UNC Chapel Hill. She is an active member of AHIMA.
 

Debbie Martin, MSN, RN, has been a nurse for more than 30 years in various settings of critical care, occupational health, clinical information analytics, and CDI, with experience in various levels of healthcare management. Martin is currently the CDI manager at Vidant Health, where she oversees 16 CDI specialists; she is also a member of the facility’s Patient Safety Indicator review committee.

Vaughn M. Matacale, MD, is the director of the physician advisor program for Vidant Health. He began physician advisor training in 2008 and became a full-time advisor in 2013. Currently, he directs a team of full-time physician and ALP advisors to provide DRG validation, coder, and CDI specialist support, and systemwide medical staff education on clinical documentation and its impact on finance and quality. He also served for the last 12 years as a utilization review consultant. Dr. Matacale has more than 12 years’ experience in hospital medicine and continues to practice.
 

Catherine Njeri Njuguna, MS, RDN, LDN, CDE, is the clinical nutrition services department manager for Vidant Medical Center, Vidant Health’s Nutrition Council Chair, and affiliate faculty for Eastern Carolina University’s Department of Family Medicine. She has more than 15 years of experience as a dietitian, with roles including clinical dietitian and diabetes lifestyle coach for the CDC’s National Diabetes Prevention Program. She’s ARAMARK’s South Region peer review coordinator, and served as a past-president and president-elect of Wichita Falls Dietetic Association. Njeri’s experience in strategic initiatives includes leading Vidant’s efforts to educate the clinical nutrition team, providers, and clinical documentation specialists using the ASPEN/AND malnutrition guidelines.