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Nuance in Healthcare Podcasts: Episode 5


The impact of CDI on the patient story with Angie Curry

Episode 5

Angie Curry’s role as a Client Services Manager at Nuance allows her to work closely with hospital staff to help them navigate and utilize their CDI program effectively and identify opportunities for improvement.

Her career began as an RN and nurse educator, and her interest in management eventually led her to explore a role with Nuance. Since then, she has worked as a Regional CDI Director and now as a Client Services Manager for Nuance. She has also been elected to the board of the Association of Clinical Documentation Improvement Specialists (ACDIS).

6:14 “In the beginning, I think one of the most difficult pieces for me was to wrap my head around how I was using my clinical expertise to assist the patient... transitioning away from patient care, it’s difficult to see how you’re still making that impact.”

She shares how understanding the importance of CDI for creating accurate medical records and bridging the gap between providers and technology through education have shown her the diverse ways she is still making this happen with her work at Nuance.

Episode summary

Advice for professionals working in CDI

Angie emphasizes that it takes at least 12 months for a nurse or administration professional to gain the range of experience to feel comfortable and confident in their role working in CDI. Understanding the coding rules and regulations is often where there is a learning curve, so investing the time and educating yourself as much as possible are crucial to feeling prepared. She recommends taking advantage of educational resources like podcasts and looking into how the American Health Information Management (AHIMA) and ACDIS materials can support your knowledge.

12:17 “If someone offers you the opportunity to participate in a journal article or a webcast where you can really talk about what you’ve done with your program or have some open dialogue about a current thing going on in the industry, you really should push yourself to do that... You never know what kind of opportunities will come your way once you receive that exposure.”

How CDI impacts hospitals and providers

A CDI program impacts a hospital financially because it allows them to be more efficient and bring more dollars in the door.

17:30 “But the other thing we’re starting to see now, which I think is a bigger focus of CDI in the current state is risk adjustment, mortality adjustment, quality indicators. So, there are so many other things that are impacting the reimbursement of the hospital or the ability of the hospital to keep their doors open that the world of documentation has almost evolved to be more complex.”

Physicians need to know how to communicate their patient’s status medically and clinically but also for billing and coding purposes. However, they are often never taught how the language they use in patient visits translates to the coding of the medical records.

This is where CDI can help. Determining what the level of understanding is with providers on how to communicate and use the correct words is crucial. The language a provider uses can impact how sick their patients appear on their medical records, the physician’s complication percentage, and other different performance indicators.

26:12 “The goal of every CDI department should be at the end of the day the most accurate medical record we can give the patient... If we all focus on that, at the end of the day, we’ll have less denials, less benchmarking we need to meet.”