The Expanding Role of Clinical Documentation Improvement Programs in Research and Analytics

The future of clinical documentation improvement (CDI) will require expanding the reach of CDI programs into new areas of expertise because the traditional realms of CDI work are increasingly becoming automated. CDI-based research and analytics can serve as a means for demonstrating continued value to an institution. We present four studies as examples of these efforts. We explored the use of claims data to determine whether a clinical condition meets the criteria for a secondary diagnosis and to evaluate whether a clinical problem should be elevated to the status of a comorbid or complicating condition. We demonstrated a way in which CDI professionals can evaluate the impacts of changes in clinical definitions, and we explored how CDI can work with other institutional programs to decrease length of stay. We believe that these models may serve as a springboard within institutions and among the larger CDI community to make research and analytics a foundation of future CDI activities.