While many hospitals have been steadfast at developing and refining inpatient clinical documentation improvement (CDI) programs, the implementation of outpatient CDI initiatives seems to be an afterthought at times. However, there appears to be a shift in that line of thinking.
For example, at a session during the 2011 Association of Clinical Documentation Improvement Specialists annual conference, the question was posed about whether outpatient CDI was “the new frontier.” Presenter Caroline Rader, an associate director with Navigant Consulting’s healthcare practice, pointed out that the demand for outpatient CDI should increase as regulatory and payer scrutiny of outpatient services intensifies and the volume of those services grows.