How Clinical Documentation Improvement Impacts Patient Safety, Quality and the Bottom Line

Tony Oliva, DO, Chief Medical Officer, Nuance, and Shane Wolverton, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development, CareChex.  Evidence clearly shows the value of implementing Clinical Documentation Improvement (CDI) to improve Case Mix Index (CMI), but can it positively impact patient safety and care quality metrics – in a quantifiable, persistent way?  An in-depth look at clinical quality outcomes data pre- and post-CDI implementation provides insight into the value of measuring your clinical documentation improvement efforts impact on overall quality ratings including expected mortality and inpatient quality indicators.  Dr. Oliva and Shane discuss: How metrics – especially observed/expected mortality ratios – directly correlate to improved financial performance; how quality metrics, impacting mortality, patient safety, in-patient quality and even surgical complications can be more impactful than a change in CMI; why it’s vitally important to financial improvement and predictability to look at the data and quality impact metrics, especially in light of industry changes towards value-based reimbursement; and, how employers will underwrite differences in benefits that will dwarf the penalties/incentives by CMS in impacting hospitals and physicians’ offices.