Ambulatory CDI Specialist

Lexington Medical Center; West Columbia (SC); On-site; USD 70,000 - 105,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Day One benefits

FSAs

403(b) match plan

Employer paid life insurance

Supplemental life insurance

Adoption assistance

Disability coverage

Student loan forgiveness

Job summary

Lexington Health in West Columbia, SC, seeks an Ambulatory Clinical Documentation Integrity (CDI) Specialist to lead reconciliation reviews of ambulatory records, identify HCC diagnoses, and improve RAF scores. You will query providers to ensure complete and accurate documentation that reflects patient severity of illness.

The role requires an Associate's Degree in Nursing, an active RN license, and CDI/coding or risk adjustment experience.

Qualifications

• Strong communication skills are required to coordinate with physicians and care teams.
• Maintain strict confidentiality of patient information and hospital data as per privacy regulations.
• Experience with CDI/coding or risk adjustment is preferred for ambulatory or acute care settings.

Responsibilities

• Conduct prospective and retrospective reviews of ambulatory records to identify HCC diagnoses.
• Query providers to ensure accurate documentation supporting HCC and RAF scores.
• Educate care teams on CDI requirements and documentation improvements.
• Collaborate with physicians and care teams to resolve documentation discrepancies.
• Maintain compliance with ICD-10-CM coding and risk adjustment guidelines.
• Develop educational materials and present CDI information to providers.

Skills

Communication skills

Confidentiality

Education

Associate's Degree in Nursing

RN License

Job description

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Lexington Health is a comprehensive network of care that includes six community medical and urgent care centers, nearly 80 physician practices, more than 9,000 health care professionals and Lexington Medical Center, a 607-bedteachinghospital in West Columbia, South Carolina. It was selected by Modern Healthcare as one of the Best Places to Work in Healthcareand was first in the state to achieve Magnet with Distinctionstatus for excellence in nursing care. Consistently ranked as bestin the Columbia Metroarea by U.S. News & World Report, Lexington Healthdelivers more than 4,000babies each year, performs more than 34,000surgeries annually and isthe region's third largest employer.

Lexington Health also includes an accredited Cancer Center of Excellence, the state’s first HeartCARE Center, the largest skilled nursing facility in the Carolinas, and an Alzheimer’s care center.Its postgraduate medical education programs include family medicine and transitional year residencies, as well as an informatics fellowship.

Job Summary

The Ambulatory Clinical Documentation Integrity (CDI) Specialist is responsible for conducting comprehensive prospective and retrospective reconciliation reviews of ambulatory medical records to identify and capture documented and potential Hierarchical Condition Category (HCC) diagnoses and autosuggested conditions impacting HCC coding and Risk Adjustment Factor (RAF) scores. The specialist will query providers to ensure accurate and complete documentation that supports HCC and condition-related diagnoses, ultimately enhancing RAF score accuracy and improving risk adjustment outcomes.

In this role, the CDI Specialist is responsible for facilitating improvement in the overall quality and completeness of medical record documentation on a prospective basis. The CDI Specialist promotes modifications to medical record documentation to ensure accurate depiction of the level of clinical services provided to the patient and to completely describe patients’ severity of illness. The CDI Specialist obtains appropriate clinical documentation through collaborative communications from having developed positive working relationships with physicians, nursing staff, other patient care providers, and the coders. The CDI Specialist is also responsible for providing informal and formal education to all members of the care team regarding clinical documentation.

Minimum Qualifications

Minimum Education: Associate's Degree in Nursing
Minimum Years of Experience: A minimum of 3 years clinical experience in nursing. Preferred experience includes CDI, coding, or risk adjustment experience in ambulatory or acute care setting.
Substitutable Education & Experience: None.
Required Certifications/Licensure: Current Registered Nurse (RN) License;

Certification from either AAPC (Certified Documentation Expert - Outpatient (CDEO) or Certified Risk Adjustment Coder (CRC)) or ACDIS (Certified Clinical Documentation Specialist-Outpatient (CCDS-O)) or AHIMA (Certified Coding Specialist (CCS) or Certified Documentation Improvement Practitioner (CDIP)). Those without one of the listed certifications must obtain one of the listed certifications within 2 Years of entry into the role.
Required Training: None.

Essential Functions

• Validate the accurate assignment of working HCC diagnoses affecting RAF scores within the ambulatory patient population by collaborating with physicians and advanced practice providers.
• Conduct thorough prospective reviews of selected ambulatory patient records, documenting all relevant findings and tracking key information throughout the process.
• Identify areas where documentation requires clarification and engage with physicians, advanced practice providers, and other healthcare professionals to resolve discrepancies.
• Maintain strict confidentiality of patient information and hospital and physician practice data in accordance with privacy regulations.
• Assure all documentation is accurate, complete, and compliant, supporting acute or chronic conditions and medical necessity. This helps improve patient outcomes and supports risk adjustment needs.
• Develop and sustain positive working relationships with providers, advanced practice providers, administrators, and revenue cycle partners to promote the success of the CDI program.

Duties & Responsibilities

• Use strong communication skills to connect CDI workflow and processes, driving results through the ambulatory CDI program.
• Understanding of payment structures, outpatient reimbursement models, and the impact of provider documentation on ICD-10-CM and HCC risk adjustment, ensuring compliance with reporting standards for claims submission.
• Develop presentations for providers individually and in groups to understand the importance of CDI and requirements within the outpatient clinic settings.
• Able to effectively prioritize tasks such as documentation reviews, provider education, and program deadlines.
• Stay up to date with industry standards by participating in internal and external continuing education related to HCC documentation, ICD-10-CM coding, AHA Coding Clinics, and Official Coding Guidelines.
• Utilize software and other technology tools to prioritize tasks, collect and analyze data, and monitor program effectiveness and outcome reporting.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

We are committed to offering quality, cost-effective benefits choices for our benefit eligible employees and their families:

• Day ONE medical, dental and life insurance benefits
• Health care and dependent care flexible spending accounts (FSAs)
• Employees are eligible for enrollment into the 403(b) match plan day one. LHI matches dollar for dollar up to 6%.
• Employer paid life insurance – equal to 1x salary
• Employee may elect supplemental life insurance with low cost premiums up to 3x salary
• Adoption assistance
• LHI provides its full-time employees employer paid short-term disability and long-term disability coverage after 90 days of eligible employment
• Student loan forgiveness

Equal Opportunity Employer
It is the policy of Lexington Health to provide equal opportunity of employment for all individuals, and to remain compliant with applicable state and federal laws and regulations. Lexington Health strives to provide a discrimination-free environment, and to recruit, select, on-board, and employ all employees without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, national origin, veteran status, or pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, including but not limited to, lactation. Lexington Health endeavors to upgrade and promote employees from within the hospital where possible and consistent with the employee’s desires and abilities and the hospital’s needs.