CDI Specialist

City of Hope; United States; On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

City of Hope is seeking a CDI Analyst to independently apply clinical knowledge and documentation integrity expertise. You will review inpatient records, engage with physicians and care teams, and develop queries to ensure accurate reflection of illness severity and treatment complexity across oncology-related cases.

The role involves education on documentation standards, collaboration with coding and quality teams, and contributing to performance improvement initiatives within a leading cancer

Qualifications

• Graduate of an accredited Nursing program, Medical School, Physician Assistant program, or Nurse Practitioner program.
• Three years of Clinical Documentation Integrity experience within an acute care hospital, academic medical center, cancer center, or integrated healthcare system environment.
• Experience independently conducting concurrent clinical documentation reviews and physician documentation clarification activities.
• Experience evaluating documentation opportunities related to Severity of Illness (SOI), Risk of Mortality (ROM), clinical validation, mortality risk adjustment, quality reporting, and documentation integrity.
• Experience developing and issuing compliant physician queries in accordance with AHIMA and ACDIS guidelines.
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively with physicians, advanced practice providers, coding professionals, quality teams, and interdisciplinary stakeholders.
• Completion of CDI-focused training through ACDIS, AHIMA, or an equivalent professional organization.
• Certified Clinical Documentation Specialist (CCDS) or Certified Documentation Improvement Practitioner (CDIP), with an active unrestricted professional license required when qualifying through applicable RN, NP, or PA credentials.
• Strong written, verbal, analytical, critical-thinking, physician-query writing, and provider-engagement skills.

Responsibilities

• Perform comprehensive concurrent reviews of inpatient medical records to identify opportunities to improve documentation completeness, specificity, accuracy, and clinical validity.
• Evaluate complex oncology, hematologic malignancy, cellular therapy, transplant, critical care, and tertiary/quaternary care encounters for accurate representation of patient acuity and treatment complexity.
• Develop, issue, and manage compliant physician documentation queries in accordance with AHIMA, ACDIS, CMS, and organizational standards.
• Partner with physicians, advanced practice providers, nursing, case management, quality teams, physician advisors, and coding professionals to strengthen documentation integrity and clinical representation.
• Provide education on documentation requirements, clinical validation principles, SOI/ROM capture, mortality risk adjustment, quality reporting, and oncology-specific documentation.
• Support clinical validation initiatives, mortality reviews, severity capture initiatives, quality documentation programs, and multidisciplinary performance improvement efforts.
• Analyze documentation trends, case-level findings, denial trends, audit findings, and quality metrics to identify opportunities for improvement.
• Recommend workflow enhancements, educational priorities, and documentation improvement strategies that support organizational performance objectives.
• Maintain knowledge of evolving CDI practices, documentation standards, clinical validation guidance, coding and quality concepts, oncology documentation requirements, regulatory changes, and industry best practices.

Skills

Clinical Documentation Integrity

Physician-query writing

Provider engagement

Quality reporting

Analytical thinking

Critical thinking

Communication skills

Education

Accredited Nursing program

Medical School

Physician Assistant program

Nurse Practitioner program

Job description

Join the transformative team at City of Hope, where we're changing lives and making a real difference in the fight against cancer, diabetes, and other life-threatening illnesses. City of Hope’s growing national system includes its Los Angeles campus, a network of clinical care locations across Southern California, a new cancer center in Orange County, California, and treatment facilities in Atlanta, Chicago and Phoenix. Our dedicated and compassionate employees are driven by a common mission: To deliver the cures of tomorrow to the people who need them today.

The Clinical Documentation Integrity (CDI) Analyst is an exempt professional role responsible for independently applying advanced clinical knowledge, critical thinking, analytical skills, and documentation integrity expertise to improve the accuracy, completeness, specificity, and clinical validity of patient documentation. The CDI Analyst serves as a consultative resource to physicians, advanced practice providers, nursing, case management, coding professionals, quality teams, and physician advisors to ensure the medical record accurately reflects patient severity of illness, risk of mortality, quality outcomes, clinical complexity, and resource utilization.

Through concurrent medical record review, clinical documentation analysis, compliant documentation clarification, provider engagement, and documentation-focused education, the CDI Analyst supports institutional objectives related to quality performance, patient safety, regulatory compliance, reimbursement integrity, and accurate clinical representation of the complex oncology care delivered across City of Hope. This role serves as a subject matter expert in clinical documentation integrity, clinical validation, mortality risk adjustment, severity capture, provider engagement, and documentation improvement strategies.

As a successful candidate, you will:

• Perform comprehensive concurrent reviews of inpatient medical records to identify opportunities to improve documentation completeness, specificity, accuracy, and clinical validity.
• Evaluate complex oncology, surgical oncology, hematologic malignancy, cellular therapy, transplant, critical care, and tertiary/quaternary care encounters to ensure accurate representation of patient acuity and treatment complexity.
• Develop, issue, and manage compliant physician documentation queries in accordance with AHIMA, ACDIS, CMS, and organizational standards.
• Partner with physicians, advanced practice providers, nursing, case management, quality teams, physician advisors, and coding professionals to strengthen documentation integrity and clinical representation.
• Provide education on documentation requirements, clinical validation principles, SOI/ROM capture, mortality risk adjustment, quality reporting, and oncology-specific documentation.
• Support clinical validation initiatives, mortality reviews, severity capture initiatives, quality documentation programs, and multidisciplinary performance improvement efforts.
• Analyze documentation trends, case-level findings, denial trends, audit findings, and quality metrics to identify opportunities for improvement.
• Recommend workflow enhancements, educational priorities, and documentation improvement strategies that support organizational performance objectives.
• Maintain knowledge of evolving CDI practices, documentation standards, clinical validation guidance, coding and quality concepts, oncology documentation requirements, regulatory changes, and industry best practices.

Your qualifications should include:

• Graduate of an accredited Nursing program, Medical School, Physician Assistant program, or Nurse Practitioner program.
• Three years of Clinical Documentation Integrity experience within an acute care hospital, academic medical center, cancer center, or integrated healthcare system environment.
• Experience independently conducting concurrent clinical documentation reviews and physician documentation clarification activities.
• Experience evaluating documentation opportunities related to Severity of Illness (SOI), Risk of Mortality (ROM), clinical validation, mortality risk adjustment, quality reporting, and documentation integrity.
• Experience developing and issuing compliant physician queries in accordance with AHIMA and ACDIS guidelines.
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively with physicians, advanced practice providers, coding professionals, quality teams, and interdisciplinary stakeholders.
• Completion of CDI-focused training through ACDIS, AHIMA, or an equivalent professional organization.
• Certified Clinical Documentation Specialist (CCDS) or Certified Documentation Improvement Practitioner (CDIP), with an active unrestricted professional license required when qualifying through applicable RN, NP, or PA credentials.
• Strong written, verbal, analytical, critical-thinking, physician-query writing, and provider-engagement skills.

City of Hope employees’ pay is based on the following criteria: work experience, qualifications, and work location.

City of Hope is an equal opportunity employer.