Revenue Cycle CDI Specialist

CommonSpirit Health; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 56,000 - 84,000; Full time

Job summary

CommonSpirit Health in Chicago seeks a Revenue Cycle CDI Specialist to enhance inpatient medical records and ensure documentation captures severity of illness, mortality risk, and care complexity. You will bridge clinical teams, quality, and coding to drive DRG accuracy and support financial health through compliant documentation practices.

You will review medical records within 24–48 hours of admission, perform follow-ups, and craft compliant provider queries under AHIMA/ACDIS guidelines,

Qualifications

• Bachelor of Nursing or HIM (or equivalent) required.
• Two years acute care hospital clinical CDI experience required.
• Two years inpatient coding auditor experience required.
• Current Registered Nurse licensure required (RN:XX).

Responsibilities

• Perform timely initial and follow-up medical record reviews to ensure accurate DRG assignment, risk of mortality, and severity of illness.
• Author and manage compliant provider queries to resolve documentation gaps, adhering to AHIMA and ACDIS standards.
• Educate multi-disciplinary care teams on documentation best practices to ensure clear clinical representation.
• Collaborate with HIM Coding Professionals to facilitate documentation-to-coding workflows and DRG reconciliation.
• Maintain knowledge of evolving coding guidelines, CMS directives, and CDI trends.
• Lead educational sessions and present to clinical leadership.

Skills

Clinical CDI experience

Inpatient coding auditing

Communication skills

Education/training others

Education

Bachelor of Nursing or HIM

RHIT

CDIP

CCS

Tools

Optum eCAC

Solventum

EPIC

Cerner

Meditech

Job description

Job Summary And Responsibilities

As our Revenue Cycle CDI Specialist, you will serve as a vital clinical partner dedicated to enhancing the accuracy and integrity of inpatient medical records. You will play a pivotal role in ensuring that provider documentation effectively captures the severity of illness, expected risk of mortality, and complexity of care for every patient. By bridging the gap between clinical teams, quality departments, and coding professionals, you will drive excellence in DRG assignment and support the overall financial health of CommonSpirit Health through compliant, high-quality documentation practices.

Job Summary And Responsibilities

As our Revenue Cycle CDI Specialist, you will serve as a vital clinical partner dedicated to enhancing the accuracy and integrity of inpatient medical records. You will play a pivotal role in ensuring that provider documentation effectively captures the severity of illness, expected risk of mortality, and complexity of care for every patient. By bridging the gap between clinical teams, quality departments, and coding professionals, you will drive excellence in DRG assignment and support the overall financial health of CommonSpirit Health through compliant, high-quality documentation practices. Every day you will conduct thorough medical record reviews for your assigned patient population, performing initial evaluations within 24–48 hours of admission and executing systematic follow-ups to maintain precise working DRG assignments. You will utilize your clinical expertise to formulate compliant provider queries that clarify missing or conflicting information while adhering to strict AHIMA and ACDIS guidelines. Additionally, you will serve as a front-line educator, providing guidance to physicians, nursing staff, and allied health practitioners to ensure continuous improvement in clinical documentation standards. To be successful in this role, you will need a deep understanding of Official Coding and Reporting Guidelines, AHA Coding Clinics, and current CMS directives. You must be a proactive collaborator who excels at building professional relationships with HIM coding teams and providing constructive feedback to providers. Your ability to translate complex clinical data into actionable documentation, combined with your comfort in presenting to diverse groups and troubleshooting technical issues in a remote environment, will be key to your success and to the achievement of our enterprise-wide clinical documentation goals.

• Perform timely initial and follow-up medical record reviews to ensure accurate DRG assignment, risk of mortality, and severity of illness.
• Author and manage compliant provider queries to resolve documentation gaps, adhering to national AHIMA and ACDIS standards.
• Educate multi-disciplinary care teams on documentation best practices to ensure clear and comprehensive clinical representation.
• Collaborate closely with HIM Coding Professionals to facilitate seamless documentation-to-coding workflows and DRG reconciliation.
• Maintain expert-level knowledge of evolving coding guidelines, CMS directives, and industry-wide CDI trends.
• Demonstrate strong oral communication and presentation skills to lead educational sessions and engage effectively with clinical leadership.

Job Requirements

Required

• Bachelor of Nursing and/or Bachelor’s degree in Nursing, or HIM
• Two (2) years’ acute care hospital clinical CDI experience
• Two (2) years’ experience inpatient coding auditor
• Registered Nurse:XX (RN:XX)

Preferred

• CAC experience (Computer Assistant Coding)
• Experience with various encoder and EMR systems (Optum eCAC, Solventum, EPIC, Cerner, Meditech)
• Registered Health Information Technician (RHIT)
• Clinical Documentation Improvement Professional (CDIP)
• Certified Coding Specialist (CCS)

Where You'll Work

Inspired by faith. Driven by innovation. Powered by humankindness. CommonSpirit Health is building a healthier future for all through its integrated health services. As one of the nation’s largest nonprofit Catholic healthcare organizations, CommonSpirit Health delivers more than 20 million patient encounters annually through more than 2,300 clinics, care sites and 137 hospital-based locations, in addition to its home-based services and virtual care offerings. CommonSpirit has more than 157,000 employees, 45,000 nurses and 25,000 physicians and advanced practice providers across 24 states and contributes more than $4.2 billion annually in charity care, community benefits and unreimbursed government programs. Together with our patients, physicians, partners, and communities, we are creating a more just, equitable, and innovative healthcare delivery system.

Pay Range

$41.14 - $61.20 /hour