Q. Do I need to hire additional staff?
A. It is necessary to have a dedicated Clinical Documentation Specialist. Multi-tasking
does not work well for this task. Based on # of discharges, for many community
hospitals 1 FTE is needed.

Q. How long does the program take to implement?
A. Usually 50-70% of the monthly opportunity is realized by the 3rd month, but we have
found that a two year program results in a higher level achieved plus a lasting staying
power.

Q. Do I need upgrades?
A. Only if CMS makes a major change (e.g. MS DRGs, ICD10-CM) or if you change
your Clinical Documentation Specialist or IP Coder) we encourage a brief training of
new staff.

Q. Who will be in charge of the project?
A. Usually the staff report to the Director of HIM, who reports to the CFO.

Q. How much time is required from the Director of HIM and the CFO?
A. The Director of HIM often attends the initial training and sits in on all feedback
sessions. The CFO is involved initially in understanding the program and getting it
approved. After that we keep him in the feedback loop, but usually very little of his/her
time is needed.

Q. How do you get the Medical Staff involved?
A. It varies greatly by hospital. At some hospitals the Medical Staff rarely meet and we
have achieved a very high level of involvement with no group meetings. Usually we
have an introductory meeting that can last from 10 minutes to an hour, based on direction
of the Medical Staff leaders. At some hospitals the Medical Staff request a number of
meetings. But the most important way of getting the Medical Staff on board is through
the proper selection and training of a Clinical Documentation Specialist to be the expert
the Medical Staff feels they can trust and rely upon.

Q. Do I get support after the program is implemented?
A. Some hospitals want CFMA to monitor their data monthly and conduct semi-annual
audits for both opportunity and compliance.

Q. How much will the program cost me?
A. The cost varies by the size of the hospital and what services are desired. Large hospitals will experience 10-20 fold ROI. All hospitals experience at least a 3-4 fold ROI in the first year and much more over 5 years.