Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. AGS Health is a healthcare revenue cycle partner that uses data, AI, automation, and human expertise to improve provider performance. The Associate Director of Clinical Documentation Integrity provides senior operational leadership, manages CDI teams and projects, develops training programs, oversees quality assurance and query compliance, and supports consistent clinical documentation practices across domestic and global operations.
Responsibilities
- Serve as the senior CDI subject matter expert for CDI operations across multiple client engagements
- Provide leadership and operational oversight of CDI delivery supporting inpatient, outpatient, and risk adjustment documentation improvement programs
- Establish and maintain CDI review standards, quality expectations, and documentation best practices
- Serve as the primary escalation point and expert resource for complex clinical cases, query challenges, and coding/documentation question
- Assist with client onboarding and operational readiness activities
- Monitor teams and program performance metrics (e.g., query volume, response/agreement rates, review completeness, denial trends) and prepare operational insights reports and recommendations for leadership and clients
- Develop and maintain CDI educational curricula, core competency training content, competency assessments, and reference materials
- Design, coordinate, and deliver comprehensive onboarding training programs for new and existing CDI Specialists, ensuring strong competency in clinical review, query writing, coding guidelines (ICD-10-CM/PCS), DRG optimization, SOI/ROM capture, and regulatory requirements
- Collaborate with Clinical Educator to facilitate continuing education sessions, case reviews, and knowledge-sharing forums for the CDI team
- Conduct case-based education sessions focused on documentation specificity, severity of illness (SOI), risk of mortality (ROM), risk adjustment, quality measures, and reimbursement methodologies
- Ensure educational content reflects current industry standards from ACDIS/AHIMA and incorporates compliant query guidance
- Train team for specialized CDI reviews such as: mortality, quality measures, clinical validation, prebill DRG reviews, etc
- Maintain CDI QA framework and ensure compliance with ACDIS and AHIMA compliant query standards to support domestic and global operations teams
- Perform routine audits of CDI reviews and evaluate AGS CDI Specialists’ review for clinical validity, query compliance, and adherence to established standards
- Monitor quality metrics and identify trends impacting documentation performance
- Develop CDI QA resources and provide coaching and feedback
- Create remediation plans for quality improvement opportunities
- Conduct ad-hoc second-level reviews for complex clinical cases and documentation scenarios
- Identify knowledge gaps within current projects and implement targeted educational interventions
Skills
- Bachelor's or Associate's degree in Nursing, Health Information Management, or a related clinical field required
- Active CDI certification such as CCDS (Certified Clinical Documentation Specialist) or equivalent
- Minimum 6-10 years of progressive inpatient CDI experience required
- Minimum 2 years of direct people management experience required
- Demonstrated expertise as a subject matter expert in inpatient CDI methodologies including MS-DRGs, APR-DRGs, SOI/ROM concepts, ICD-10-CM coding principles, physician query compliant practices, impacts to quality measures such as Patient Safety Indicators (PSI) and Hospital Acquired Conditions (HACs), and documentation improvement strategies
- Demonstrated experience performing CDI audits, quality reviews, and team coaching
- Strong understanding of ACDIS/AHIMA •Guidelines for Achieving a Compliant Query Practice• brief
- Proven experience developing and delivering training/education programs and creating practical educational materials for clinical or CDI audiences
- Proficiency with EHR systems (e.g., Epic, Oracle), CDI software (Solventum, Nuance, Iodine, etc.), intermediate data/reporting capabilities, and automation tools
- CDI Subject Matter Expertise – Recognized expert in clinical documentation integrity practices, regulations, and industry standards
- Excellent instructional and content creation abilities; comfortable developing training materials and facilitating learning
- Quality management– Promotes consistency, accuracy, and compliance across teams
- Coaching & Mentorship – Develops staff through education, feedback, and professional guidance
- Strong project management, organizational, problem-solving skills, and effectively manage people and service delivery
- Effective communication and interpersonal skills; able to collaborate across departments and influence
- Detail-oriented with a commitment to accuracy, compliance, and continuous improvement
- Current clinical licensure (e.g. RN), other clinical backgrounds including MD, DO, NP, PA, or IMG, or relevant credential (e.g., RHIA, RHIT) strongly preferred
- Additional coding certification (CCS) preferred
- Experience managing remote and/or global teams preferred and/or leading projects or process improvement initiatives within a CDI or HIM setting
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