Podcast
From Coding to Cabo: Following your bliss with Melanie Kiss, travel entrepreneur
Listen to the episode here. I don’t know this with certainty, but I probably have more than one listener dreaming of starting their own business, in the mid-revenue or elsewhere. Others might be content in their current roles as CDI, coding, or mid-revenue cycle professionals, but are also looking forward to a big vacation…
Read MoreCode Red: Aligning Risk Adjustment with CMS’s New Audit Mandate
Listen to the episode here. For this week’s episode I’m bringing you something a little different, but of such importance that I had to share it with my Off the Record audience: The massive audit expansion of Medicare Advantage announced by CMS. In case you missed it, CMS in May rocked the mid-revenue cycle…
Read MoreAnybody Listening? Ambient AI and the Future of Documentation with Dr. David Canes
Listen to the episode here. Back in 1990 the heavy metal band Queensryche asked its listeners, “Is there anybody listening?”, a lament for not being heard in a world of overstimulation, noise and artificially. In healthcare in 2025, the answer is yes: someone is listening. But the listener just might be a machine. Ambient…
Read MoreRising from ruin and talking telehealth, SDOH with Keisha Wilson
Listen to the episode here. Regular listeners of Off the Record will recall Keisha Wilson, whom I hosted on the program in June 2024 to talk about telehealth as well as her story of entrepreneurship. She was a bright light and a great guest, so I asked her to return to the show a…
Read MoreAn urgent issue: How admit type can skew quality metrics
Listen to the episode here. I’m recently back from the 2025 ACDIS national conference, and as usual flush with the latest in CDI trends, education, and breaking news. And right at the top of my takeaways is a seemingly innocuous classification with big ramifications: admit type. What makes this a big deal? Some hospitals…
Read MoreWork-Life Wins with A.J. Hegg: New Essentia Health physician advisor program balances UM, CDI, ROI, and a healthy culture
Listen to the episode here. Until about 6-7 years ago A.J. Hegg had little idea what the acronyms CDI or UM were, much less what they did or how they helped hospitals. Today the Essentia Health hospitalist is leading a new physician advisor program and making a big impact on his organization. Both from…
Read MoreTranscription to Trailblazer: Glenda Bocskovits’ outpatient CDI journey
Listen to the episode here. Outpatient CDI is not a traditional discipline—and so it stands to reason that its practitioners don’t always hail from traditional backgrounds. One such person is Glenda Bocskovits. I’d call her a former transcriptionist, but she still practices that craft with the Mayo Clinic. But Glenda has since expanded her…
Read MoreMission-Driven Medicine: Dr. Pablo Buitron de la Vega’s SDOH crusade, from capture to care
Listen to the episode here. Social Determinants of Health, or SDOH, are a buzzword these days—but often little more. We acknowledge their importance, but actual progress on capture (and subsequent patient support) has been slow. To be fair real barriers including technological limitations and limited financial incentives stand in the way. But my current…
Read MoreCracking the Code: Victoria Vo’s Path to Entrepreneur, Social Media Stardom
Listen to the episode here. I’ve been in the coding and CDI worlds since 2004, and in that time watched the rise of Facebook, YouTube and other social media. And as early 2011 or so I began to wonder, will anyone pair these two together? When will see our first social media creator in…
Read MoreOne More Round: Sheila Duhon’s Unexpected Return to CDI Leadership
Listen to the episode here. Even if you’ve never seen The Godfather, you’ve probably heard its iconic line: “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!” That certainly applies to Sheila Duhon, National Director of Clinical Documentation Integrity for Steward Health Care. A year ago Sheila was headed toward semi-retirement,…
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