Clinical Document Integrity Lead

Aquent is partnering with a major healthcare organization renowned for its commitment to patient care, cutting-edge research, and academic excellence. This organization is at the forefront of medical innovation, dedicated to improving health outcomes and advancing medical knowledge. Joining this team means contributing to a mission-driven environment where your expertise directly impacts the quality and integrity of patient documentation, playing a crucial role in accurate care representation and strategic healthcare initiatives.

Are you a highly skilled Clinical Documentation Integrity professional ready to make a significant impact? This is an exciting opportunity to leverage your clinical expertise and coding acumen to ensure the precise capture of patient severity of illness, risk of mortality, and complexity of care. You will be a vital liaison, bridging the gap between clinical staff and coding teams, driving accuracy, and contributing to the overall quality of patient records within a world-class academic medical environment. Your work will directly influence patient outcomes, operational efficiency, and the integrity of healthcare data.

Your Impact

• Conduct clinically based concurrent and retrospective medical record reviews within 24 to 48 hours of admission to assess documentation accuracy, compliance, and clinical specificity.
• Collaborate closely with physicians, advanced practice providers, and inpatient coding teams to clarify ambiguous, incomplete, or conflicting documentation via formal queries and rounding.
• Assign and validate working DRGs utilizing official ICD-10-CM/PCS coding guidelines, AHA Coding Clinic advice, CMS regulations, and organizational policies.
• Review patient charts targeting focus DRGs, Patient Safety Indicators (PSIs), Hospital-Acquired Conditions (HACs), and mortality metrics to ensure appropriate quality outcomes and Case Mix Index (CMI) representation.
• Provide documentation guidance and feedback to frontline clinical staff, assisting in departmental education and performance improvement initiatives.
• Track, reconcile, and report query activities and Clinical Documentation Integrity (CDI) metrics across assigned service lines using electronic documentation tracking tools.
• Lead or support clinical documentation integrity projects and identify workflow or process enhancements within assigned specialty units.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Nursing (BSN), Medicine, Health Information Management (HIM), or a closely related field of study.
• 5+ years of progressively responsible and directly related inpatient clinical experience.
• 2-5 years of dedicated Clinical Documentation Improvement/Integrity (CDI) experience (or a Master's degree with 0-2 years of CDI experience).
• At least one active core certification: CCDS, CDIP, CCDS-O, CCS, CPC, COC, CRCR, CCM, or recognized Health Care Quality certification (CPHQ, HACP, HCQM).
• Strong working knowledge of MS-DRGs, APR-DRGs, HCCs, ICD-10-CM/PCS coding conventions, and ACDIS/AHIMA ethical query standards.
• Demonstrated proficiency with electronic health records (Epic) and CDI software (3M 360 Encompass / Solventum).
• Proven analytical and critical thinking skills with the ability to translate complex coding and documentation concepts for multidisciplinary healthcare teams.

What Will Set You Apart

• Active Registered Nurse (RN) license or advanced clinical degree (NP, PA, MD).
• Prior clinical and CDI experience within an Academic Medical Center, ICU, or Emergency Department setting.
• Additional secondary certifications across Revenue Cycle, Coding, Quality, or Project Management.
• Hands-on experience with Vizient clinical data and mortality review methodologies.
• Background in case management, utilization review, and leading provider documentation education.

To be considered for this role, you must:

• Be authorized to work in the United States
• Not require sponsorship of any kind for the duration of the assignment
• Be able to work on a W-2 basis (C2C or 1099 is not permitted for this position)