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Career Spotlight: CLINICAL DOCUMENTATION IMPROVEMENT- Meet Dr Rabia Jalaal

Sep 20, 2021

 

Dr Rabia Jalaal shares invaluable insights for Physicians wanting to enter the world of Clinical Documentation improvement without having completed a US residency. 

 

Can you tell us a little about your transition into the Clinical documentation improvement world?

 

It seems like forever ago, but in reality it was about five years ago that I had relocated to California from my home state of New York and was searching for clinical research jobs. I happened to type in foreign medical graduate in one such job engine, and a listing popped up for CDI/coder auditors. Both these words seemed more like Greek to me than the information I had to learn during my medical school days and medical board licensing exams. I applied for the position after reading a brief description of the role anyway, and the rest, as they say, is history!

 

What exactly is CDI?

So, what exactly is CDI? According to a 2013 article in Lippincott’s 2013 Nursing Career & Education Directory, it can be defined as “the best practices, processes, technology, people, and joint effort between providers and billers that advocates the completeness, precision, and validity of provider documentation inherent to transaction code sets (e.g. ICD-10-CM, ICD-10-PCS, CPT, HCPCS) sanctioned by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act in the United States.” 

 

Do you have any tips on how to enter the CDI job market?

Since I became a certified CDI specialist several years ago, I’ve had many aspiring healthcare professionals asking how they can get into the CDI field. These individuals are much like I was five years ago and I’d like to take a moment to pass along some basic tips to help them step into the CDI field: 

  1. Look into getting certified in ICD-10 and PCS Coding. The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) is a good resource for this. 
  2. Consider enrolling in the ACDIS CDI Apprentice Program to learn the basics of CDI work. 
  3. Look for organizations that are willing to train RNs/physicians/coders from scratch in CDI work, rather than only hiring experienced CDI professionals. 
  4. Network at local and national ACDIS conferences. When I was a fresh medical graduate, and prepping for board exams, an instructor told me, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.”
  5. Enroll in CDI Boot Camps to advance your knowledge. ACDIS offers a number of these courses, many of which are offered virtually now. 
  6. Don’t be afraid to reach out to other CDI professionals. You never know where an opportunity will arise, or some valuable advice may be given.  
  7. Never be afraid to learn new things. I remember my own days starting off as an auditor and CDI specialist and struggling to find query opportunities and learning how to code. It’s a big challenge, but a doable one. 





What would be a starting salary:    

From personal experience I can tell you it would depend on years of experience, position (cdi versus team lead/supervisor etc) and location. My organization determines salary based on location and cost of living. So for instance I would make more living in Ca than my colleagues in AZ or a cheaper state because of cost of living etc.

Any last words of encouragement for candidates:

While stepping into a new field may be daunting, it is possible. Remember to put in the work, reach out to others in the field, and step into your new field with confidence. 

 

Rabia Jalal is a CDI specialist/senior clinical analyst at Optum360, working at Marian Regional Medical Center in Santa Maria, California. You can reach he at [email protected]. 


 

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Sudha Bakhshi

For me, Jawaria has been a game changer in seeking non-clinical employment. I’ve been working with her for a period of time that was divided into a number of phases.

This first part was to undergo an inventory of professional traits to better understand my strengths and weaknesses. In general I am skeptical of organizational personality assessments and feel that they tend to overgeneralize and group people based on superficial assumptions. However, I decided to commit to this approach in order to obtain a more objective view of how my interactions may result in certain perceptions in a work environment. This helped me to focus on my motivations and how I wanted to approach this stage of my career.

In the second phase, Jawaria helped me to create a coherent narrative that was reflected in a revision of my resume. She was very supportive as I overcame my hesitation to assert myself in more contemporary formats, such as LinkedIn. I felt that the conversations that we had were essential to feeling more confident as I moved forward to identifying positions that were of interest, researching the employers and writing customized cover letters to accentuate skill sets.

The third phase navigated the strange and often confusing experience of the interview process. Jawaria helped me to just accept the black box that is HR for many corporations and to then move forward to interviews with medical directors and company executives. She was present after every interview, to challenge and also to validate my perceptions of what transpired.

I have many supportive friends in medicine and other professions that offered insight and encouragement in my job hunt. But I feel that the investment in the professional coaching Jawaria offered was essential to creating the mindset necessary to approach and feel comfortable competing in the current non-clinical environment.

In the end, yes, I was able to get an offer for a job that I feel will be very interesting and challenging. And I am very grateful for Jawaria’s assistance in helping me in this process. She was very willing to share her own experiences as a physician and this was enormously meaningful.

There is a saying: “When the student is ready, the teacher will come”. This definitely applied to me and I felt that what she said resonated, even from our first conversation. As physicians, we invest into our profession, but there is something to be said for investing in ourselves as well. I would encourage my fellow doctors to consider how important professional mentorship can be and how often it can feel inaccessible. But if you are ready, then Jawaria can be the catalyst to empower physicians to feel energized about their career choices.