What does clinical documentation improvement (CDI) aim to achieve primarily?

Clinical documentation improvement (CDI) primarily aims to enhance the quality of clinical documentation. This involves ensuring that health care providers accurately capture patient data and clinical encounters in the medical record. High-quality documentation is essential because it reflects the patient's true health status and the complexity of the care provided, which in turn impacts coding, billing, and overall patient care.

When clinical documentation is improved, it leads to more accurate coding, which can result in fairer reimbursement rates and better resource allocation. Enhanced documentation also contributes to improved patient outcomes by providing clear and comprehensive information that can inform care decisions.

Other factors, such as minimizing complexity or standardizing practices, while important, are secondary effects of improved documentation rather than the primary goal of CDI initiatives. Hence, enhancing the quality of clinical documentation stands out as the main focus of CDI efforts.