Microsoft office, CDI clintegrity, CDE one, OPTUM eCAC,3M encoder, EMR-EPIC, Cerner, meditech
Neeraja Chavakula
High Ridge,MO
Overview
25
25
years of professional experience
Work History
Regional Manager - CDI
SSM health
St. Louis
12.2023 - Current
- Leading St
- Louis region 2 adult hospitals (St
- Mary's Hospital and St
- Clare Hospital) and 1 pediatric hospital (Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital)
- Developed strategy for the CDI department in collaboration with leadership
- Allotting daily assignments to 3 teams by conducting daily assignments huddles
- Monitoring CDI daily, weekly, and monthly KPIs and updating CDIs monthly of their individual KPIs
- Hosting quarterly 1:1 meeting with each member of the CDI team to discuss their performance, career growth, and development
- Performing secondary reviews for staff, PSI, mortality reviews using Vizient model groups, and sepsis reviews
- Educating physicians using Vizient mortality variables
- Generating daily query list escalation to the physician advisors
- Producing weekly and monthly reports from the BI analytics and delivering them to hospital leadership
- Meetings - twice weekly CDI leadership meeting, utilization management meeting, mortality committee, weekly coding/CDI leadership collaborative meeting.
Regional Manager - CDI
Optum supporting SSM health
St. Louis
02.2022 - 12.2023
- Oversaw St
- Louis and Southern Illinois region hospitals from February 2022 - November 2022
- Leading St
- Louis region 2 adult hospitals (St
- Mary's Hospital and St
- Clare Hospital) and 1 pediatric hospital (Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital) from November 2022 - Dec 2023
- Developed strategy for the CDI department in collaboration with leadership
- Allotting daily assignments to 3 teams by conducting daily assignments and weekly huddles following the Optum Tops methodology
- Monitoring CDI daily, weekly, and monthly KPIs and updating CDIs monthly of their individual KPIs
- Hosting quarterly 1:1 meeting with each member of the CDI team to discuss their performance, career growth, and development
- Performing secondary reviews for staff, PSI, mortality reviews using Vizient model groups, and sepsis reviews
- Educating physicians using Vizient mortality variables
- Generating daily query list escalation to the physician advisors
- Producing weekly and monthly reports from the BI analytics and delivering them to hospital leadership
- Meetings - weekly CDI leadership meeting, utilization management meeting, mortality committee, monthly coding/CDI meeting
- Fostering relationships with the client, SSM quality and Optum coding department.
Academic Supervisor
SSM Health Hospitals
St. Louis
12.2014 - 02.2022
- Managing 3 teams of Clinical documentation specialists at the 2 adult hospitals (St
- Louis University Hospital and St
- Mary's) and 1 Pediatric hospital
- Played a key role in the implementation of new pediatric program at Cardinal Glennon Hospital
- Involved in strategic planning for the CDMP dept along with leadership team
- Daily assignments to the 3 teams and tracking cases for reconciling
- Staff Audits and mentoring program coordinator and frontline CDS
- Performing secondary review for staff, PSI, mortality, and Sepsis reviews
- Conducting weekly huddle with 3 teams
- Actively involved in Physician education and daily query list escalation to the Physician Advisors
- Attending Meetings -Weekly CDMP leadership meeting, Sepsis meeting, Utilization Management meeting, mortality committee, Monthly coding/CDMP meeting
- Participation in Interview new hires.
CDI Supervisor
SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital
St. Louis
09.2018 - 12.2019
- Managed Saint Louis University Clinical Documentation Specialist team
- Daily assignments to staff and tracked cases for reconciling
- Daily Query list escalation to Physician Advisors
- Staff Audits and Staff mentoring
- Weekly huddle with staff
- Actively involved in Physician education
- Participation in Interview new hires
- Performed secondary review for staff, PSI, mortality, and Sepsis reviews
- Attended meetings -Weekly CDMP leadership meeting, Sepsis meeting, Utilization Management meeting, mortality committee, Task force, Monthly coding/CDMP meeting.
Clinical Documentation Specialist
SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital
St. Louis
12.2014 - 08.2018
- ICD 10-CM and ICD 10-PCS trained
- Received an Exceptional Performance Award for Financial Performance and Growth from SSM President
- Contribute to monthly team target of finding $250,000 in reimbursement opportunities per month
- Impacted the doubling of staff on my team because of productivity and value of services provided to SSM
- Performed concurrent reviews of electronic medical records of inpatients and monitor for common and costly mistakes
- Query physicians for documentation specificity and clarification and provide regular training and physician education on proper documentation in medical records
- Relied on by administration to effectively train and influence physician behavior
- Maintain a reputation with both physicians and administration for providing accuracy, transparency, and results
- Provided significant change management support during challenging acquisition of SLU Hospital by SSM
- Provided training to coders/colleagues on clinical topics: diseases, anatomy/physiology, and operative procedures
- Identified opportunity for physicians to reflect a patient's severity of illness and risk of mortality more accurately in documentation resulting in significant increase in reporting compliance and subsequent increase in reimbursement as well
- Developed processes for the newly created team in 2014 and continue to recommend best practices since inception of the Compliant Documentation Management Program.
Summary
Passionate leader and analytical problem-solver with talents for team building, leading and motivating, as well as excellent customer relations aptitude and relationship-building skills. Proficient in using independent decision-making skills and sound judgment to positively impact company success. Dedicated to applying training, monitoring and morale-building abilities to enhance employee engagement and boost performance.
Education
MBA - Business Administration And Management
St. Louis University
St Louis, MO 2017 - 2019
MPH - Public Health, Epidemiology And Biostatistics
Washington University in St. Louis
St.Louis 2012 - 2014
M.D. - Medicine
Andhra Medical College
India-Visakhapatnam 1985 - 1991
Residency - OB -GYN
Andhra Medical College
India-Visakhapatnam 1996 - 1998
Skills
- Organizational Analysis
- Staff Supervision
- Goals and Performance
- Customer Service
- Staff Management
- Operations Management
- Productivity Improvements
- Client Relationship-Building
- Framework Improvements
- Operational Improvements
- Action Plans
- Data Analytics
- Group Presentations
- Guidelines Development
- Recruiting and Hiring
- Team Development
- Business Growth Opportunities
- Operational Efficiency and Safety
- Cross-Departmental Collaboration
- Leadership Skills
- Strategic Vision
- Strategic Planning
- Performance Tracking and Evaluations
- Professional Integrity
- Interpersonal Communications
- Staff Development
- Conflict Management
- Constructive Feedback
- Performance Oversight
- Attention to Detail
- Negotiation
Certification
CCDS,CCS,CDIP,ECFMG certified
Accomplishments
- Experienced Medical Strategist with a proven track record in spearheading clinical documentation enhancement initiatives at STAC hospitals within the US. Adept at leading, mentoring, and uniting diverse teams and stakeholders to foster program advancements
- Supervised team of 12 staff members from 2 adult hospitals and 1 Pediatric hospital
• Received an Exceptional Performance Award for Financial Performance and Growth from SSM President
- Developed processes for the newly created CDI team at St.Louis University hospital in 2014 and continued to recommend best practices since inception of the Compliant Documentation Management Program
Work Availability
monday
tuesday
wednesday
thursday
friday
saturday
sunday
morning
afternoon
evening
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Affiliations
· Member of Association of Clinical Documentation Specialists (ACDIS) | 2015 - PRESENT
· Member of American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) | 2017 - PRESENT
Quote
There is a powerful driving force inside every human being that, once unleashed, can make any vision, dream, or desire a reality.
Tony Robbins
Software
Languages
English
Bilingual or Proficient (C2)
Telugu
Bilingual or Proficient (C2)
Spanish
Elementary (A2)
Hindi
Intermediate (B1)
Interests
Yoga, meditation, walking ,traveling ,reading and watching movies
Timeline
Regional Manager - CDI
SSM health
12.2023 - Current
Regional Manager - CDI
Optum supporting SSM health
02.2022 - 12.2023
CDI Supervisor
SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital
09.2018 - 12.2019
MBA - Business Administration And Management
St. Louis University
2017 - 2019
Academic Supervisor
SSM Health Hospitals
12.2014 - 02.2022
Clinical Documentation Specialist
SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital
12.2014 - 08.2018
MPH - Public Health, Epidemiology And Biostatistics
Washington University in St. Louis
2012 - 2014
Residency - OB -GYN
Andhra Medical College
1996 - 1998
M.D. - Medicine
Andhra Medical College
1985 - 1991
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