Clinical Documentation Improvement

Background and Goals

Literature review
Contextual inquiry
SME interviews
Empathy map
Persona development
Experience map
Concept development
Storyboarding

CDI is a specialized function found mostly in large hospitals, straddling the clinical and financial. The overall goal of Clinical Documentation Improvement (CDI) is to ensure complete and accurate documentation that fully reflects the treatment the patient received, with special attention paid to accurate and specific diagnoses. The diagnoses are important because they contribute to the billable DRG (diagnosis related group), which is directly related to the reimbursement the hospital will receive from the insurance company for the services rendered during the patient's stay in the hospital.

The goal of this project was first to research and model CDI workflows, then generate a blueprint and concept illustrating how athenahealth's new hospital-focused product suite could support them in service to an upmarket expansion. I led research and design, supported by a junior designer, several product managers, and a technical lead.