Today’s guests are Okemena Ewoterai, BSN, MA, CCDS, CDIP, CCS, director of CDI at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, New York, and Trey La Charité, MD, FACP, SFHM, CCS, CCDS, medical director for CDI and coding at the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Our intro and outro music for the ACDIS Podcast is “medianoche” by Dee Yan-Kay and our ad music is “Take Me Higher” by Jahzzar, both obtained from the Free Music Archive.

Have questions about today’s show or ideas for a future episode? Contact the ACDIS team at [email protected].

Want to submit a question for a future "listener questions" episode? Fill out this brief form! 

CEU info:

Each ACDIS Podcast episode offers 0.5 ACDIS CEU which can be used toward recertifying your CCDS or CCDS-O credential for those who listen to the show in the first four days from the time of publication.

To receive your 0.5 CEU, go to the show page on acdis.org, by clicking on the “ACDIS Podcast” link located under the “Free Resources” tab. To take the evaluation, click the most recent episode from the list on the podcast homepage, view the podcast recording at the bottom of that show page, and click the live link at the very end after the music has ended. Your certificate will be automatically emailed to you upon submitting the brief evaluation. (Note: If you are listening via a podcast app, click this link to go directly to the show page on acdis.org: https://acdis.org/acdis-podcast/advisory-board-series-clinical-validation-denials)

Note: To ensure your certificate reaches you and does not get trapped in your organization’s spam filters, please use a personal email address when completing the CEU evaluation form.

The cut-off for today’s episode CEU is Sunday, December 21, at 11:00 p.m. Eastern. After that point, the CEU period will close, and you will not be eligible for the 0.5 CEU for this week’s episode.

Today’s sponsor:

Today’s show is brought to you by the 2026 ACDIS Pocket Guide, available to order today! Learn more by clicking here: https://bit.ly/3V1Z0gQ

ACDIS update:

Reminder that the ACDIS offices will be closed for the holidays December 24 through January 2!

Apply to speak at the 2026 Revenue Integrity Symposium by January 12, 2026! (http://bit.ly/48YYSVT)

Apply to speak at the AHIMA 2026 conference by January 26, 2026! (https://bit.ly/3MAIsvq)