As regulatory expectations evolve, hospitals are increasingly experiencing overlap among clinical documentation, medical necessity review, and denial defense.
This webinar explores how healthcare organizations are continuing to expand collaboration among the middle revenue cycle. Clinical documentation integrity (CDI), utilization review (UR), physician advisors (PA), compliance, and revenue recovery programs are aligning to defend care rendered and protect reimbursement.
With payers placing greater emphasis on prior authorizations, inpatient status accuracy, and clinical validation, cross-functional alignment between clinical teams and the middle revenue cycle has become essential. Attendees will gain a practical perspective on how leading organizations are adapting workflows and strengthening documentation across teams to support both patient care and quality expectations.
Learning Objectives
- Define the scope and purpose of clinical administrative functions in supporting documentation, compliance, and reimbursement.
- Discuss the evolving role of CDI, UR, PA, and denials teams becoming more integrated across clinical and revenue workflows.
- Identify key regulatory trends impacting clinical administrative workflows, including changes related to prior authorization, inpatient-only (IPO) list policies, and clinical validation review.
- Describe how evolving regulatory expectations are increasing alignment across clinical administrative roles to support defensible documentation and medical necessity decisions.
Register now to learn how to align clinical revenue cycle functions in a dynamic regulatory environment.
Catherine(Cari) O’Leary, RN, BSN, CCDS
Speaker
HPIR, LLC Partner, CDI Executive. With over 30 years of experience in healthcare clinical operations and advisory services, Cari has supported hospitals and health systems in strengthening Clinical Documentation Integrity (CDI), Case Management, and Clinical Denials programs to improve quality outcomes, regulatory alignment, and financial performance. Her work focuses on collaboration and interdisciplinary alignment with executive, compliance, revenue cycle, and clinical leadership teams to evaluate the regulatory and financial impact of clinical processes, including medical necessity requirements, inpatient admission criteria, quality reporting programs, and evolving payer audit trends. She has led engagements in hospitals nationwide through Clinical Transformation and Clinical Documentation Improvement to support improved quality and revenue optimization.
Kathy Seward, M.D., CHCQM-PHYADV
Speaker
With over 20 years of experience as a physician advisor and healthcare consultant, Kathy has supported academic and community health systems in improving medical necessity compliance, level of care determinations, physician engagement, and denials prevention. She specializes in optimizing care management and physician advisor programs to promote appropriate utilization of healthcare resources, defensible documentation practices, and regulatory alignment. Kathy has led the development and implementation of physician advisor education and mentoring programs across more than 60 health systems, focusing on progression of care, documentation improvement, and collaboration between physicians, case management, and revenue cycle teams. She brings deep expertise in addressing over- and under-utilization of services, strengthening compliance with government regulations, and supporting hospitals in achieving quality, efficiency, and financial performance goals through effective physician engagement strategies.
Lindsay Porter, RHIA, CCDS
Speaker
Vice President, Coding and Clinical Service Line, AGS Health
With 20 years of experience in the clinical revenue cycle, Lindsay has assisted healthcare providers focusing on Clinical Documentation Improvement (CDI), Health Information Management (HIM) coding, HIM operations, care and utilization management, and denials prevention. As Vice President of the Coding & Clinical Service Line, Lindsay executes AGS Health’s growth strategy for all clinical administrative and enhanced medical coding offerings. She strives to deliver innovative solutions to alleviate the administrative burden on clinicians. The goal is to incorporate automation and digitization in today’s manual processes within the middle revenue cycle. She holds credentials from the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) and the Association for Clinical Documentation Improvement Specialists (ACDIS).
Amanda Dean, RN, BSN
Speaker
Director, Clinical Education, AGS Health
Amanda is a registered nurse with more than 13 years of experience, specializing in case management and utilization management leadership. With a deep understanding of how clinical education supports the revenue cycle and improves both operational performance and patient care, she will lead the development and implementation of clinical education strategies. Amanda is a living kidney donor to her husband, which fuels her passion for revenue cycle work that not only supports healthcare systems but also the patients and families at the center of care. She earned her BS degree in nursing from Western Governors University.