Cheryl Ericson is a veteran, in every sense of the word. Someone who has seen and experienced a lot in the CDI profession—and so has a wealth of knowledge and wisdom to confer.

I go back a long way with Cheryl, to early ACDIS days when she was the lead educator of the CDI Boot Camp and developed the organization’s educational curriculum. She’s had a few stops since then but settled in nicely as Senior Director of Clinical Policy and Education at The Brundage Group.

Cheryl is a shrewd, incisive observer of the CDI field, with a rich history of where we’ve been but also where we need to go. Recently she’s weighed in on some big mid-revenue cycle topics for ICD-10 Monitor which I read with avid interest (and recommend you do too).

In this week’s episode we hit on a few of those topics, along with a bit of a look into her life and career. Listen in as we discuss:

Formative background in nursing and entry point into CDI at MUSC.

Thoughts on the new/2026 ACDIS/AHIMA query brief (currently in draft stage)--concerns with clinical indicators, her belief they are unique to each patient and may not meet guidelines established by payers: “It is not about determining if a condition exists; it should be about deciding if the physician has a reasonable expectation to treat the condition,” she writes. “Rather than asking if the condition exists, CDI and coding professionals should determine if it ‘was it reasonable for the provider to diagnose and treat the condition as if it exists.’”

Pushing query compliance down to the end user—is this how the new brief reads, and if so, is it a fair expectation?

Artificial intelligence: State of current tools and limitations. “GenAI tools show great promise in many areas, but for now, it does not appear capable of performing the type of complex critical thinking required for accurate inpatient coding and billing,” Cheryl observes.

(Incorrect) payer allegations of hospital “upcoding,” using the example of acute blood loss anemia

ACDIS heydays: A look back on teaching and educating.

Her personal health journey, story of breast cancer and her husband’s simultaneous serious illness, and how it transformed her outlook on life.

Sharing wisdom and lessons learned: Career advice to a new or young CDI professional—what has she learned to pass along to the next generation?