Chart-based CDI reviews examine individual patient charts; encounter-based methods aggregate data across visits. Which statement is correct?

• A. Chart-based reviews examine individual patient charts; encounter-based aggregates across visits are used in the other method
• B. Chart-based CDI reviews examine claims data across many visits
• C. Encounter-based CDI reviews focus on continuous clinical pathways
• D. Both methods only affect compliance without interventions

Answer: (A)

Chart-based CDI reviews focus on the documentation for a single patient encounter, examining the chart to ensure the clinical details support the documented diagnoses and to identify opportunities to query for any gaps. Encounter-based CDI reviews, by contrast, pull data from multiple visits to spot patterns and trends across encounters, using aggregated data rather than a single chart. So the statement is correct because it captures this essential difference: chart-based reviews analyze individual patient charts, while encounter-based reviews aggregate data across visits.

The other descriptions don’t fit because chart-based reviews don’t rely on claims data across many visits, which is characteristic of encounter-based or claims analysis. Encounter-based reviews aren’t primarily about continuous clinical pathways, and CDI activities extend beyond compliance to drive documentation improvement and coding accuracy through education and targeted querying.