NC ACDIS Board Members
Kay Blue - President of NC ACDIS
Kay Blue is the Director of Clinical Documentation Integrity at Atrium Health and has been employed with Atrium Health for 33 years, serving in various clinical and management roles. She holds certifications in Case Management and Clinical Documentation Improvement. Kay completed her MHA at Pfeiffer University; prior undergraduate education includes a BSN and a Biology degree. She is a member of ACDIS and ACMA at both the local and national levels and has served on the National ACDIS leadership council for the past several years. Kay has presented at numerous ACDIS conferences, the 3M Summit, and the NC AHIMA conference throughout her tenure in CDI. Under Kay’s leadership since 2013, the CDI program at Atrium Health has launched several innovative and strategic initiatives, including the most recent service line efforts partnering with physicians to improve CC/MCC capture by specialty, developing education tips, and a never miss diagnosis list by service line groups. A new Ambulatory/OP CDI program was developed and implemented in 2021 to increase the capture of HCC documentation in Atrium’s MSSP and Medicare Advantage population in the primary care arena. Atrium CDI was also instrumental in contributing to the development of 3M Prioritization which led to the recognition by 3M as the “CDI Program Innovator of the Year” Award in 2018.
On a personal note, Kay is married to her husband Dave for 31 years, residing in Indian Trail, a suburb of Charlotte. She loves to travel and explore regions and enjoy life to the fullest. The saying that she cherishes is “YOLO”- You only live once, so live your life to the fullest with no regrets. She also enjoys playing golf but will never become a pro at it, but she has had a “hole-in-one” before, however, the shot was not very pretty and never left the ground, but she has witnesses, and that is all that counts!
Jennifer Holub - Secretary of NC ACDIS
Jennifer Holub has been a nurse for 18 years and in CDI for nine years. She started in CDI in 2011, coming from a 100-bed emergency department position in Ohio. After a few years, she decided to move to NC to be closer to family. Since living in NC, she has mostly worked for consulting companies since moving and have since joined Duke University Health System.
Cherise Weston - Treasurer of NC ACDIS
Cherise Weston, AAS, CCS, CRC is nationally trained in HIM, specializing in inpatient coding, auditing, educating, and consulting. She has over 20 years of experience with direct patient care and coding. She currently holds the position as an Inpatient Coding Analyst & Educator at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist (AHWFB). In this position, she focuses heavily on mortality and risk adjustment audits. She works in partnership with CDE and Quality assurance to risk-adjust patients using Vizient models. She has been an essential part of implementing the Inpatient Risk Adjustment process at AHWFB. She takes the initiative of assisting with the growing needs of the department since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prior to her joining AHWFB, she worked as a respected HIM professional in various hospital settings ranging from private practice to Level 1 trauma academic medical centers such as Johns Hopkins and Mt. Sinai Medical Center of NY. Cherise’s HIM career has focused on being a coding mentor, consultant, auditor, and educator for various hospital systems in NY, NJ, PA, MD, NC, GA, TX, and CA. Cherise continues to grow professionally, as she is pursuing additional education and credentials in clinical documentation and compliance.
Tamara Hicks - Social Media Coordinator of NC ACDIS
Tamara Hicks, MHA, BSN, RN, CCS, CCDS, CCDS-O, has been a nurse for nearly 39 years. She spent 15 years at the bedside in a critical care unit before transitioning to CDI in 1999, helping to start the first CDI team at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist. She spent nine years as a manager in Care Coordination, and today she serves as the Director of Clinical Documentation Excellence at AHWFB, with responsibility for CDI in 5 hospitals and more than 50 ambulatory clinics. Tamara was a founding member of the national ACDIS advisory board and served a second term between 2016 and 2019. At the annual ACDIS conference in 2019, Tamara was awarded the CDI Professional of the Year Award. She continues to be a frequent speaker at the annual ACDIS conference.
Outside of work, Tamara has been married for 38 years to her best friend, who is also a nurse in psychiatry. She has 2 grown children and 3 adopted pups who are all mutts! Whenever possible she likes to foster dogs to ensure their best life possible!
Meet the Upcoming Board Members for 2023-2024
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Barkha Batheja - Secretary-Elect of NC ACDIS
Barkha Batheja, BDS, CCDS, CCS is a dental surgeon by background and has been in the healthcare industry for more than 15 years in varied roles. After working in clinical practice for 7 years, she transitioned to utilization management, revenue management, coding integrity, and clinical documentation improvement. She enjoys collaborative educational efforts with physicians and the analytical approach to CDI. She currently works for Duke Health as an inpatient CDI specialist. She looks forward to learning more about the NC ACDIS chapter as Secretary-elect, and being part of this unique opportunity to learn, grow, collaborate and contribute within the CDI industry.
Rosetta Obeng - Teasurer-Elect of NC ACDIS
Rosetta Obeng RN, BSN, CCDS has a diverse background which includes medical/surgical and pediatric inpatient nursing. She has been a case manager in an ambulatory care setting at an HMO. In addition, she has experience in auditing Medicare part A, B, and DME claims for medical necessity. She has been in the clinical documentation field for over 12 years. She appreciates the investigative approach of CDI and the opportunity to learn something new each day. Rosetta looks forward to learning more about NC ACDIS, meeting new CDI professionals, as well as furthering her professional development through networking with other NC ACDIS members. She enjoys the quiet, calm and beautiful views of North Carolina as well as the opportunity to be at an academic health center where there is always something new on the horizon.
Jennifer Kilbourne - Social Media Coordinator-elect
Jennifer is a Clinical Documentation Integrity Specialist II at Atrium Health. She has worked in
CDI for five years and has obtained her certification as a CCDS.
Her area of expertise and specialty is primarily focused on the Neurology and Neurosurgery
population. In addition, she also performs second-level reviews, serves as a preceptor for new
employees, and provides education to both physicians and fellow CDIS.
Jennifer resides in Charlotte, and in her free time, she likes to read, travel, cook, and spend
time in nature.