ACDIS/AHIMA Guidelines for Achieving a Compliant Query Practice—2026 Update

AHIMA and the Association of Clinical Documentation Integrity Specialists (ACDIS) have opened a public comment period for a new version of the ACDIS/AHIMA Guidelines for Achieving a Compliant Query Practice.

The associations have collaborated on this practice brief for many years, and the brief represents the recommended industry standard for provider queries. The brief provides best practice standards for the clinical documentation integrity query process that is driven by the underlying goal of validating the clinical documentation within the health record to accurately represent the clinical status of the patient.

The authors took the time in the brief to set the expectations that the practice brief should be shared and discussed with all healthcare professionals whose work intersects with health record documentation, including quality, compliance, revenue cycle, patient financial services, physician groups, facility leaders, care management, informatics, and information technology.

The joint ACDIS and AHIMA work group has been working on a revised draft for several months and you can read the draft below. Once you have read the draft, click on the link to enter your comments. You have the option to enter comments either as an individual or on behalf of your organization.

Click here to enter your comments or copy/paste this URL into your web browser: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/QPB-public-comments.

The public comment period closes June 12. The work group will reconvene to discuss the public comments, and a final version is expected to be published in the summer.

Deanne Wilk, MPS, BSN, RN, CCDS, CCDS-O, CDIP, CCS, is CDI Education Director at ACDIS.