Clinical Documentation Improvement and Coding During a Pandemic: Three Lessons Learned on the Front Lines

COVID-19 has prompted a look-back on my experience working as a pulmonary critical care physician for more than three decades, specifically during three infectious disease pandemics: HIV/AIDS, H1N1, and COVID-19. Although AIDS, H1N1, and COVID-19 were vastly different, one commonality stands out: Physicians create the clinical story. It is their documentation that provides the narrative.