The Clinical Documentation Industry Association (CDIA) announced the launch of a new industry trade association dedicated to ensuring the accuracy, consistency and security of clinical documentation contained within all patient health records.

The announcement was made by Noel Bambrough, CDIA chair and CEO of Documentation Services Group Inc.

Formerly the Medical Transcription Industry Association, the new group aims to expand its reach beyond medical transcription, editing, voice, and speech recognition to encompass every touch point in the clinical documentation continuum.

"Our association clearly recognized the need for an industry resource dedicated exclusively to the clinical documentation process: from report creation via dictation, speech or medical scribes, to the use of these same reports for coding and billing," Bambrough said.

There are many companies and new technologies in place to capture, format, secure, transfer, and store clinical documentation, but no industry association with this focus, he added.

"Complete and accurate clinical documentation is mission critical for health care providers," added Peter Masanotti, president and CEO at MedQuist, a founding partner of CDIA.

"The pressure for physicians to document more clearly, consistently and completely has never been greater," said CIDA board member Dr. Nick van Terheyden, CMO for Nuance Inc.

Information captured without quality assurance measures or best practice processes inevitably results in errors that are perpetuated throughout the rest of the health care delivery system, he said. CDIA works with other associations and standards-setting groups to establish best practice processes and guidelines for quality clinical documentation.

Address: Clinical Documentation Industry Association, 4230 Kiernan Ave., Ste. 130, Modesto, CA 95356; (800) 543-6842, www.cdiaweb.org.