For Clinical Documentation Improvement Specialists ·
What you'll accomplish
By the end of this guide, you'll have a persistent Claude Project loaded with your key CDI reference materials — AHIMA query guidelines, ICD-10 coding guidance, and your facility's CDI policies. Every conversation you start in this project will automatically have access to all these documents, so you can ask "What does AHIMA say about clinical validation denials?" and get an answer grounded in the actual guideline text, not general AI knowledge.
What you'll need
Documents to gather (all non-PHI, publicly available or facility documents):
Go to {{tool:Claude.url}} and sign in. In the left sidebar, click Projects. You should see a "New Project" button.
What you should see: A Projects section in the left sidebar, either with existing projects or a prompt to create your first one.
Click New Project. Give it a name: "CDI Reference Assistant." Add a brief description: "CDI knowledge base with AHIMA guidelines and facility protocols."
What you should see: A new project workspace with a document upload area and a "Project Instructions" field.
In the Project Instructions box (this is like a permanent system prompt for this project), paste the following and customize it:
You are a CDI reference assistant for a Clinical Documentation Improvement Specialist at [hospital type, e.g., "a 500-bed community hospital"].
Your knowledge base includes:
- AHIMA Physician Query Compliance Guidelines
- ICD-10-CM Official Guidelines for Coding and Reporting
- Facility CDI policies and procedures
- Common DRG targets and CC/MCC opportunities
When answering questions:
- Cite the specific document and section where your answer comes from
- If the answer is not in the uploaded documents, say so clearly and note that you're drawing on general training knowledge
- Use clinical CDI language appropriate for an experienced CDI specialist
- Format responses concisely — this is a quick reference tool, not a textbook
Click the Add content or Upload files button in the project. Upload each document:
Claude will process each document. Wait for the upload to complete (shown by a green checkmark).
What you should see: A list of uploaded documents visible in the project knowledge section. Troubleshooting: If a large PDF fails to upload, try splitting it into sections or copy/pasting key sections as a text file instead.
Start a new conversation inside your CDI project (click New Chat within the project). Ask a question that should be answerable from your uploaded documents:
What you should see: An answer that cites the specific document and section, with the relevant text quoted.
Bookmark the project URL. Start each day by opening the CDI project for any reference questions that come up during chart review. Instead of hunting through PDF bookmarks, just ask.