Caryn Nowak joined UC San Diego Extension as an adjunct professor for the Medical Coding Certificate Program in August 2016.
Ms. Nowak currently works as a clinical documentation improvement specialist at Rady Children's Hospital of San Diego where she is responsible for working with physicians to ensure the documentation accurately reflects the care provided to patients. Her previous experience includes project manager of revenue integrity at a local hospital in San Diego for the Corporate Compliance Department focusing on managing outpatient coding record reviews. Ms. Nowak's previous experience includes working for a leading healthcare consulting company as a project manager. She successfully managed multiple clients overseeing inpatient and outpatient coding record reviews and education, in addition to clinical documentation improvement (CDI) and ICD-10 transition projects.
Ms. Nowak received a bachelor's degree in international business and a minor in economics from San Diego State University. She received an associate degree in health information technology from Mesa College in San Diego and received her Registered Health Information Administrator (RHIA) credentials. Recently, she became a Certified Documentation Improvement Practitioner (CDIP). Nowak is a member of: Association of Clinical Documentation Improvement Specialists (ACDIS), American Health Information Association (AHIMA), California Health Information Association (CHIA) and San Diego Health Information Association (SDHIA). Currently, she is serving on the ACDIS CDI Week and CHIA Candidates Committees. Nowak previously served on the board for SDHIA as a secretary and is still actively involved with the association.