[Hiring] LEAD MEDICAL RECORDS TECHNICIAN @John J Pershing VA Medical Center

Role Description

This position is located in the Health Information Management (HIM) section at the John J. Pershing VA Medical Center. MRTs (Coder) are skilled in classifying medical data from patient health records in the hospital setting and/or physician-based settings, such as physician offices, group practices, multi-specialty clinics, and specialty centers. These coding practitioners analyze and abstract patients' health records, and assign alpha-numeric codes for each diagnosis and procedure.

Responsibilities

• Assigns codes to documented patient care encounters
• Monitors ever-changing regulatory and policy requirements affecting coded information
• Performs a comprehensive review of the patient health records to abstract medical, surgical, ancillary, demographic, social, and administrative data to ensure complete data capture
• Assists facility staff with documentation requirements to completely and accurately reflect the patient care provided
• Expertly searches the patient health record to find documentation justifying code assignments
• Utilizes the facility computer system and software applications to correctly code, abstract, record, and transmit data to the national VA database
• Analyzes and recommends improvements in documentation systems
• Identifies training needs of individuals based on productivity and accuracy reports
• Monitors the status and progress of work and day-to-day adjustments
• Required to train others

Work Schedule

Monday-Friday 8:00am - 4:30pm CST.

Benefits

• 37-50 days of annual paid time off per year (13-26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, 11 paid Federal holidays per year)
• Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior work experience or military service experience
• After 12 months of employment, up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave in connection with the birth, adoption, or foster care placement of a child
• After 60 days of employment, full-time employees with a total family income below $144,000 may be eligible for a childcare subsidy up to 25% of total eligible childcare costs for eligible children up to the monthly maximum of $416.66
• Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA
• Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement)

Education Requirements

• A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education
• Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment
• If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education

Qualifications

• Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met
• United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy
• One year of creditable experience that indicates knowledge of medical terminology, anatomy, physiology, pathophysiology, medical coding, and the structure and format of health records
• An associate's degree from an accredited college or university recognized by the U.S. Department of Education with a major field of study in health information technology/health information management, or a related degree with a minimum of 12 semester hours in health information technology/health information management
• Completion of an AHIMA approved coding program, or other intense coding training program of approximately one year or more that included courses in anatomy and physiology, medical terminology, basic ICD diagnostic/procedural, and basic CPT coding
• Equivalent combinations of creditable experience and education are qualifying for meeting the basic requirements

Requirements

• Mastery Level Certification through AHIMA or AAPC. Current mastery level certifications include: Certified Coding Specialist (CCS), Certified Coding Specialist - Physician-based (CCS-P), Registered Health Information Technician (RHIT), Registered Health Information Administrator (RHIA), Certified Professional Coder (CPC), Certified Outpatient Coder (COC), Certified Inpatient Coder (CIC)
• In addition to the basic requirements, certificate requirement, and grade requirements; candidates must be able to demonstrate the following knowledge, skills, and abilities:
• One year of creditable experience equivalent to the journey grade level (GS-8) of a MRT (Coder)
• Ability to work with a team to provide technical guidance, plan, organize, and coordinate activities in order to effectively complete job duties of assignment
• Advanced knowledge of current coding classification systems for the subspecialty being assigned
• Ability to effectively communicate, both orally and in writing, in order to meet program objectives
• Knowledge of training methods and the ability to provide training to new coding staff
• Ability to collect and analyze data and present results in various formats
• Leadership skills, including interpersonal relations and conflict resolution between employees, managers, and clinical staff

Physical Requirements

See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Service.