Inpatient Coder

Job Summary

The Inpatient Coder is responsible for accurately assigning ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCS to inpatient hospital visits while adhering to official coding guidelines.

Essential Responsibilities

Ability to sequence and assign ICD-10-CM/PCS diagnosis and procedure codes to complex inpatient visits by following the coding guidelines.

Proficient in interpreting medical documentation to determine the principal diagnosis and procedures codes and to assign the correct Present on Admission (POA) indicator to all codes.

Assigns the correct Diagnosis Related Groups (DRG) and All Patient Refined (APR-DRG) while adhering to coding guidelines for sequencing.

Ability to write a compliant physician query and collaborate with Clinical Documentation Improvement (CDI) to clarify or resolve conflicting documentation prior to assigning final codes on inpatient accounts.

Ability to utilize the Computer Assistant Coding (CAC) software to review medical documentation and select codes for billing and reporting purposes.

Analyze and resolve coding denials from insurances companies and patient accounts.

Follows internal workflows for accounts that has documentation or other errors that has to be resolved before coding.

Follows the official ICD-10-CM, ICD-10-PC guidelines for coding and reporting.

Keeps up to date on coding changes and other changes to regulations that governs medical record coding and documentation.

Ability to maintain the national standards for coding accuracy and internal standards for productivity.

Maintains continuing educations hours as dictated by certification standards.

Maintains confidentiality of patient health information.

Job Knowledge & Skills, Education, Experience

Minimum Qualifications Required:

High School graduation or equivalent.

Current certification as a Certified Coding Specialist (CCS) or Certified Coding Specialist-Physician-based (CCS-P) or Registered Health Information Technician (RHIT) or Registered Health Information Administrator (RHIA) by the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), or current certification as a Certified Professional Coder (CPC) or a Certified Outpatient Coding (COC) by the American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC) (formerly CPC-H certification).

One (1) year/twelve (12) months of work experience comparable to that performed at the Reimbursement Coding Representative level of this series or in other positions of comparable.

Preferred Qualifications: A minimum of 2 year's of experience coding at acute care hospital preferable an academic teaching hospital that has a complex case mix index (CMI) and diverse medical services.

Working Conditions - Physical Requirements & Work Environment

Requires an office to be setup for working remotely in a secure environment for confidentiality. The position requires sitting for extended periods of time, visual acumen, manual dexterity and fingering for working with computer key boards. May have to come on-site for mandatory meetings occasionally. Requires interaction with peers primarily by e-mail and telephone

Experience and Assignment Requirements:

CCS - Certified Coding Specialist is required

5+ years inpatient coding experience, preferably in an academic medical settiing

Epic experience is preferred.