Medical Records Technician (Coder Outpatient)

This position is in the Health Information Management (HIM) section of Patient Business Services (PBS) at the Columbus VA Ambulatory Care 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 Coding practitioners analyze and abstract patients' health records and assign alpha-numeric codes for each diagnosis and procedure.

Outpatient Medical Record Technicians (Coder) select and assign codes to outpatient episodes of care, and/or inpatient professional services from current versions of ICD-10-CM, CPT, and HCPCS classification systems.

Duties include but are not limited to: * Utilize the facility computer system and software applications to code, abstract, record, and transmit data.

Correct any identified data errors or inconsistencies in a timely manner to ensure acceptance in the national VA database within established timelines.

Research references to resolve any questionable code errors; contact a senior coder or supervisor when needed.

* Work within a team environment; support peers in meeting goals and deadlines; flexible and handle multiple tasks; work under pressure; and cope with frequently changing projects and deadlines.

* Adhere to accepted coding practices, guidelines and conventions when choosing the most appropriate diagnosis, operation, procedure, ancillary, or evaluation and management (E/M) code to ensure ethical, accurate, and complete coding.

Adhere to the coding guidelines specific to the Veterans Equitable Resource Allocation (VERA) program that categorizes all VA patients into specific classes representing their clinical conditions and resource needs.

* Monitor ever-changing regulatory and policy requirements affecting coded information for the full spectrum of services provided by the VMCC.

Timely compliance with coding changes is crucial to the accuracy of the facility database as well as all cost recovery programs.

* Perform a comprehensive review of the patient health record to abstract medical, surgical, ancillary, demographic, social, and administrative data to ensure complete data capture.

* Assist facility staff with documentation requirements to completely and accurately reflect the patient care provided; provide technical support in the areas of regulations and policy, coding requirements, resident supervision, reimbursement, workload, accepted nomenclature, and proper sequencing.

Ensure provider documentation is complete and supports the diagnoses and procedures coded.

Directly consult with the professional staff for clarification of conflicting or ambiguous clinical data.

Report incorrect documentation or codes in the electronic patient health record.

Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 7:30am-4:00pm Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases Paid Time Off: 37-50 days of annual paid time offer per year (13-26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, 11 paid Federal holidays per year) Parental Leave: 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.

Child Care Subsidy: 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.

Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA Insurance: Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement) Telework: This position is designated as telework eligible.

Telework refers to a flexible arrangement which an employee, under a written telework agreement, performs the duties and responsibilities of such employee's position, and other authorized activities, from an approved worksite other than the (VA facility or VA-leased space) from which the employee typically works from.

The telework arrangement may be "regular, recurring" or "situational (ad hoc)".The option for telework will be assessed continuously, and the selected individual may need to return to a VA office if required.

Applicants must live within 50 miles of one of our facilities as they may be subject to the Return to office order.

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Functional Statement #:91719-0, 91720-0, 91721-0, 91722-0, 91723-0 Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized