Clarification from the agency

First Consideration: Current Permanent Tuscaloosa VA Employees; Second Consideration: Department of Veteran Affairs Employees

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Duties to include but not limited to:

Coder/CDISs are responsible for facilitating improved overall quality, education, and completeness and accuracy of medical record documentation as well as promoting appropriate clinical documentation through extensive interaction with physicians, other patient caregivers, HIM coding staff and other associated staff to ensure clinical documentation and services rendered to patients is complete and accurate for appropriate workload capture and resource allocations.
Recommend and/or update medical center policy memoranda pertaining to documentation improvement.
Serve as technical expert in health record content and documentation requirements.
Responsible for performing reviews of the health record documentation, developing criteria, collecting data, graphing and analyzing results, creating reports and communicating in writing and/or in person to appropriate leadership and groups.
Responsible to obtain appropriate corrective action plans from responsible clinical services directors, when necessary, and recommend improvements or changes in documentation as deemed necessary.
Adhere to established documentation requirements as outlined by accrediting agencies guidelines, regulations, policy and medical-legal requirements.
Responsible for the development and implementation of active training/education programs (i.e. seminars, workshops, short courses, informational briefings, and conferences) for all providers to ensure the CDIS program objectives are met.


Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 8:00 am to 4:30 pm
Financial Discloser Report: Not required

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English.
• You may be required to serve a probationary period.
• Subject to background/security investigation.
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process.
• Must pass pre-employment physical examination, if required.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).
• Participation in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination program is a requirement for all Veterans Health Administration Health Care Personnel (HCP) - See "Additional Information" below for details.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 09/13/2024.Basic Requirements:

• United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.
• English Language Proficiency: Must be proficient in spoken and written English.
• Experience and Education
  • Experience. One year of creditable experience that indicates knowledge of medical terminology, anatomy, physiology, pathophysiology, medical coding, and the structure and format of a health records.
  • OR
  • Education. 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 (e.g., courses in medical terminology, anatomy and physiology, medical coding, and introduction to health records);
  • OR,
  • 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. The training program must have led to eligibility for coding certification/certification examination, and the sponsoring academic institution must have been accredited by a national U.S. Department of Education accreditor, or comparable international accrediting authority at the time the program was completed; OR,
  • Experience/Education Combination. Equivalent combinations of creditable experience and education are qualifying for meeting the basic requirements. The following educational/training substitutions are appropriate for combining education and creditable experience:
    • Six months of creditable experience that indicates knowledge of medical terminology, general understanding of medical coding and the health record, and one year above high school, with a minimum of 6 semester hours of health information technology courses.
    • Successful completion of a course for medical technicians, hospital corpsmen, medical service specialists, or hospital training obtained in a training program given by the Armed Forces or the U.S. Maritime Service, under close medical and professional supervision, may be substituted on a month-for-month basis for up to six months of experience provided the training program included courses in anatomy, physiology, and health record techniques and procedures. Also, requires six additional months of creditable experience that is paid or non-paid employment equivalent to a MRT (Coder)
    • Certification. For this GS-9 CDIS position, you must have either a mastery level certification or a clinical documentation improvement certification.
    • NOTE: You must provide a current/active copy of your certification in your application packet in order to be considered.
    • 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).
    • Clinical Documentation Improvement Certifications include: Clinical Documentation Improvement Practitioner (CDIP) and Certified Clinical Documentation Specialist.
    • NOTE: Mastery level certification is required for all positions above the journey level; however, for clinical documentation improvement specialist assignments, a clinical documentation improvement certification may be substituted for a mastery level certification.
    • Preferred Experience: N/A
    • Grade Determination: Medical Records Technician (Clinical Documentation Improvement Specialist (CDIS-Outpatient and Inpatient), GS-9:One year of creditable experience equivalent to the GS-8 grade level of a MRT (Coder-Outpatient and Inpatient);
  • OR
  • An associate's degree or higher and three years of experience in clinical documentation improvement (candidates must also have successfully completed coursework in medical terminology, anatomy and physiology, medical coding, and introduction to health records
  • Mastery level certification through AHIMA or AAPC and two years of experience in clinical documentation improvement;
  • OR
  • Mastery level certification through AHIMA or AAPC and two years of experience in clinical documentation improvement;
  • OR
  • Clinical experience, such as Registered Nurse (RN), Medical Doctor (M.D.), or Doctor of Osteopathy (DO), and one year of experience in clinical documentation improvement.
• And
• Certification. Employees at this level must have either a mastery level certification or a clinical documentation improvement certification.
• Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs:
  • Knowledge of coding and documentation concepts, guidelines, and clinical terminology.
  • Knowledge of anatomy and physiology, pathophysiology, and pharmacology in order to interpret and analyze all information in a patient's health record, including laboratory and other test results, to identify opportunities for more precise and/or complete documentation in the health record.
  • Ability to collect and analyze data and present results in various formats, which may include presenting reports to various organizational levels.
  • Ability to establish and maintain strong verbal and written communication with providers.
  • Knowledge of regulations that define healthcare documentation requirements, including The Joint Commission, CMS, and VA guidelines.
  • Extensive knowledge of coding rules and regulations, to include current clinical classification systems such as ICD CM and PCS. They must also possess a knowledge of complication or comorbidity/major complication or comorbidity (CC/MCC), MS-DRG structure, and POA indicators.
  • Knowledge of severity of illness, risk of mortality, and complexity of care.
  • Knowledge of training methods and teaching skills sufficient to conduct continuing education for staff development. The training sessions may be technical in nature or may focus on teaching techniques for the improvement of clinical documentation issues.
• References: See VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Appendix G57
• Physical Requirements: Position is mostly sedentary. Work is performed in an office or alternate duty station setting with occasional visits to areas within the service as well as throughout the Medical Center. Work area is adequately lighted, heated and air conditioned. The normal risks and discomforts typical of an office and clerical work area are included. There are no unusual risks or safety hazards associated with this position.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE MAY NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Your application, résumé, C.V., and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect consideration for employment.

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.