Clarification from the agency

NOTE: The 2-page Resume requirement does not apply to this position. For more information, refer to Required Documents below.

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Virtual/Remote Work Status: This position is eligible for Remote/Virtual work. However, this position may fall under the Presidential Memorandum titled "Return to In-Person Work" which requires you to go into the office. By applying to this position, you are acknowledging that you maybe be required to report in person to a designated location deemed by management

This position is located in the Health Information Management section at the White River Junction, VT 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. To perform this task, they must possess expertise in International Classification of Diseases, Current Procedural Terminology, and the Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System. MRT (Coder) may also provide education related to coding and documentation. Duties include but are not limited to:

• Assigns codes to documented patient care encounters (inpatient and/or outpatient) covering the full range of health care services provided by the VAMC. Patient encounters are often complicated and complex requiring extensive coding expertise.
• Applies advanced knowledge of medical terminology, anatomy & physiology, disease processes, treatment modalities, diagnostic tests, medications, procedures as well as the principles and practices of health services and the organizational structure to ensure proper code selection.
• Selects and assigns codes from the current version of several coding systems to include current versions of the International Classification of Diseases, Current Procedural Terminology, and/or Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System.
• Adheres to accepted coding practices, guidelines and conventions when choosing the most appropriate diagnosis, operation, procedure, ancillary, or evaluation and management code to ensure ethical, accurate, and complete coding. Also applies codes based on guidelines specific to certain diagnoses, procedures, and other criteria used to classify patients under the Veterans Equitable Resource Allocation program that categorizes all VA patients into specific classes representing their clinical conditions and resource needs.
• Monitors ever-changing regulatory and policy requirements affecting coded information for the full spectrum of services provided by the VAMC. Timely compliance with coding changes is crucial to the accuracy of the facility database as well as all cost recovery programs.
• Performs a comprehensive review of the patient health record to abstract medical, surgical, ancillary, demographic, social, and administrative data to ensure complete data capture. Patient health records may be paper or electronic. The abstracted data has many purposes, for example, to profile the facility services and patient population, to determine budgetary requirements, to report to accrediting and peer review organizations, to bill insurance companies and other agencies, and to support research programs.
• Assists facility staff with documentation requirements to completely and accurately reflect the patient care provided; provides technical support in the areas of regulations and policy, coding requirements, resident supervision, reimbursement, workload, accepted nomenclature, and proper sequencing. Insures provider documentation is complete and supports the diagnoses and procedures coded.
• Directly consults with the professional staff for clarification of conflicting or ambiguous clinical data.
• Expertly searches the patient health record to find documentation justifying code assignment based on an expanded knowledge of the organization and structure of the patient record.

• This position is in the Excepted Service.
• This position is a AFGE Bargaining Unit position.
• Salary includes locality for the Rest of the US. Locality pay may be adjusted for selectee's applicable duty station.
• This is a VISN 1 Virtual position with duty assignment to be determined at a VISN 1 campus within the New England region.
• Salary will be based on duty location.
• Current and former Federal employees must submit copies of their most recent SF-50, (Notice of Personnel Action). The SF-50 must identify the position title, series, grade, step, tenure and type of service (Competitive or Excepted). In some cases, more than one SF-50 may be required to show a higher grade previously held.

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job.
• To be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. In addition to the application and questionnaire, this position requires an online assessment. The online assessment measures critical general competencies required to perform the job.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English.
• Subject to background/security investigation.
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued dentification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).
• Complete all application requirements detailed in the "Required Documents" section of this announcement.

• your performance and conduct;
• the needs and interests of the agency;
• whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
• whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

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.

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.

• Experience. One year of creditable experience equivalent to the journey grade level MRT (Coder).
• Certification. Employees at this level must have a mastery level certification.
• Assignment. For all assignments above the journey level, the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, complexity (difficulty), range of variety, and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time. Lead MRTs (Coder) must be able to perform all duties of a MRT (Coder). Lead MRTs (Coder) review coding and assist MRTs (Coder) in ensuring timeliness and improving coding accuracy; provide coding guidance to various levels of staff to promote consistency in practice and compliance with coding rules and regulations; initiate, prepare, and maintain various reports, and analyze data; and may also coordinate, assign, and monitor workflow. They provide input for performance evaluations and hiring. They orient and instruct new coding personnel and/or students on coding, abstracting, and use of the electronic health record and encoder software. They ensure audit findings and claim denials related to coding errors are resolved and/or daily coding rejects corrected for accurate billing and data collection. They monitor trends and/or changes in regulatory and policy requirements affecting coding practices and identify educational needs. They develop coding training materials and present a curriculum encompassing ongoing training initiatives. They provide assistance with coding inquiries from providers, MRTs (Coder), billers, and other facility staff. Lead MRTs whose assignments involve two or more MRT specialty areas will be assigned the parenthetical title for the predominant specialty area. Lead MRTs (Coder) may be at a facility or in a consolidated coding unit (CCU).
• Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs:
  • i. Ability to work with a team to provide technical guidance, plan, organize, and coordinate activities in order to effectively complete job duties of assignment, such as distributing workload, monitoring the status and progress of work, monitoring accuracy of work, etc.
  • ii. Advanced knowledge of current coding classification systems for the subspecialty being assigned (outpatient, inpatient, outpatient and inpatient combined) and the ability to research and solve complex questions related to coding conventions and guidelines in an accurate and timely manner. V
  • iii. Ability to effectively communicate, both orally and in writing, in order to meet program objectives.
  • iv. Knowledge of training methods and the ability to provide training to new coding staff.
  • v. Ability to collect and analyze data and present results in various formats, which may include presenting reports to various organizational levels.
  • vi. Leadership skills, including interpersonal relations and conflict resolution between employees, managers, and clinical staff.

How you will be evaluated

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

Area of Consideration - Eligible applications will be reviewed and referred in the following order:

1. Current permanent VA employees of the facility.
2. All other VA employees.
3. Other Federal Employees.
4. All other US Citizens.

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

Your qualifications will be evaluated based on your application materials (e.g., resume, supporting documents), your responses on the application questionnaire, and your responses to all assessments required for this position. You will be assessed on the following Competencies for this position:

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.

The Department of Veterans Affairs performs pre-employment reference checks as an assessment method used in the hiring process to verify information provided by a candidate (e.g., on resume or during interview or hiring process); gain additional knowledge regarding a candidate's abilities; and assist a hiring manager with making a final selection for a position.

It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment.

Veterans and Transitioning Service Members: Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members.