Clarification from the agency

NOTE: The 2-page Resume requirement does not apply to this position. For more information, refer to Required Documents below. This is an INTERNAL ANNOUNCEMENT and is limited to current permanent employees of the VA Des Moines - Central Iowa Health Care System to include CBOC's and current permanent VA Nationwide employees. The public and employees of other Federal agencies should apply to announcement number CBSY-12940519-26-SH

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Announcement will close once 50 applicants is reached-Temporarily eligible for Remote work within 50 miles of a VA Medical Center. May fall under the Presidential Memorandum tiled "Return to In-Person Work" which will require you to go into the office if the exemption is not approved at the next review.

• Selects and assigns codes from current ICD, CPT, and/or HCPCS coding systems for inpatient and outpatient encounters across the full range of VAMC health care services. Applies advanced knowledge of medical terminology, anatomy & physiology, disease processes, procedures, and health services practices to ensure accurate code selection.
• Adheres to accepted coding practices and guidelines to ensure ethical, accurate, and complete code selection across diagnoses, procedures, and E/M services. Applies VERA program coding criteria to classify VA patients into appropriate classes based on clinical conditions and resource needs.
• Assists facility staff with documentation requirements to accurately reflect patient care. Provides technical support on regulations, coding requirements, reimbursement, and proper sequencing. Consults directly with clinical staff to clarify conflicting or ambiguous data and reports documentation or coding errors in the electronic health record.
• Uses facility systems and software to code, abstract, record, and transmit data to national VA databases. Corrects errors or inconsistencies within established timelines and independently researches references to resolve questionable coding issues, escalating to a supervisor as needed.

May be assigned one or more of the following regular or recurring duties:

• Identifies the principal diagnosis, principal procedure, and significant complications or co-morbidities for every inpatient discharge to determine the proper DRG. Codes admission diagnoses for Community Living Center/Nursing Home Care Unit admissions using the current ICD coding system.
• Re-reviews inpatient and outpatient codes identified by the VERA committee to verify compliance with VERA coding requirements, correcting codes as needed to ensure proper patient classification.
• Establishes diagnosis and procedure codes for outpatient fee encounters per reimbursement regulations, linking diagnoses to procedures and determining E/M service levels. Applies CPT coding nuances for Third Party Insurance recovery, bundles encounters appropriately, and communicates billing issues to CPAC staff.
• Codes all surgical procedures using ICD and CPT guidelines and the encoder product suite, adding Anesthesia and Pathology codes for all billable cases, including creating encounters as needed.
• Update codes for inpatient and Contract Nursing Home admissions for quarterly census and billable long-stay (30+ days) admissions to reflect all conditions and care through the census or billing date.
• May be required to review and enter coded data from paid Community Care claims using documentation (e.g., hard-copy claims) obtained from non-VA facilities.

Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 7:30 am - 4:00 pm
Telework: Not Available-as this is a remote position
Virtual: This is a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 000000
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

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.
• 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.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1 or 2-year trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:

• 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.

Upon completion of your trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Qualifications

Basic Requirements:

• U.S. Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.
• Experience & Education: Must meet ONE of the following
  1. 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;
  2. 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);
  3. Education 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. Dept. of Education accreditor, or comparable international accrediting authority at the time the program was completed;
  4. 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.

Certification: Must have either 1, 2, or 3 below:

1. Apprentice/Associate Level Certification through AHIMA or AAPC.
2. Mastery Level Certification through AHIMA or AAPC.
3. Clinical Documentation Improvement Certification through AHIMA or ACDIS.

May qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision as described in the VA Qualification Standard for this occupation (only applicable to current VHA employees who are in this occupation and meet the criteria).

Grade Determinations:IMPORTANT: A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.GS-4

• Experience or Education. None beyond basic requirements.

GS-5

• Experience. One year of creditable experience equivalent to the next lower grade level;
• Education. Successful completion of a bachelor'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 management, or a related degree with a minimum of 24 semester hours in health information management or technology.
• Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs:
  1. Ability to use health information technology and software products used in MRT (Coder) positions (e.g., the electronic health record, coding and abstracting software, etc.).
  2. Ability to navigate through and abstract pertinent information from health records.
  3. Knowledge of the ICD CM, PCS Official Conventions and Guidelines for Coding and Reporting, and CPT guidelines.
  4. Ability to apply knowledge of medical terminology, human anatomy/physiology, and disease processes to accurately assign codes to inpatient and outpatient episodes of care based on health record documentation.
  5. Knowledge of The Joint Commission requirements, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and/or health record documentation guidelines.
  6. Ability to manage priorities and coordinate work to complete duties within required timeframes, and the ability to follow-up on pending issues.

GS-6

• Experience. One year of creditable experience equivalent to the next lower grade level.
• Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs:
  1. Ability to analyze the health record to identify all pertinent diagnoses and procedures for coding and to evaluate the adequacy of the documentation.
  2. Ability to determine whether health records contain sufficient information for regulatory requirements, are acceptable as legal documents, are adequate for continuity of patient care, and support the assigned codes. This includes the ability to take appropriate actions if health record contents are not complete, accurate, timely, and/or reliable.
  3. Ability to apply laws and regulations on the confidentiality of health information (e.g., Privacy Act, Freedom of Information Act, and HIPAA).
  4. Ability to accurately apply the ICD CM, PCS Official Conventions and Guidelines for Coding and Reporting, and CPT Guidelines to various coding scenarios.
  5. Comprehensive knowledge of current classification systems, such as ICD CM, PCS, CPT, HCPCS, and skill in applying classifications to both inpatient and outpatient records based on health record documentation.vi. Knowledge of complication or comorbidity/major complication or comorbidity (CC/MCC) and POA indicators to obtain correct MS-DRG.

SEE EDUCATION SECTION BELOW FOR GS-7 AND GS-8 Grade Requirements

Preferred Experience:

• Hold a AAPC/AHIMA specialty coding certification in one or more following areas and/or have creditable work experience as a seasoned coder:
• - Experience with standardized mortality ratios (SMR), including acute care and ICU 30 day and in hospital mortality measures
• - Inpatient (Acute Care, Domiciliary, CLC, SNF) Coding
• - Inpatient Appointments/Professional Fees Coding
• - Surgery Coding
• - Outpatient Coding
• - Prosthetics/DME Coding
• Experience with VA, EPIC or Cerner EHRM
• Experience with 3M Coding and Reimbursement Systems

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.Medical Records Technician Qualification Standard

The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-8. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is in the range of GS-4 to GS-8.

Physical Requirements: You will be asked to participate in a pre-employment examination or evaluation as part of the pre-employment process for this position. Questions about physical demands or environmental factors may be addressed at the time of evaluation or examination.

How you will be evaluated

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

Eligible applications will be reviewed and referred in the following order:
1. Current permanent VA employees of the facility.
2. All other VA employees.

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.

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.