These positions are located in the Health Information Management Section (HIMS) of the Business Office at the VA Boston Health Care System at the Brockton, MA Campus. These positions are full-time at 40 hours per week.

Duties

Medical Record Technicians (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 (ICD), Current Procedural Terminology (CPT), and the Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS). MRT (Coder) may also provide education related to coding and documentation. Duties include but not limited to: Apply knowledge of medical record content, medical terminology, anatomy & physiology, diseases processes, and official coding guidelines to assign codes to the most basic and routine inpatient facility and/or professional services. Selects and assigns codes from the current versions of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) Clinical Modification (CM) and Procedure Coding System (PCS) for inpatient facility MS-DRG coding, and Current Procedural Terminology (CPT), and/or Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) for inpatient professional coding. Selects diagnosis, operation, or procedure codes based on the accepted coding practices, guidelines, conventions and policy. Reviews record documentation to abstract all required medical, surgical, ancillary, demographic, social, and administrative data with guidance and instruction from supervisor or senior coder to develop knowledge of the organization and structure of an electronic patient record. Utilizes the facility computer system and software applications to code, abstract, record, and transmit data to the national VA database. Identified data errors are reviewed with a senior coder or the supervisor and corrections made as directed. Uses a variety of computer applications in day-to-day activities and duties, such as Outlook, Excel, Word, and Access; develops use of the health record applications (VistA and CPRS) as well as the encoder product suite. Work Schedule: Full Time, Monday - Friday 8:00 am - 4:30 pm Compressed/Flexible:Not Available Telework: Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required NOTIFICATIONS: This position is in the Excepted Service. Veterans' preference does not apply for internal or other current permanent Federal agency employees. Current 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. This is an AFGE Bargaining Unit position. This position is covered by locality-based comparability pay. The incumbent may be required to travel to other VA Boston campuses and CBOC's. Narrative responses to the knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) will be required from the selectee in order to proceed with the appointment. Incomplete applications will not be considered

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 09/27/2023. BASIC REQUIREMENTS a. Citizenship: Citizen of the United States. b. Experience and Education: (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. OR, (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); OR, (3) 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, (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: (a) 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. (b) 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). c. Certification: Persons hired or reassigned to MRT (Coder) positions in the GS-0675 series in VHA 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. Medical Records Technician (Coder-Outpatient and Inpatient) GS-4 Experience or Education: None beyond basic requirements. GS-5 Experience: One year of creditable experience equivalent to the next lower grade level; OR, 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. In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs: i. Ability to use health information technology and various office software products used in MRT (Coder) positions (e.g., the electronic health record, coding and abstracting software, etc.). ii. Ability to navigate through and abstract pertinent information from health records. iii. Knowledge of the ICD CM, PCS Official Conventions and Guidelines for Coding and Reporting, and CPT guidelines. iv. 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. v. Knowledge of The Joint Commission requirements, CMS, and/or health record documentation guidelines. vi. 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. In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs: i. Ability to analyze the health record to identify all pertinent diagnoses and procedures for coding and to evaluate the adequacy of the documentation. ii. 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. iii. Ability to apply laws and regulations on the confidentiality of health information (e.g., Privacy Act, Freedom of Information Act, and HIPAA). iv. Ability to accurately apply the ICD CM, PCS Official Conventions and Guidelines for Coding and Reporting, and CPT Guidelines to various coding scenarios. v. 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. GS-7 Experience: One year of creditable experience equivalent to the next lower grade level. In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs: i. Skill in applying current coding classifications to a variety of inpatient and outpatient specialty care areas to accurately reflect service and care provided based on documentation in the health record. ii. Ability to communicate with clinical staff for specific coding and documentation issues, such as recording inpatient and outpatient diagnoses and procedures, the correct sequencing of diagnoses and/or procedures, and the relationship between health record documentation and code assignment. iii. Ability to research and solve coding and documentation related issues. iv. Skill in reviewing and correcting system or processing errors and ensuring all assigned work is complete. v. Ability to abstract, assign, and sequence codes, including complication or comorbidity/major complication or comorbidity (CC/MCC), and POA indicators to obtain correct MS-DRG. GS-8 Experience: One year of creditable experience equivalent to the next lower grade level. In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs: i. Ability to analyze the health record to identify all pertinent diagnoses and procedures for coding and to evaluate the adequacy of the documentation. This includes the ability to read and understand the content of the health record, the terminology, the significance of the comments, and the disease process/pathophysiology of the patient. ii. Ability to accurately perform the full scope of outpatient coding, including ambulatory surgical cases, diagnostic studies and procedures, and outpatient encounters, and inpatient facility coding, including inpatient discharges, surgical cases, diagnostic studies and procedures, and inpatient professional services. iii. Skill in interpreting and adapting health information guidelines that are not completely applicable to the work, or have gaps in specificity, and the ability to use judgment in completing assignments using incomplete or inadequate guidelines References: VA Handbook 5005/122 PART II APPENDIX G57

Education

The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-08. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is in the range of GS-04 to GS-08.

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

Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html.

Contacts

• Address VA Boston Healthcare System 940 Belmont Street Brockton, MA 02301 US
• Name: Julia Murdoch
• Phone: 508-513-7803
• Email: [email protected]