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State of Washington Classified Job Specification

HEALTH RECORDS TECHNICIAN 1

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HEALTH RECORDS TECHNICIAN 1
Class Code: 281A
Category: Health Care


Definition

In a healthcare division, facility, hospital or institution, positions act as an information resource and provide health and/or medical records related information to authorized medical providers, staff and/or third party agents regarding residents and/or patients, in compliance with applicable policies, state and federal requirements and/or regulations.  Incumbents assist with reviewing and updating health/medical record retention schedules; coordinating and retrieving information for and responding to public record requests related to health/medical records; assist in the day-to-day delivery, distribution, access, maintenance and retention of manual and/or electronic health/medical forms.

Distinguishing Characteristics

Positions work under general supervision and independently perform professional level health/medical records duties related to residents and/or patients such as, reviewing records for completeness and accuracy; monitoring lengths of stay, severity of illness, and intensity of services to assure appropriate utilization of resources or explain justification for admission, treatment, and length of stay.

Typical Work

Ensures security and confidentiality of resident and/or patient records in order to protect health information as per the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and other state or federal requirements;

Interpret Revised Code of Washington (RCW) and Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) regarding protection/privacy of patient or resident health records;

Reviews patients' records for completeness and accuracy according to established standards; maintains consistency and accessibility of records;

Collaborates with medical providers or other pertinent staff to resolve clinical documentation inaccuracies, and facilitates improvements and corrections when necessary;

Responds to health/medical record requests from authorized medical providers, staff or third party agents in compliance with applicable policies, laws and requirements;

Performs comprehensive quality assurance and/or compliance audits on patient and/or resident records to ensure compliance with applicable policies, procedures, RCWs and/or CFRs; verifies Advance Beneficiary Notice (ABN) compliance;

Abstracts data using two or more systems and prepares periodic narrative and statistical reports as related to health and/or medical records;

Maintains awareness of current industry trends, best practices and benchmarks in order to provide technical guidance, feedback or training to medical providers and staff;

Represents agency in court or hearing(s) regarding health and/or medical records, as required or requested;

Creates and maintains electronic and physical files;

Identifies and analyzes records systems problems and proposes solutions to management to meet program and system requirements and organizational needs;

May monitor patient’s length of stay, severity of illness, and intensity of services to assure appropriate utilization of resources or explain the justification for admission, treatment, and length of stay;

Designs manual, electronic and/or automated health records filing systems and/or forms to meet specialized requirements; schedules and coordinates the implementation of plans for both standard and specialized systems in consultation with management;

Interact with and assist patients with review of their health records and/or release of their health information;

May lead lower level and/or in-training staff;

Performs other duties as required.

Knowledge and Abilities

Knowledge of: general health information management (medical records) guidelines, techniques, regulations; medical terminology; policies and procedures related to records management; office management procedures; confidentiality and privacy rules; records retention and destruction guidelines; filing; systems analysis.

Ability to: analyze data for standardization; abstract information required to prepare statistical and other reporting; work effectively with staff, medical providers, and other affected parties; communicate clearly and effectively both orally and in written form; work cooperatively with professional and nonprofessional staff; draw conclusions from data; train technical, professional and other staff; lead other staff.

Legal Requirement(s)

There may be instances where individual positions must have additional licenses or certification. It is the employer’s responsibility to ensure the appropriate licenses/certifications are obtained for each position.

Desirable Qualifications

Associate’s degree

 

AND

 

At least two years of experience in Health Information Management (medical records) or in a healthcare privacy and/ or compliance office or related area.

 

Combined experience in the above areas may be substituted year for year for the experience desired.

 

Positions generally require current and ongoing accreditation through the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) as a Registered Health Information Technician (RHIT) or as a Registered Health Information Administrator (RHIA).

Class Specification History

New class. Adopted June 13, 2019, effective July 1, 2019.