Medical Records Technician (ROI)

About the role

This Medical Records Technician Release of Information (ROI) position is in the Business Office located at the Manchester VA Medical center. This position is a full-time at 40 hours per week.

Responsibilities

• Evaluates the adequacy of each completed authorization form for release of medical records;
• Accessing and release of medical records in a highly complex, multispecialty acute care hospital;
• Providing high levels of customer service to Veterans and other stakeholders in person, by phone, or other approved medium;
• Working in a busy and diverse office environment with requirements to multitask and prioritize duties effectively including appropriate elevation of issues;
• Abstracts and processes medical releases' of authorizations to release medical information with valid requests that pertain to the Privacy Act, the Freedom of Information Act and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act;
• Requests for information from patient's medical records for release to appropriate facility, agency or physician;
• Reviews paper and computerized medical records (i.e., scanned notes, reports, special tests, etc.) to identify material to be photocopied/printed/written to electronic media and release;
• Completes and processes routine releases of information to other VA and Federal Agencies and when requested, to patients and their families, insurance representatives, physicians, hospitals, and city and state health agencies according to VA directives.

Requirements

• Medical records requests are downloaded and formatted to a CD from multiple computer systems;
• Composes and types all forms of correspondence to insurance companies, veterans, health care facilities, and other requestors;
• Screens each request for information to determine urgency and assures that most urgent requests are completed first using established priority systems;
• Affords assistance to Veterans/visitors in determining the exact nature of the request and whether the information requested can be released;
• Applies public laws, rules, regulations and exclusions governing confidentiality of the medical record, including the Privacy Act, Freedom of Information Act and 38 U.S.C. 7332 governing the release of records containing information;
• Processes all incoming requests to the facility for Release of Information (ROI) along with information required by the VA Regional Office;
• Evaluates validity of each request and determines which information is to be released in compliance with existing laws;
• Ensures that proper authorization exists before release is made and processes the request to the requesting agency or individual;
• Inputs all requests for logging and tracking;
• Receives and/or gives out forms, and assists visitors and/or callers with the completion of forms or documents and responds to questions from patients concerning services;
• Searches records or files to compose responses, including electronic searches to retrieve and summarize hard-to-locate data;
• Selects and compiles information from health records and prepares correspondence, typically using standard form or standard formats for letters;
• Ensures the information released is limited to what is specifically authorized;
• Completes and processes routine releases of information to other VA and Federal Agencies and when requested, to patients and their families, insurance representatives, physicians, hospitals, and city and state health agencies according to VA directives;
• Processes requests within established time standards.

Qualifications

• One year of creditable experience that indicates knowledge of medical terminology and general understanding of health records. Six months of the required one year of creditable experience must have provided the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) needed to perform MRT (ROI) work.
• 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, legal aspects of health care, and introduction to health records).
• Equivalent combinations of creditable experience and education are qualifying towards meeting basic experience requirements. The following experience and educational/training substitutions are appropriate for combining education and creditable experience:
• (a) Six months of creditable experience that indicates knowledge of medical terminology, privacy and release of information, the health record, and one year above high school with a minimum of six semester hours of health information technology/health information management courses.
• (b) Six months of creditable experience that indicates knowledge of medical terminology, privacy and release of information, the health record, and 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. The training program may be substituted on a month for month basis for up to six months of experience provided the training program included courses in anatomy and physiology, and health record techniques and procedures.