Mid Coding Specialist III, General Surgery

Job Summary

UT Southwestern Medical Center has a new opportunity for a Mid Coding Specialist III who will code General Surgery cases. The successful candidate will work under general supervision to perform advanced, accurate, and compliant coding of high-complexity surgical, procedural, and interventional specialties within a specialized academic medical center environment.

Required EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATION

• Education: High School Diploma or GED Equivalent
• Experience: 4 years of coding and/or billing experience
• PREFERRED: Experience coding high-complexity specialties and procedures requiring advanced bundling, modifier logic, and payer-specific rule application. Progressive professional billing and coding experience and advanced technical proficiency. Experience in academic medical centers, multi-specialty physician groups, or complex ambulatory environments. Experience resolving charge review edits and back-end coding denials, including root-cause analysis and collaboration with providers and operational leaders. Experience supporting revenue integrity initiatives, compliance auditing, clinical documentation improvement (CDI), or operational performance improvement efforts. Experience working independently in a fast-paced, metric-driven, AI-enabled environment managing multiple work queues and shifting specialty assignments.

Benefits

UT Southwestern is proud to offer a competitive and comprehensive benefits package to eligible employees. Our benefits are designed to support your overall wellbeing, and include: PPO medical plan, available day one at no cost for full-time employee-only coverage100% coverage for preventive healthcare-no copayPaid Time Off, available day oneRetirement Programs through the Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS)Paid Parental Leave BenefitWellness programsTuition ReimbursementPublic Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)

Job Duties

• Mets productivity and quality standards set by coding leadership.
• Reviews and validates high-complex physician encounter documentation within Epic to ensure accurate and compliant documentation, ICD-10-CM, CPT, and HCPCS code assignment prior to claim submission.
• Identifies and mitigates compliance risks associated with high-complexity encounters, including multiple interdependent diagnoses, high-risk procedures, split/shared and incident to services, and teaching physician documentation.
• May support multiple specialties in a hybrid role as needed.
• Reviews and resolves coding-related edits, including NCCI bundling conflicts, modifier application, MUE limits, payer-specific requirements, and global surgical package considerations.
• May evaluate, accept, modify, or override AI-generated coding outputs from Epic AI Code Assist/Complete, AI E&M LOS Assistant, and applicable third-party platforms using advanced clinical and regulatory judgment.
• May resolve AI exception flags, documentation discrepancies, and code conflicts to ensure audit readiness and clean claim release.
• Analyzes recurring coding edits, may analyze AI variances, and denial trends; performs root cause review and communicates findings to leadership when systemic issues are identified.
• Collaborates with providers to clarify documentation and ensure accurate code capture that supports medical necessity and reimbursement.
• Supports denial prevention efforts by partnering with billing and denial management teams to resolve coding-related rejections and underpayments.
• Maintains advanced knowledge of ICD-10-CM, CPT, HCPCS, payer policies, LCD/NCD guidelines, and regulatory updates.
• Participates in internal audits, quality assurance initiatives, Epic upgrades, and may participate in AI workflow optimization projects.
• May function in a float capacity, providing coding support to maintain operational coverage and productivity standards.
• Adheres to all organizational policies, compliance standards, data security requirements, and performance expectations.
• Performs other duties as assigned.