Job summary
We currently have an exciting opportunity for a highly skilled Clinical Coding Auditor to join our audit and training team on a full-time permanent basis. This is a hybrid role consisting of working from home and working on site.
Suitable candidates will hold the Approved Clinical Coding Auditor Qualification and will have a hardworking and flexible attitude towards professional tasks at hand.
Interview date: TBC
Main duties of the job
As Clinical Coding Auditor your responsibilities including, but are not limited to:
1. Undertaking audits of clinically coded data in line with the NHS Digital's audit methodology and code of conduct.
2. Supporting the Clinical Coding Manager.
About us
Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves a population of over 600,000 with a workforce of over 9000 dedicated and skilled staff across 21 sites.
We strongly believe that the communities we serve should all have access to Five Star Patient Care.
Our Services:
Acute Care
Providing emergency and maternity services at Whiston, Southport and Ormskirk hospitals, and medical and surgical specialties across all our sites.
Primary Care
Providing primary care services at Marshalls Cross Medical Centre situated in St Helens Hospital.
Community Services
Providing adult community services for St Helens and a wheelchair service in Chorley, South Ribble, and West Lancashire. Our inpatient unit at Newton Community Hospital is where patients needing acute hospital beds can continue rehabilitation, freeing up space for more unwell patients. We also provide urgent care at our Urgent Treatment Centre located in St Helens town centre.
Specialist Regional Services
We provide the Mersey Regional Burns & Plastic Surgery Unit at Whiston Hospital and the Spinal Injuries Unit at Southport Hospital to more than 4 million people across the whole of Merseyside, West Lancashire, Cheshire, Isle of Man and North Wales.
Achievements:
o Rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018
o Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Health Service Journal)
o National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme
Job description
Job responsibilities
KEY DUTIES
3. To operate on own initiative referring more complex cases to the Clinical Coding Assistant Manager for advice
4. To act in the capacity of coding expert and provides advice to junior team members on coding queries ensuring adherence to national clinical guidelines
5. Undertake staff audits and ad hoc specialty audits
6. Assign codes from the International Classification of Diseases (ICD10) and the Office of Populations and Censuses and Surveys (OPCS4)
7. Participate in preparing audit reports for staff audits undertaken
8. Participate in Departmental meetings and present the results of relevant reviews
9. Demonstrate good presentation skills to colleagues, the multi-disciplinary team and Clinicians
10. Coordinate engagement between Coders, Clinicians and Divisional Managers
11. Responsible for planning own workload to ensure that the objectives of the whole team are achieved
12. Maintain a professional standard of behaviour with all Trust staff
13. Take responsibility for keeping up to date with current issues and developments within the coding department.
14. Work with the Divisional Managers, Associate Managers and Clinicians to improve and sustain accurate clinical data recording to support clinical coding to National Standards
15. Raise clinical coding issues with the Coding Manager
16. Undertake clinical coding reviews as required and agreed
17. Identify key areas impacting on HRG assignment and tariff making recommendations to the Clinical Coding Assistant Manager accordingly
18. Work with the Audit and training team to identify key areas for clinical coding review
19. Plan meetings with Senior Clinicians as and when necessary to undertake review of clinical information where queries have been raised
20. To validate complex clinical data and procedures with Clinicians in order to assure depth of coding for accurate payment
21. Analyse external audit reports and recommend to the Coding Manager and Divisions any corrective measures that need to be put in place to improve data quality and clinical coding outcomes
22. Support the Auditors & Clinical Coding Assistant Manager in obtaining clarification on new interventional procedures and clinical practice within the divisional specialties to ensure correct understanding for code assignment and support cascading this information
23. To liaise with clinicians and their support staff concerning interpretation of case notes documentation affecting coding
24. To prioritise Junior Clinical Coders workload and reallocate work to cover sickness or leave at short notice.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
25. GCSEs (A-C) or equivalent
26. Accredited Clinical Coding Qualification (NCCQ)
27. Clinical Coding Audit Qualification
Knowledge
Essential
28. Extensive specialist clinical coding experience across all specialties
29. Experience of working with the HRG Grouper
30. Planning, organising workload to meet deadlines
31. Experience of undertaking presentations relating to clinical coding
32. Experience of mentoring junior members of the coding team
33. Transferring coding skills and knowledge to others
34. Experience of working with clinicians and or/senior staff
Desirable
35. Knowledge of Information governance, data protection legislation, Caldicott and other relevant guidance.
Skills
Essential
36. Firm grounding in medical terminology and anatomy and physiology
37. Ability to work on own initiative and as part of a team
38. Good understanding of Payment by Results framework
39. Excellent knowledge and understanding of clinical coding rules and conventions.
40. Effective inter-personal skills.
41. Possess motivation and persuasion skills
42. Excellent PC skills.
Other
Essential
43. Excellent concentration skills, with attention to detail
44. Flexible approach to work
Desirable
45. Knowledge of Snomed CT
46. Ability to travel to various hospital locations by own car/assisted driver