Your steps to apply
Medical Records Technician (Coder-Outpatient and Inpatient)
Veterans Health Administration · Tulsa, Oklahoma · Closes in 3 days
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1 Check you can apply You are here
Who can apply: The public.
Open to U.S. citizens, nationals, and those who owe allegiance to the United States. The agency clarified that the job is open to all U.S. citizens.
Experience: One year of creditable experience with medical terminology, anatomy, physiology, pathophysiology, medical coding, and the structure of health records qualifies you for GS-4. To qualify for GS-5 or higher, you need one year of experience at the next lower grade plus the listed skills for that grade.
Education: An associate's degree from an accredited school in health information technology or health information management, or a related degree with at least 12 semester hours in that field (such as medical terminology, anatomy and physiology, medical coding, and introduction to health records). You can also qualify by completing an AHIMA-approved coding program or another intense coding training program of about one year or more that led to eligibility for coding certification. For GS-5, a bachelor's degree in health information management, or a related degree with at least 24 semester hours in that field, can be used. Education must come from schools accredited by a U.S. Department of Education-recognized accreditor. Experience and education can also be combined.
Licenses and certifications:
- Apprentice/Associate Level or Mastery Level certification through AHIMA or AAPC, or Clinical Documentation Improvement certification through AHIMA or ACDIS
Experience can be paid or unpaid, volunteer work included: if it matches the duties, it counts. The full rules are in the announcement.
2 Resume and documents
Write a federal resume for this job. For each job you held, give the month and year you started and ended, your hours per week and what you did, using the words of the experience the announcement asks for. Many announcements accept resumes of up to 2 pages: check this one.
3 Apply on USAJOBS
Closes in 3 days (November 6, until 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time).
You sign in to USAJOBS with a Login.gov account, answer the questionnaire and upload your documents, then you submit. Answer the questionnaire honestly: your resume must show what you claim.
How they rate you: You are rated on your application, resume, supporting documents, questionnaire answers, and USA Hire assessments. The assessments measure competencies such as attention to detail, decision making, reading comprehension, reasoning, and teamwork. Missing required information may make you ineligible or lower your rating.
4 After you apply
In USAJOBS, under Applications, you can see where your application stands: received, reviewed, referred to the hiring manager or not, then selected or not. It can take a few weeks.
For the interview, prepare three examples with the STAR method: the Situation, the Task, what you did (Action) and the Result.
If they choose you: a tentative offer, then a background check, then the final offer with your start date.
Tips for this job:
- Your resume must show month and year for each job, plus hours worked per week and series and grade if you held federal jobs.
- Describe your coding work specifically, because the agency will not assume experience you do not list.
- Set aside at least 3 hours for the USA Hire assessments and finish them within the deadline.
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