Coding and CDI Program Manager

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center is an independent, nonprofit organization providing adult cancer treatment and groundbreaking research focused on cancer and infectious diseases. Based in Seattle, Fred Hutch is the only National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center in Washington.

With a track record of global leadership in bone marrow transplantation, HIV/AIDS prevention, immunotherapy and COVID-19 vaccines, Fred Hutch has earned a reputation as one of the world's leading cancer, infectious disease and biomedical research centers. Fred Hutch operates eight clinical care sites that provide medical oncology, infusion, radiation, proton therapy and related services, and network affiliations with hospitals in five states. Together, our fully integrated research and clinical care teams seek to discover new cures to the world's deadliest diseases and make life beyond cancer a reality.

At Fred Hutch we value collaboration, compassion, determination, excellence, innovation, integrity and respect. Our mission is directly tied to the humanity, dignity and inherent value of each employee, patient, community member and supporter. Our commitment to learning across our differences and similarities make us stronger. We seek employees who bring different and innovative ways of seeing the world and solving problems.

The Coding and Clinical Documentation Improvement (CDI) Program Manager is responsible for the overall development, leadership, and ongoing management of the Fred Hutch facility coding team. This role plays a key part in shaping the strategy and evolution of the Clinical Documentation Improvement Program, ensuring alignment with organizational and revenue cycle goals.

The Manager oversees all daily coding operations, including staff supervision, workflow management, data collection, analysis, and performance reporting. This position is accountable for establishing and maintaining key performance indicators (KPIs), policies and procedures, training programs, educational resources, and quality assurance standards.

In addition, the Coding and CDI Manager identifies, designs, and implements process improvement initiatives to optimize operational efficiency and support a high performing revenue cycle.

This is a fully remote position. The schedule for this position is Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm PST.

Management/Leadership:

Provides leadership and acts as a support resource to the supervisor and department staff to ensure smooth day-to day operations including human resource management and retention, promotions, performance appraisals, ensuring appropriate staffing levels, regular evaluation of productivity, coding quality and competency, and providing direction and feedback to team members.
• Effectively communicates in a courteous and professional manner and promotes diversity of thoughts and skills to foster a collegial work environment that celebrates each team member's unique contributions while maintaining a challenging and rewarding work environment.
• Ethically practices and communicates with integrity, transparency, honesty, and courage to advocate for self and team even when uncomfortable while also maintaining confidentiality and protecting proprietary information.
• Develops others to lead, demonstrates good leadership by setting the example, as well as supporting and providing others with opportunities for growth through professional development and goal setting.
• Demonstrates inclusive behaviors in their daily leadership style through active collaboration.
• Sets directives and expectations clearly for the team.
• Assists Senior Manager with the development and monitoring of the annual budget and financial management of resources.
• Designs, develops, and executes coding standard processes, policies, and procedures to ensure efficient operations.
• Represents the coding department and the revenue cycle as a key leader collaborating cross-departmentally, coordinating, and escalating issues to the appropriate level for problem solving.
• Develops collaborative relationships with corporate integrity, denials team, billing staff, clinical staff, providers, and leadership to solve coding issues as well as support the organizational goals and strategic plan.
• Demonstrate prioritization and flexibility by adapting to changing work assignments.

Coding:

• Provides strong leadership and serves as a key support resource to supervisors and department staff, ensuring smooth daily operations. Responsibilities include workforce management and retention, promotions, performance evaluations, staffing oversight, productivity monitoring, coding quality review, competence assessment, and timely coaching and feedback.
• Communicates effectively in a courteous, professional manner and fosters a collaborative, inclusive environment that values diverse perspectives, celebrates individual contributions, and maintains a challenging and rewarding workplace.
• Develops future leaders by modeling effective leadership behaviors, supporting team members' professional growth, and facilitating goal setting, training, and career development opportunities.
• Demonstrates inclusive leadership through active collaboration, transparent communication, and engagement across teams.
• Establishes clear directives, expectations, and performance standards to guide and support team success.
• Assists with developing and monitoring the annual budget, ensuring responsible financial management of departmental resources.
• Designs, implements, and maintains coding standards, processes, policies, and procedures to promote operational efficiency and regulatory compliance.
• Represents the coding department and revenue cycle as a crossdepartmental leader, collaborating with peers, coordinating efforts, and appropriately escalating issues to support timely and effective problem solving.
• Builds and maintains collaborative relationships with Corporate Integrity, Denials, Billing, Clinical teams, providers, and organizational leadership to resolve coding issues and advance organizational goals and strategic priorities.
• Demonstrates strong prioritization skills and adaptability, effectively adjusting to evolving work assignments and organizational needs.

Clinical Documentation Integrity:

• Serves as subject matter expert for clinical documentation improvement in medical records, and utilizes strong communication skills with providers, nursing, and clinical operations by leveraging appropriate tools to capture needed documentation. Works collaboratively with the healthcare teams to ensure documentation supports the accurate patient's severity of illness, medical complexity, and necessity.
• Improves the overall quality and completeness of clinical documentation by performing medical record reviews for quality documentation, timely documentation, ICD-10-CM specificity and medical necessity to support charge capture.
• Understand various payment structures, payor fee schedules, and reimbursement methodologies in the outpatient setting and with physician facility encounters and how physician documentation translates into ICD-10-CM claims submission to meet reporting requirements for denials prevention.
• Lead process improvement and education of clinical staff, CDI, and coding teams.
• Monitors, assists, and tracks the progress of the CDI program through analysis, trending and presentation of audit/review findings, potential issues, and their root cause. Serves as a resource to physicians and administration regarding issues related to compliant documentation.
• Serves as Liaison for HwH inpatient CDI oversight monitoring for Fred Hutch inpatient accounts.
• Participates in compliance related activities and denials root cause and process improvement, as appropriate.

Required:

• Bachelor's degree in a health sciences discipline, business administration or related field; or an equivalent combination of education and/or work experience.
• Minimum of 5 years leadership experience, leading teams, demonstrating excellence, and managing operational implementations. Experience in managing remote teams. Experience with Epic and 3M encoder as well as working knowledge of electronic medical records and claims management systems. Experience in both inpatient and outpatient hospital settings with proficiency with facility coding practices. Experience in auditing and QA practices.
• Coding certification (RHIT, CCS, CCA, CPC, CPC-H, or COC).
• Strong medical terminology skills.
• Working knowledge of compliance practices including auditing.
• Should have the ability to be a dependable self-starter, able set priorities, manage multiple data needs, and meet appropriate deadlines independently.
• Excellent analytical ability to develop and analyze data to recommend solutions and solve complex problems.
• Ability to develop collaborative working relationships that foster a positive working environment with an emphasis on teamwork.
• Proven communication, organizational, analytical, and critical thinking skills.
• Ability to communicate effectively with all levels of management and medical staff including interacting with department leaders to facilitate problem solving, identification of process improvements, and workflow redesign related to coding activities.
• Ability to gather data, compile information, and prepare reports utilizing knowledge of auditing concepts and principles, as well analyzing complex medical records with good knowledge of medical terminology.
• Knowledge of electronic coding resources, encoders, & practice management systems.
• Proficiency with MS Office applications.
• Subject matter expert in coding including extensive knowledge of the Official Coding and Documentation Guidelines.
• Working knowledge of insurance practices and guidelines.

Preferred:

• Bachelor's degree in health information management or informatics
• RHIA credential.
• Oncology coding experience preferred.
• Experience in a research based acute care facility preferred.
• Epic proficiency or certifications preferred.
• Teaching, training, or facilitating experience preferred.
• Advanced MS Office skills strongly preferred.

The annual base salary range for this position is from $99,487.00 to $88,171.00, and pay offered will be based on experience and qualifications.

This position is not eligible for H-1B sponsorship at this time.

This is a fully remote position. The schedule for this position is Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm PST.

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center offers employees a comprehensive benefits package designed to enhance health, well-being, and financial security. Benefits include medical/vision, dental, flexible spending accounts, life, disability, retirement, family life support, employee assistance program, onsite health clinic, tuition reimbursement, paid vacation (12-22 days per year), paid sick leave (12-25 days per year), paid holidays (13 days per year), paid parental leave (up to 4 weeks).