Job Details

Summary

The Release of Information (ROI) Clerk is responsible for processing requests for patient health information in accordance with federal and state laws, hospital policies, and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). The ROI Clerk ensures timely, accurate, and secure release of medical records while maintaining confidentiality and supporting the overall operations of the Health Information Management (HIM) department.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Review and process requests for medical records from patients, healthcare providers, attorneys, insurance companies, and government agencies.

Verify requestor identity and ensure all authorizations meet HIPAA and organizational compliance standards.

Retrieve, scan, and prepare records for release from electronic health record (EHR) systems (Cerner and CPSI).

Log, track, and document all requests and disclosures in accordance with department policies.

Protect patient confidentiality by following privacy and security policies and promptly reporting any potential breaches.

Provide excellent customer service to patients and requestors regarding status of requests or documentation requirements.

Collaborate with HIM staff to ensure records are complete and accurate before release.

Maintain knowledge of state and federal release of information laws, hospital policies, and HIM best practices.

Assist with subpoena processing and legal record requests as directed.

Perform quality assurance checks to ensure accuracy and timeliness of released information.

Support other HIM functions as needed, including scanning, indexing, and record retrieval.

Answers all external and internal calls regarding medical records and handles/responds to all requests within defined timeframe.

Complies with federal HIPAA regulations for the privacy and security of patient information and ensure proper handling of sensitive and/or confidential information.

Coordinates off-site record storage process, including preparing medical records for off-site storage, maintain an inventory of records stored off-site, and ensuring that destruction is according to state standards.

Assists in the performance of functions relating to the filing, retrieval, and monitoring of medical records.

Provides excellent customer service and maintain good working relationships within the department and with other departments.

Performs other day-to-day operational assignments as needed.

Core Competencies

Action Orientation - Targets and achieves results, overcomes obstacles, accepts responsibility, establishes standards and responsibilities, creates a results-oriented environment, and follows through on actions.

Communications - Communicates well both verbally and in writing. Effectively conveys and shares information and ideas with others. Listens carefully and understands various viewpoints. Presents ideas clearly and concisely and understands relevant detail in presented information.

Creativity/Innovation - Generates novel ideas and develops or improves existing and new systems that challenge the status quo, takes risks, and encourages innovation.

Critical Judgment - Possesses the ability to define issues and focus on achieving workable solutions. Consistently does the right thing by performing with reliability.

Customer Orientation - Listens to customers, builds customer confidence, increases customer satisfaction, ensures commitments are met, sets appropriate customer expectations, and responds to customer needs.

Interpersonal Skills - Effectively and productively engages with others and establishes trust, credibility, and confidence with others.

Leadership - Motivates, empowers, inspires, collaborates with, and encourages others. Builds consensus when appropriate. Focuses team members on common goals.

Teamwork - Knows when and how to attract, develop, reward, and utilize teams to optimize results. Acts to build trust, inspire enthusiasm, encourage others, and help resolve conflicts and develop consensus in creating high-performance teams.

Professional Requirements

• Meets dress code standards and adheres to policies.
• Completes annual education requirements.
• Maintains regulatory requirements.
• Always maintains patient confidentiality.
• Reports to work on time and as scheduled, completes work within designated time.
• Wears identification while on duty, uses computerized punch time system correctly.
• Completes in-services and returns in a timely fashion.
• Attends annual review and department in-services, as scheduled.
• Attends staff meetings annually, reads and returns all monthly staff meeting minutes.
• Represents the organization in a positive and professional manner.
• Actively participates in performance improvement and continuous quality improvement (CQI) activities.
• Complies with all organizational policies regarding ethical business practices.
• Communicates the mission, ethics and goals of the hospital, as well as the focus statement of the department.
• Promotes professional growth of subordinates by sharing knowledge and/or directing them to sources if information appropriate to given situation. Utilizes journals, books, etc. to learn and/or improve new techniques and equipment.
• Assists other staff members in performing any duty that enhances the delivery of patient care.

Regulatory Requirements

• Education: High school diploma.
• Experience: Two (2) years or more experience in medical records/health information management or healthcare office setting.
• Release of Information, Medical Records, and HIM experience strongly desired.

Skills

• Excellent communication skills both verbal and written.
• Strong interpersonal skills.
• Able to establish good customer relationships with trust and respect both internally and externally.
• Knowledge of Microsoft Word, Excel, and Outlook is preferred.
• Knowledge of HIPAA and patient confidentiality.
• Attention to detail and ability to perform duties with accuracy required.
• Ability to learn on the job and retain information gathered through training required. Must be able to learn new tasks that relate to the position.

Physical Demands

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk and hear. This position is very active and requires repetitive motions, standing, walking, bending, kneeling and stooping all day. The employee must frequently lift or move items weighing up to 50 pounds.

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.