Emergency General Surgery Registrar

University of Utah Health•Salt Lake City, UT

28d

About The Position

The Emergency General Surgery Registrar identifies emergency general surgery patients and collects, enters, validates, and maintains EGS data for University of Utah Health’s ACS-verified Level 1 Trauma Center. The registrar reviews medical records, assigns ICD-10 codes, and maintains the registry in compliance with HIPAA standards. Registry data supports clinical care improvement, research, benchmarking, epidemiology, prevention, quality initiatives, performance improvement, and education. The role participates in activities required to obtain and maintain ACS verification as an Emergency General Surgery Verified Facility. It includes data abstraction and reporting, validation and re-abstraction, collaboration with clinical and registry staff, ongoing education, and participation in EGS meetings and quality initiatives. The position is described as sedentary in an office setting and may be performed remotely in a HIPAA-compliant environment with minimal direct supervision.

Requirements

Trauma or EGS registry experience, or verified ICD-10 coding experience or certification.
At least one year of experience abstracting medical information from an electronic medical record.
Ability to participate in and pass the ACS NSQIP Surgical Clinical Reviewer course within one year of hire.
Ability to participate in and pass the TOPIC Course and ACS Quality Improvement Course within one year of hire.
Complete 24 hours of trauma-related continuing education during each ACS verification cycle.
Complete an ICD-10 refresher course every five years.
Obtain Certified Abbreviated Injury Scale Specialist (CAISS) certification within five years of hire.
Mastery-level knowledge of ICD-10 coding related to emergency general surgery patients.
Mastery-level knowledge of medical terminology, anatomy, and physiology.
Ability to communicate and collaborate effectively with clinical staff and other hospital personnel.
Knowledge of healthcare IT systems; EPIC, NQS, and Microsoft Office are preferred systems.
Ability to be detail-oriented and prioritize daily tasks.
Ability to work independently while collaborating with other healthcare team members.
Ability to work self-motivated in a HIPAA-compliant remote environment with minimal direct supervision.
Demonstrated teamwork and collaboration with registry staff to meet data-submission deadlines and ACS requirements.

Nice To Haves

Trauma or EGS registry experience.
Current CCA, CCS, CPC, RHIT, or RHIA certification.
One year of inpatient coding experience.
Certified Specialist in Trauma Registries (CSTR).
Certified Abbreviated Injury Scale Specialist (CAISS).
Associate or bachelor’s degree in a related field.

Responsibilities

Participate in registry-required activities to obtain and maintain ACS verification as an Emergency General Surgery Verified Facility.
Review electronic medical records for relevant diagnoses, procedures, complications, comorbidities, and other required EMS and hospital data.
Assign appropriate ICD-10-CM diagnosis and ICD-10-PCS codes using current published standards.
Collaborate with appropriate entities to ensure complete documentation for required registry data fields.
Follow current Official AIS Coding and AAAM coding policies and Emergency General Surgery data dictionary definitions.
Abstract pertinent medical record data and achieve at least 95% accuracy in applied ICD-10 and AIS coding.
Complete 100% of records within 60 days of patient discharge.
Participate in re-abstraction and validation of 5–10% of patient records, maintaining inter-rater reliability of at least 95%.
Prepare and distribute a daily list of identified emergency general surgery patients to appropriate University of Utah Health staff.
Prioritize completion of data for emergency general surgery-related mortalities for EGS Quality Review Committee meetings.
Assign appropriate activation charges based on current criteria.
Participate in data reporting for statistics, quality and performance improvement projects, grant submissions, and IRB-approved research studies.
Assist with preparing data for submission to the Utah Department of Health and quarterly data for submission to the ACS National Surgical Quality Improvement Program.
Participate in monthly ACS-NSQIP educational quizzes, internal education, and additional training as needed.
Attend Emergency General Surgery meetings and periodic trainings and participate in ad hoc committees.
Complete 24 hours of surgical-related continuing education during each ACS verification cycle and 24 hours of trauma-related continuing education during each ACS verification cycle.
Participate in Emergency General Surgery-related quality initiatives.
Write and run basic reports using the EGS registry when necessary.