Assistant HIM Director (45967)

Under the general supervision of the HIM Director, the Assistant HIM Director assists with oversight of the HIM and Coding Department. Ensures that all government, accreditation agency and other regulatory requirements governing the management and storage of health information are met. Act as the Privacy Officer for the facility, in the absence of the HIM Director and maintains detailed knowledge of HIPAA and Privacy Act requirements. Uphold the principles of WIHCC’s Vision, Mission, and Value Statements. Maintains confidentiality of all privileged information at all times.

This list of duties and responsibilities is illustrative only of the tasks performed by this position and is not all-inclusive.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities:

• Maintains regular attendance and punctuality.
• Integrates ethical provisions and leadership in all areas of public/community health nursing practice.
• Advocates protecting the health, safety, and rights of the individual, family, community, and population.
• Assists the HIM Director in planning, directing, and coordinating daily operations of the Health Information Management and Coding Departments.
• Supports oversight of staff scheduling, work allocation, time approval, and daily workflow monitoring.
• Assists with staff training, orientation, mentoring, and performance feedback.
• Helps reinforce departmental goals, performance expectations, and service standards.
• Promotes a collaborative, team-oriented work environment.
• Assists in monitoring employee productivity, quality, and adherence to policies and procedures.
• Provides coaching and guidance to staff; escalates disciplinary concerns to the HIM Director as appropriate.
• Supports development and tracking of employee performance standards and individual development plans.
• Assists in coordinating training programs, including coding education and compliance updates.
• Supports evaluation of departmental efficiency and quality of services.
• Assists with development, revision, and implementation of departmental policies and procedures.
• Monitors quality assurance indicators (e.g., scanning into VISTA imaging, ROI turnaround times, coding accuracy).
• Participates in continuous quality improvement activities and internal audits for inpatient, outpatient, and discharge coding.
• Assists in preparing reports and tracking key performance metrics.
• Helps ensure departmental compliance with organizational service objectives.
• Assists in overseeing coding accuracy through periodic internal audits and preparation for external audits.
• Supports coding education and re-education initiatives based on audit findings.
• Collaborates with Revenue Cycle, Medical Staff, and Administration to address documentation or coding concerns.
• Maintains a close working relationship with medical staff to support accurate and timely documentation.
• Assists professional staff with record completion and data retrieval for studies or research.
• Serves as Privacy Officer in the absence of the HIM Director.
• Assists with monitoring compliance with HIPAA and other applicable federal, state, and organizational regulations.
• Supports investigation and documentation of potential privacy breaches and coordinates re-education efforts as needed.
• Assists with budget monitoring and cost-containment efforts as directed by the HIM Director.
• Participates as a member of the Health Records Committee.
• Requires completion of tasks or duties assigned by a supervisor.
• Upholds all principles of confidentiality and patient care to the fullest extent.
• Adheres to all professional and ethical behavior standards of the healthcare industry.
• Adheres to WIHCCs Personnel Policies and Procedures, departmental policies, rules, and regulations.
• Interacts in an honest, trustworthy and dependable manner with patients, employees, visitors, and vendors.
• Possesses cultural awareness and sensitivity.
• Maintains compliance with all Human Resources requirements.
• Performs other duties as assigned and assumes leadership responsibilities in the HIM Director’s absence.

Minimum Qualifications:

Bachelor’s degree in a healthcare-related field required. Certification in Registered Health Information Administrator (RHIA) or Registered Health Information Technician (RHIT) required or obtained within one (1) year of hire. Two years’ experience in the Health Information Management or Medical Records Department of an acute care hospital or ambulatory care center is required. Experience with HIPAA regulations and being a Privacy Officer. Bilingual skills in English and Navajo language preferred. Must maintain a valid unrestricted and insurable driver’s license. Must successfully pass a background investigation and maintain suitable requirements for a Child Care position. This position is considered as a Child Care position, which requires a satisfactory background check investigation and is subject to the requirements of the Indian Child Protection and Family Violence Prevention Act, as amended (henceforth referred as the ICPFVP Act).

Knowledge, Skills, Ability

• Knowledge of applicable federal, state, county, and local laws, regulations, and requirements.
• Knowledge of medical terminology and documentation. 
• Knowledge of strong work ethics in the workplace.
• Knowledge of basic application of confidentiality.
• Knowledge of duties and responsibilities of the position.
• Knowledge of basic computer skills, e.g. Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and RPMS package. 
• Skill in providing leadership to, supervising, training, and evaluating assigned staff.
• Ability to foster a cooperative work environment.
• Ability to develop and deliver presentations.
• Ability to be culturally aware and sensitive.
• Ability to develop and maintain recordkeeping systems and procedures and quality control standards. 
• Ability to be dependable in attendance and job performance.
• Ability to meet attendance, overtime (if necessary), and other reliability requirements of the job.
• Ability to accept and learn from feedback.
• Ability to communicate effectively both verbally and in writing.
• Ability to provide exemplary customer service at all times.
• Ability to interact positively with others and possess great interpersonal skills.
• Ability to multitask and perform well under pressure.
• Ability to have self-confidence.
• Ability to be a great team player.
• Ability to accept and learn from supervisor/peer critique.
• Ability to be flexible and adaptable to the changing needs of the organization.

Physical Demands:

While performing the essential functions of this position, the employee is regularly required to walk, sit, use hands and fingers, handle, or feel objects and equipment, reach with hands and arms, and communicate effectively by talking and hearing. The employee frequently must stand, climb, balance, stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl and may occasionally use taste or smell. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move objects weighing up to 50 pounds.

Work Environment:

Work is performed in an office setting or outdoor work environment with moderate noise levels. Work environment may involve exposure to physical risks, such as blood borne pathogens, hazardous chemicals, or operating potential dangerous equipment, and requires adherence to all safety protocols. Required work schedules may include evening, weekend, overnight shifts, extended hours, or irregular schedules as operational needs dictate.  

As required by P.L. 93-638, absolute preference will be given to qualified Navajo applicants.  If there is no qualified Navajo applicant, preference will be given to qualified American Indian applicants.