Coding Specialist 2 - Psychiatry/Behavioral Health

Coding Specialist 2 - Psychiatry/Behavioral Health

Accurate coding is foundational to quality patient care, regulatory compliance, and the financial health of a leading academic medical center. As a Coding Specialist 2, you will play an essential role in ensuring the integrity of behavioral health documentation and coding practices while supporting providers who deliver critical psychiatric and mental health services across the continuum of care. This fully remote opportunity is ideal for an experienced professional fee coder with a passion for Psychiatry and Behavioral Health. You'll leverage your expertise to review complex clinical documentation, promote coding accuracy, identify compliance risks, and help ensure appropriate reimbursement for services that directly support patient access to mental healthcare.

The Role In this highly specialized coding position, you will serve as a trusted resource for coding quality, compliance, and documentation integrity within Psychiatry and Behavioral Health services. Working independently, you will review and validate professional fee coding while collaborating with providers and operational partners to maintain coding excellence across a diverse behavioral health practice. On a typical day, you may:

• Review, code, validate, and audit psychiatric professional fee encounters for accuracy and compliance.
• Interpret complex clinical documentation to support accurate CPT, ICD-10-CM, and modifier assignment.
• Evaluate psychiatric Evaluation & Management (E/M) services, psychiatric diagnostic evaluations, psychotherapy services, crisis interventions, medication management encounters, and collaborative behavioral health services.
• Assess medical necessity, diagnosis specificity, time-based coding requirements, and behavioral health documentation standards.
• Identify coding trends, documentation deficiencies, compliance concerns, and reimbursement risks.
• Determine when provider education or compliant clarification is warranted.
• Apply expertise related to DSM-5 diagnosis reporting, behavioral health treatment documentation, NCCI edits, LCD/NCD policies, and payer-specific billing requirements.
• Support coding quality initiatives through charge review processes, work queue management, and ongoing coding validation activities.
• Utilize Epic, EncoderPro, and other coding resources to research and resolve complex coding questions.
• Maintain current knowledge of evolving behavioral health coding regulations, telehealth requirements, and reimbursement guidelines.

This role offers the opportunity to work with a broad range of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health services, including outpatient, inpatient, consultative, and telehealth encounters, making it an excellent fit for professionals who enjoy complexity, continuous learning, and meaningful impact. Why UVA Health UVA Health is one of the nation's leading academic health systems, bringing together exceptional patient care, research, education, and innovation. As part of this mission, coding professionals play a critical role in supporting clinical excellence, regulatory integrity, and operational success across the organization. At UVA Health, you'll benefit from:

• A fully remote opportunity that allows you to contribute to a nationally recognized health system from your home office.
• Academic medicine at its best, supporting providers delivering advanced psychiatric and behavioral health care.
• The ability to work alongside highly specialized clinicians and multidisciplinary teams within a complex healthcare environment.
• Challenging and rewarding work that requires critical thinking, independent judgment, and advanced coding expertise.
• Ongoing professional growth through exposure to evolving regulatory guidance, payer requirements, and behavioral health coding practices.
• A culture dedicated to innovation, collaboration, continuous improvement, and exceptional patient outcomes.
• The opportunity to make a measurable impact on documentation integrity, reimbursement accuracy, compliance, and quality initiatives across a growing behavioral health service line.

For experienced behavioral health coders seeking a role that combines autonomy, complexity, and purpose, UVA Health offers the chance to contribute to a health system committed to transforming care and improving lives. Why People Love Living in Charlottesville Charlottesville offers an exceptional quality of life, blending the energy of a vibrant university community with the charm of a historic mountain town. Residents enjoy award-winning restaurants, renowned wineries and breweries, live music, arts and cultural events, and easy access to the Blue Ridge Mountains and Shenandoah National Park. With excellent schools, family-friendly neighborhoods, and abundant outdoor recreation, Charlottesville provides an outstanding balance of professional opportunity and personal well-being. As this position is fully remote, you'll have the flexibility to enjoy the benefits of your own community while remaining connected to a nationally respected academic health system.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS: Education: High School Diploma or GED required. Experience: 2+ years of relevant coding experience required. Psychiatry and Behavioral Health coding experience preferred. Licensure: Certified Professional Coder (CPC) required. PHYSICAL DEMANDS: This is primarily a sedentary job involving extensive use of desktop computers. The job does occasionally require traveling some distance to attend meetings, and programs. The pay range for this role is $23.00 - $35.32 hourly. Individual compensation will be determined by the selected candidate's qualifications, previous work experience, and/or education. Job Profile J1691 - Medical Coding Operations and Service 2 Career Stream and Level Operations and Service-O2 The University of Virginia is an equal opportunity employer. All interested persons are encouraged to apply, including veterans and individuals with disabilities. Learn more about UVA's commitment to non-discrimination and equal opportunity employment.

Virginia Department of Human Resource Management