RN​/MD Clinical Documentation Specialist

UCSD Layoff from Career Appointment:
Apply by 01/09/2026 for consideration with preference for rehire. All layoff applicants should contact their Employment Advisor.

Reassignment Applicants:
Eligible Reassignment clients should contact their Disability Counselor for assistance.

All postings will remain open until all vacancies have been filled.

Are you an RN or physician with inpatient hospital experience in Tele or ICU seeking an administrative role that capitalizes on your clinical documentation experience? This job is for you!

The Clinical Documentation Specialist role involves the evaluation of physician documentation, utilizing clinical expertise to ensure that the patient's severity of illness and risk of mortality are accurately portrayed in the medical record for specificity and increased coding accuracy. Interacts with physicians, clinical staff, and health information management professionals. Works with coding staff to ensure that documentation of discharge diagnoses and any co-existing co-morbidities are a complete reflection of the patient's clinical status and care.

• Performs complex reviews of patient's medical documentation, evaluating quality measures, consistency, completeness of documents, and accuracy for severity of illness (SOI) and risk of mortality (ROM).
• Establishes productive working relationships in regular communications with clinicians, patient care staff, and health information management (HIM), and coding personnel, working on complex cases to identify documentation gaps, clarify questions, and ensure appropriateness of DRG (diagnosis-related groups) assignment.
• Collaborates with HIM coding staff to ensure that all clinical documentation at discharge is compliant and accurately reflects the patient's condition, treatments, and any co-morbidities.
• Participates in medical record reviews on specific cases involving mortalities, complications, and other situations requiring secondary reviews.
• Analyzes complex clinical case data to identify trends, errors, inconsistencies, variances, or red flags that may delay or hinder third-party reimbursement.
• Recommends timely and effective strategies for revising or correcting clinical documentation to resolve problems and improve compliance.
• Monitors changes and updates in regulatory requirements for clinical documentation.
• Reviews and analyzes inpatient records for appropriateness and compliance with all federal, state, and other regulatory requirements.
• Maintains current knowledge of ICD-10 coding guidelines, DRG systems, and reimbursement issues.
• Serves as an educational resource to all levels of clinical staff and contributes to the development of curriculum for in‑service trainings and education of professional staff to achieve improved results in clinical documentation and appropriate reimbursement.
• Other duties as assigned.

This position is not remote. Positions are on‑site, face‑to‑face, and during normal business hours (days) Monday‑Friday.

While not required, a cover letter is highly recommended when applying to this position.

Depending on CDS experience and qualifications of the selected candidate, this position will be hired at the professional level 3 or level 4. The professional level 4 requires an active CCDS/CDIP certification. Individuals without verified CDS experience (coding/querying) will be hired at beginning professional level 3.

• Seven (7+) or more years of relevant inpatient clinical experience OR three (3+) or more years of relevant inpatient clinical experience and a bachelor's degree in nursing or related area.
• Experience with the clinical and operational issues involved with inpatient care, including the diagnoses, treatments, medical procedures, complications, co‑morbidities, discharge, and other practices that are part of effective clinical care systems.
• Professional work experience as Clinical Documentation Specialist. If insufficient application pool, department may consider clinicians (RNs or MDs) with three (3+) or more years of experience in acute adult Telemetry and/or ICU.
• Demonstrated adult ICU or Telemetry work experience.
• Effective interpersonal skills…