Decedent Affairs Specialist

BJC HealthCare; St. Louis (MO); On-site; USD 45,000 - 65,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

Life insurance

403(b)/Retirement plan

Paid time off

Tuition assistance

Job summary

BJC HealthCare is seeking an onsite Decedent Affairs Specialist in St. Louis, MO to provide dignified decedent care and compassionate family guidance following a loss. The role requires handling legal documents, death certificates, cremation arrangements, and coordination with internal teams and external agencies.

Schedule: Tuesday-Saturday, 3p-11:30p. Prior mortuary experience is a plus and high school diploma or GED is required. This is a full-time onsite position with comprehensive benefits.

Qualifications

• High School Diploma or GED required.
• 2-5 years of experience in a related role.
• No supervisor experience required.

Responsibilities

• Acts as hospital liaison for the decedent family, medical examiner, physicians, and funeral homes; answers questions related to expiration policy/procedures and assists physicians with research reports.
• Processes legal documents of expired adult patients and fetal remains, including death certificates and cremation paperwork coordination.
• Authorizes autopsy requests for inpatients/outpatients and coordinates transportation of remains.
• Manages cremation letters for unclaimed bodies and ensures communication with internal stakeholders.
• Verifies completeness of medical records and closes cases after expiration process is finalized.

Skills

Liaison skills

Communication

Detail oriented

Education

High School Diploma or GED

Associate's Degree

Tools

None

Job description

Additional Information About the Role

• Barnes-Jewish Hospital is seeking an onsite DecedentAffairs Specialist to provide dignified decedent care and compassionate family guidance after a loss.
• Schedule: Tuesday-Saturday, 3p-11:30a.
• Prior Mortuary experience is a plus.

Role Purpose

The Decedent Affairs Specialist is the sole process‑owner to complete the administrative/legal documents for BJH in the event of a patient death. The specialist acts as a liaison for BJH with both internal and external parties and agencies and is responsible for processing legal documents of expired adult patients and fetal remains, authorizing and processing autopsy requests, administering cremation letters for unclaimed bodies, and maintaining communication with internal stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Acts as hospital liaison for the decedent family, medical examiner, physicians, and funeral homes; answers questions related to BJH expiration policy/procedures and assists BJH physicians with research reports and questions related to past expired patients.
• Processes legal documents of expired adult patients and fetal remains, including completion of the Memorandum of Death, generation of death certificates, and coordination with Social Services for donation or cremation paperwork.
• Authorizes and processes autopsy requests for inpatients, outpatients, and outside hospitals, including arranging transportation of remains.
• Administers and oversees the generation of cremation letters for unclaimed bodies.
• Communicates with internal stakeholders through hand‑offs with other Expiration Specialists, the Nursing Office, and Security; verifies completeness of medical records and closes cases once the expiration process is finalized.

Minimum Requirements

Education

• High School Diploma or GED

Experience

• 2-5 years

Supervisor Experience

• No Experience

Preferred Requirements

Education

• Associate's Degree

Experience

• <2 years

Benefits and Legal Statement

• Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, life insurance, and legal services available first day of the month after hire date
• Disability insurance paid for by BJC
• Annual 4% BJC Automatic Retirement Contribution
• 401(k) plan with BJC match
• Tuition Assistance available on first day
• BJC Institute for Learning and Development
• Health Care and Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts
• Paid Time Off benefit combines vacation, sick days, holidays and personal time
• Adoption assistance

The above information on this description has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by employees in this position. It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties and qualifications required of employees assigned to this job. Equal Opportunity Employer