Inpatient Coder

Universal Hospital Services Inc.; Richmond (VA); On-site; USD 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive compensation

Excellent medical, dental, vision

401(k) with company match

SoFi student loan refinancing program

Career development opportunities

Pet Insurance

Job summary

Universal Health Services in Richmond, VA seeks an Inpatient Coder for its Atlantic Region Central Billing Office. The role focuses on DRG analyses, audits, and appeals to protect reimbursement. You will review payer audits, analyze records, and draft detailed appeal letters to minimize denials.

The position requires coding certification, DRG experience, and strong Medical terminology knowledge. Collaborative work in a busy appeals team with compliance emphasis.

Qualifications

• High school diploma or equivalent required; professional coding certification preferred/required.
• Professional coding certification (CCA, CCS, CCS-P, CPC, RHIT, RHIA) required or one cert.
• Minimum DRG experience with attention to coding accuracy and denial management.
• 1–3 years coding experience; 3–5 years preferred.
• Strong knowledge of anatomy, physiology, pharmacology, microbiology and medical terminology.
• Familiarity with appeals and healthcare business office operations a plus.
• Advanced MS Office skills and ability to analyze data for trends.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, compliance-driven environment.

Responsibilities

• Perform DRG validation reviews in response to third-party payer audits.
• Review audit findings to understand audited codes and payer rationale.
• Analyze medical records to support billed diagnosis codes.
• Write detailed appeal letters to third-party payers to prevent downgrades.
• Decide to update DRGs or add diagnosis codes based on clinical review.
• Assign DRG audits to nurse auditors as needed.
• Provide analysis and assistance to the appeals department.
• Assist customer service with coding-related patient inquiries.
• Provide charge/coding breakdowns for split billing scenarios.
• Manage DRG inventory spreadsheets and vendor returns.
• Maintain educational guides and draft appeal letter templates.
• Identify audit trends and relay feedback to management and facilities.

Skills

DRG coding experience

Appeals process understanding

Healthcare billing knowledge

Anatomy & physiology knowledge

Medical terminology

Attention to detail

Education

High school diploma or equivalent

Coding certification (CCA, CCS, CCS-P, CPC, RHIT, RHIA)

Tools

Microsoft Office (Excel, Word, Outlook)

Job description

Responsibilities

The Atlantic Region Central Billing Office ("ARCBO") or ("CBO") provides business office services including billing, collections, cash posting, pre-access management, variance, and customer service to our affiliated Universal Health Services hospitals.

https://jobs.uhs.com/atlantic-region-cbo

The Atlantic Region CBO is seeking a dynamic and talented Inpatient Coder for our Appeals department.

The primary responsibility of the DRG Coder is to analyze third party coding audits of paid claims, draft detailed appeal letters, evaluate clinical level of care and review denial trends.

Key Responsibilities include

• Perform DRG (Diagnosis Related Group) validation reviews in response to audits from third party payers.
• Review audit findings letters from third party payers to obtain a clear understanding of audited diagnosis codes and underlying payer clinical / coding rationale.
• Analyze medical records to obtain supporting clinical documentation for billed diagnosis codes.
• Write detailed appeal letters based on clinical findings to third party payers to prevent downgrade payment recoveries.
• Make decision to update DRGs or remote or add to billed diagnose codes based on clinical reviews
• Assign DRG audits to nurse auditors when coding audit is based on clinical criteria.
• Provide analysis and assistance as needed to the appeals department.
• Assist customer service with patient complaints related to coding issues on their medical bills.
• Provide a detailed charge/coding breakdown to assist with medical claims that need to be split billed based on various clinical scenarios.
• Manage multiple spreadsheets including DRG inventory and inventory returned from vendors.
• Maintain educational guidebooks for multiple department workflows.
• Assist with drafting and maintaining appeal letter templates.
• Identify audit trends and provide feedback to management and to UHS acute care facilities.
• Adherence to all applicable laws, regulations and guidelines.
• Other duties as assigned.

Benefit & Rewards Highlights

• Challenging and rewarding work environment
• Competitive Compensation & Generous Paid Time Off
• Excellent Medical, Dental, Vision and Prescription Drug Plans
• 401(K) with company match and discounted stock plan
• SoFi Student Loan Refinancing Program
• Career development opportunities within UHS and its 300+ Subsidiaries!
• Pet Insurance
• More information is available on our Benefits Guest Website: benefits.uhsguest.com

About Universal Health Services

One of the nation’s largest and most respected providers of hospital and healthcare services, Universal Health Services, Inc. (UHS) has built an impressive record of achievement and performance. Growing steadily since its inception into an esteemed Fortune 500® corporation, annual revenues during 2025 were $17.4 billion. In 2026, UHS was again recognized as one of Fortune World’s Most Admired Companies™ and in 2025, was listed in Forbes ranking of America’s Largest Public Companies.

Headquartered in King of Prussia, PA, UHS has approximately 101,500 employees and continues to grow through its subsidiaries. Operating acute care hospitals, behavioral health facilities, outpatient facilities and ambulatory care access points, an insurance offering, a physician network and various related services located in 40 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the United Kingdom. For additional information visit www.uhs.com.

From Fortune, ©2025, 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All rights reserved. Used under license.

Qualifications

Position Requirements

• High school diploma or equivalent
• Professional coding certification (CCA, CCS, CCS-P, CPC, RHIT, RHIA (One required))
• IP DRG experience
• 1-3 years coding experience, 3-5 years (preferred)
• Strong Microsoft Office skills (Excel, Word, Outlook)
• An understanding of anatomy, physiology, pharmacology, microbiology and medical terminology is required.
• Familiarity with appeals and 1-3 years of healthcare business office experience preferred

EEO Statement

All UHS subsidiaries are committed to providing an environment of mutual respect where equal employment opportunities are available to all applicants and teammates. UHS subsidiaries are equal opportunity employers and as such, openly support and fully commit to recruitment, selection, placement, promotion and compensation of individuals without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), genetic information, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.