Financial and Medical Records Specialist

About the Role 

The Finance and Medical Records Assistant is a remote, finance team role responsible for receiving, validating, fulfilling, and tracking all medical records requests from families/guardians, our external billing company, payers, attorneys/courts, and other authorized agencies. This position ensures every disclosure is supported by a valid legal authorization and complies with applicable privacy regulations (e.g., HIPAA and, where applicable, 42 CFR Part 2). When records requests are current and within service levels, the Assistant supports finance operations through crosstrained tasks such as paidtosubscriber correspondence, invoicing, and other department needs. 

Key Responsibilities 

Release of Information (ROI) & Records Fulfillment – Primary 

• Intake & Triage: Receive and log all incoming records requests (email, patient portal, secure fax, mail/subpoena). Acknowledge receipt using approved email templates. 

• Authorization Validation: Verify identity/authority of requestor; confirm scope, purpose, and expiration of authorization; check “minimum necessary” alignment; confirm any special protections (e.g., SUD information under 42 CFR Part 2, psychotherapy notes, HIV/STD results, minor records) and escalate when separate or more restrictive authorization is required. 

• Clinical & Psych Provider Clearance (New): Before any release, route the request and proposed record set to the treating clinician and the psychiatric/psych prescribing provider (as applicable) for review and written approval to confirm whether any content must be withheld or redacted (e.g., psychotherapy notes, thirdparty references, safety planning details, sensitive collateral information). Document approvals/holds in the ROI log and retain the dated confirmation. If a provider indicates clinical risk or contraindication to release, place the request on hold and escalate per policy to Privacy/Compliance and the Lead Accounting Assistant. 

• Legal Request Handling: Review subpoenas, court orders, and payer audits; route complex/legal matters to the Privacy/Compliance contact and Lead Accounting Assistant for guidance/approval. 

• Record Preparation: Retrieve designated record sets from the EHR/document repository; apply naming conventions; paginate and assemble PDFs; redact restricted content as directed by providers and policy; use secure encryption for outbound delivery. 

• Fulfillment & Documentation: Send records via approved secure methods (encrypted email, secure portal, or secure fax). Record date/time, contents, recipient, method, and authorizing document; maintain an auditable chain of custody. 

• Timeliness & Service Levels: Meet internal SLAs and applicable federal/state timeframes. Proactively communicate status and any missing elements to requestors. 

• Quality & Audits: Perform selfchecks and participate in periodic ROI audits; remediate findings promptly. 

Finance CrossTraining & Support – Secondary (as bandwidth allows) 

• PaidtoSubscriber Correspondence: Monitor EOBs where payment was issued to the subscriber; send templated letters to families/guardians, track responses, and log collections followup. 

• Invoicing & Statements: Prepare and send statements/invoices (emailfirst workflow); reconcile undeliverable messages; update contact preferences and address corrections. 

• Billing Partner Coordination: Provide documentation requested by our external billing company (e.g., treatment dates, discharge summaries) with proper authorizations on file. 

• General Finance Support: Assist with data entry, basic reconciliations, and file hygiene (naming conventions, indexing, archiving) during lowvolume records periods. 

Compliance & Information Security 

• HIPAA/PHI Safeguards: Rigorously follow privacy/confidentiality standards; never disclose PHI without a valid basis; apply the minimumnecessary standard. 

• Security Practices (Remote): Use companyapproved devices, VPN, password manager, and MFA; maintain a private workspace; do not print PHI unless explicitly authorized; secure displays and voiceassistants. 

• Incident Awareness: Immediately escalate potential privacy incidents or misdisclosures per policy. 

Collaboration & Communication 

• Work closely with the Lead Accounting Assistant, Privacy/Compliance contact, clinical records custodians, treating clinicians, psychiatric providers, Admissions, and our billing partner. 

• Maintain clear, courteous, traumainformed and familycentered email communications. 

• Contribute to SOP refinements, templates, and checklists that improve speed and accuracy. 

Required Qualifications 

• 2+ years in medical records, health information management, payer documentation support, or billing/finance operations in a healthcare setting. 

• Proven knowledge of HIPAA privacy/security requirements and the minimum necessary standard; awareness of additional protections applicable to behavioral health and (where applicable) 42 CFR Part 2. 

• Strong written communication (emailcentric role): concise, professional, and empathetic. 

• High accuracy with document handling, PDF redaction, and file organization. 

• Proficiency with EHR or document management systems, secure email/encryption, efax, and Microsoft 365/Google Workspace (especially Outlook/Gmail, Drive/SharePoint, Word/Docs, Excel/Sheets). 

Preferred Qualifications 

• Experience serving adolescent/family populations or behavioral health programs. 

• Prior work supporting a thirdparty billing company or payer audits. 

• Familiarity with ROI nuances for minors/guardianship, custody orders, and psychotherapy notes. 

• Basic accounting support skills (invoicing, payment posting, EOB interpretation). 

• RHIT, CHDS, CHPS, or comparable certification (or progress toward one). 

Core Competencies 

• Detail & Quality: Zerodefect mindset for authorizations, provider clearances, redactions, and logs. 

• Confidentiality & Ethics: Exercises sound judgment with sensitive youth/family information. 

• Time Management: Handles high email volume; prioritizes by deadlines/risk. 

• Customer Service: Clear, respectful communication with families and partners. 

• Teamwork & Flexibility: Jumps into finance tasks when records volume is low. 

Tools You’ll Use 

EHR/document management platform; secure email and file transfer; PDF tools with redaction; efax; ticketing/ROI log or tracker; spreadsheets; basic accounting/invoicing software. 

Performance Metrics (Examples) 

• Ontime ROI fulfillment: % requests completed within internal SLAs. 

• Authorization & Clearance accuracy: % requests released with fully valid authorizations and documented provider approvals. 

• Quality: Redaction and document assembly error rate. 

• Email responsiveness: Average businesshour response time. 

• Finance assists: Paidtosubscriber recoveries, invoice cycle time, and task throughput when crosstrained work is assigned. 

Work Conditions & Physical Requirements 

• Remote; deskbased computer work for extended periods. 

• Reliable highspeed internet; private, secure workspace.  

PreEmployment & Ongoing Requirements 

• Background check and reference verification. 

• HIPAA privacy/security training (initial and annual). 

• Acceptance of confidentiality, acceptableuse, and remote security agreements. 

• Adherence to all organizational policies, including records retention and breach reporting. 

This is a 100% Remote work

US time zone

$6/hr