Clinical Charge Audit Specialist – Registered Nurse (RN)
Put your surgical expertise to work beyond the operating room.
Are you an experienced Registered Nurse with a strong Surgical Services background who enjoys identifying opportunities to improve accuracy, efficiency, and patient care? As a Clinical Charge Audit Specialist at North Arkansas Regional Medical Center (NARMC), you’ll use your clinical knowledge of surgical procedures, supplies, implants, and documentation to help ensure that surgical charges accurately reflect the care provided. This is a unique opportunity to take your perioperative expertise into a role focused on clinical charge auditing, surgical documentation, charge capture, and process improvement.
About Us
At North Arkansas Regional Medical Center (NARMC), we are committed to providing high-quality, compassionate healthcare to the communities we serve. Our teams work collaboratively across clinical and operational areas to promote safe patient care, accountability, innovation, and excellence.
At NARMC, we recognize that strong patient outcomes depend on more than what happens at the bedside. Our clinical and operational professionals work together to strengthen every part of the patient experience.
Job Summary
The Clinical Charge Audit Specialist – Registered Nurse (RN) provides clinical expertise and oversight of charge capture and auditing activities within Surgical Services.
This position focuses primarily on the surgical and perioperative side of charge accuracy, including reviewing surgical cases, validating charges against clinical documentation and supply utilization, reconciling implants and surgical supplies, reviewing preference cards, and identifying missed, duplicate, or inaccurate charges.
The Clinical Charge Audit Specialist works closely with Surgical Services leadership, operating room staff, Materials Management, Health Information Management (HIM), Coding, Finance, Patient Financial Services, Revenue Cycle, and Information Systems to support accurate, compliant, and complete charging practices.
The position serves as a clinical resource for surgical charge capture and documentation, helping identify revenue leakage, improve processes, educate staff, and strengthen the connection between the care delivered and the charges submitted.
Key Responsibilities
Surgical Charge Capture & Auditing
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Conduct routine clinical charge audits of surgical and perioperative cases to verify that applicable charges have been accurately captured.
- Review surgical procedures, supplies, implants, and related documentation to identify missed, duplicate, incorrect, or unsupported charges.
- Compare clinical documentation and surgical utilization with charges posted to identify discrepancies.
- Coordinate corrective action when charge capture discrepancies are identified.
- Monitor charge capture trends and identify opportunities to improve accuracy and completeness.
- Identify opportunities to reduce revenue leakage through proactive clinical auditing and staff education.
- Apply clinical knowledge of surgical procedures and workflows when evaluating charge accuracy.
Surgical Supply & Implant Reconciliation
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Reconcile surgical supply and implant utilization against charges posted for individual cases.
- Review preference cards and verify that associated supplies and charges accurately reflect the procedures performed.
- Collaborate with Surgical Services staff and implant representatives to validate implant utilization and charging.
- Work with Materials Management and Surgical Services leadership to investigate discrepancies between documented utilization and billed charges.
- Review implant costs and charging practices in relation to established pricing and reimbursement requirements.
- Monitor Surgical Supply Coordinator activities and provide monthly reporting on material usage, costs, savings, and identified opportunities.
Clinical Documentation & Compliance
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Review perioperative and surgical documentation to ensure charges are accurate, complete, and clinically supported.
- Validate that clinical documentation supports the charges submitted for surgical procedures, supplies, and implants.
- Collaborate with Coding, Revenue Integrity, Health Information Management, and Revenue Cycle teams as needed.
- Support charging practices that comply with Medicare, Medicaid, commercial payer, and applicable regulatory requirements.
- Assist with preparation for internal and external audits.
- Maintain confidentiality and protect the integrity of patient, clinical, and financial information.
Charge Code & Chargemaster Support
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Assist with maintenance and auditing of Surgical Services chargemaster information.
- Review and update charge codes, descriptions, prices, and revenue codes associated with operating room and perioperative procedures.
- Assist with maintaining accurate charging information within applicable materials management and clinical systems.
- Collaborate with Revenue Cycle and Finance regarding Surgical Services chargemaster updates.
- Identify opportunities to improve charge descriptions, pricing, and charge-code accuracy.
Education & Process Improvement
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Educate Surgical Services staff regarding clinical charge capture expectations and documentation requirements.
- Provide feedback to clinical teams regarding charge discrepancies and opportunities for improvement.
- Assist with implementation of new charge capture processes and workflows.
- Support process improvement initiatives focused on surgical charge accuracy, documentation, reimbursement, and revenue integrity.
- Participate in interdisciplinary teams and projects related to Surgical Services performance and revenue cycle improvement.
- Help develop sustainable processes that improve charge capture accuracy and reduce recurring discrepancies.
Collaboration & Communication
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Serve as a clinical liaison between Surgical Services, Finance, Revenue Cycle, Coding, Materials Management, HIM, and other departments.
- Build effective working relationships with nurses, surgical technologists, providers, leadership, and non-clinical partners.
- Communicate audit findings and recommendations clearly to clinical and operational stakeholders.
- Participate in special projects related to surgical charge capture, reimbursement optimization, supply utilization, and clinical documentation.
- Perform other duties as assigned.
Job Qualifications
Required
Education
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Graduate of an accredited school of nursing.
- Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN) or equivalent nursing education required.
Experience
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Minimum of three (3) years of experience in Surgical Services.
- Demonstrated understanding of surgical procedures, operating room workflows, and perioperative practices.
Licensure & Certification
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Current and unrestricted Arkansas Registered Nurse (RN) license or multistate compact license.
- Current Basic Life Support (BLS) certification.
Knowledge, Skills & Abilities
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Knowledge of surgical procedures, perioperative workflows, and associated surgical supplies and implants.
- Knowledge of hospital charging and reimbursement methodologies.
- Understanding of clinical documentation requirements related to surgical charge capture.
- Strong clinical auditing and analytical skills.
- Ability to identify charging discrepancies, missed charges, duplicate charges, and opportunities for improved charge capture.
- Knowledge of chargemaster maintenance principles.
- Strong attention to detail and ability to analyze clinical and financial information.
- Advanced Microsoft Excel skills.
- Ability to communicate effectively with both clinical and non-clinical staff.
- Ability to maintain confidentiality, data integrity, and accuracy.
- Ability to work independently, manage multiple priorities, and drive assignments to completion.
- Ability to read, write, speak, and understand English.
Preferred
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Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN).
- Bachelor's degree in Business, Healthcare Administration, Nursing, Health Information Management, Finance, Accounting, or a related field.
- Experience with surgical charge capture, implant charging, surgical supply utilization, clinical auditing, or healthcare reimbursement.
- Experience with chargemaster maintenance.
- Knowledge of Current Procedural Terminology (CPT), Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS), and revenue codes.
- Experience working with Revenue Cycle, Coding, Health Information Management, Finance, or Materials Management teams.
- Certification such as Certified Revenue Integrity Professional (CRIP), Certified Revenue Cycle Representative (CRCR), Certified Professional Coder (CPC), Certified Coding Specialist (CCS), or another relevant healthcare revenue cycle, coding, clinical, or revenue integrity certification.
- Experience with electronic health records (EHR), financial systems, materials management systems, or charge capture technology.
Compensation & Schedule
Compensation: Competitive compensation based on experience and qualifications.
Schedule: Schedule details to be determined based on Surgical Services and organizational needs.
Pay range and specific schedule can be added once finalized.
Why Join Us
This role offers an opportunity for an experienced surgical nurse to use their clinical knowledge in a different way while continuing to make an impact on patient care and Surgical Services.
At NARMC, you'll have the opportunity to:
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Use your Surgical Services expertise outside of traditional bedside nursing.
- Work directly with surgical leadership and multidisciplinary teams.
- Help improve the accuracy and efficiency of surgical operations.
- Use your clinical knowledge to identify documentation and charge capture opportunities.
- Contribute to process improvement and better healthcare operations.
- Develop expertise in clinical auditing, charge capture, reimbursement, and revenue cycle processes.
- Help ensure the organization accurately captures the services, supplies, and care provided to patients.
- Be part of a team committed to accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
Your surgical experience matters. Bring your clinical expertise to a role where you can improve the systems behind the care.