Duties

Major duties include but are not limited to:

• Provides reception via phone and face to face interactions with patients, families', visitors, and staff when necessary.
• Schedules, reschedules, completes return to clinic orders, and cancels clinic appointments as well as disseminates information to patients, staff, and external agencies.
• Consistent with VHA, VAMHCS, and MHCC guidelines, the MSA establishes internal procedures, files, reports, tracking mechanisms, etc. for existing and programmatic needs.
• Assists, as needed, in tracking wait times for clinics, scheduling issues, and encounter completion.
• Manages contacts with numerous staff, patients, families, and external agency personnel, requiring an ability to organize, prioritize, and manage a significant number of tasks on a daily basis.
• Checks, identifies, verifies, and reconciles a wide variety of detailed patient, program, and administrative data.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 8:00am - 4:30pm
Telework: Telework eligible up to one day per week.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Title/Functional Statement #:Med Support Assistant (Advanced)/PD000000
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• You may be required to serve a probationary period
• Subject to a background/security investigation
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP)
• Participation in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Personnel

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 12/06/2021.

Basic Requirements:

United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy. Experience and Education:

Experience. Six months experience of clerical, office, customer service or other administrative work that indicates the ability to acquire the particular knowledge and skills needed to perform the duties of the position; OR Education. One year above high school. Foreign Education: To be creditable, education completed outside the U.S. must have been submitted to a private organization that specializes in the interpretation of foreign educational credentials and such education must have been deemed at least equivalent to that gained in conventional U. S. programs. (UNOFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED); OR Experience/Education Combination. Equivalent combination of experience and education are qualifying for entry level for which both education and experience are acceptable. (UNOFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED)

English Language Proficiency: MSAs must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with VA Policy.

May qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision as described in the VA Qualification Standard for this occupation (only applicable to current VHA employees who are in this occupation).

Grandfathering Provision. All MSAs employed in VHA in this occupation on the effective date (August 1, 2019), of this qualification standards are considered to have met all qualification requirements for the title, series, and grade held, which are a part of the basic requirements of the occupation. For employees who do not meet all the basic requirements required in this standard, but who met the qualifications applicable to the position at the time they were appointed to it, the following provisions apply: 1) Such employees may be reassigned, promoted, or changed to a lower grade within the occupation; 2) Employees who are appointed on a temporary basis prior to the effective date of the qualification standard may not have their temporary appointment extended or be reappointed, on a temporary or permanent basis, until they fully meet the basic requirements of the standard; 3) If an employee who was converted to Title 38 hybrid status under this provision leaves the occupation, the employee loses protected status and must meet the full VA qualification standard requirements in effect at the time of reentry to the occupation.

Grade Determinations: In addition to the basic requirements for employment listed above, the following education and/or experience criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates.

Medical Support Assistant (Advanced) GS-06 Experience: One year of experience equivalent to the next lower level (GS-05), i.e., independently performing a full range of duties related to the delivery of healthcare services in an inpatient or outpatient setting and advising clinical staff on current administrative processes. Experience includes but not limited to: answering phones, greeting patients, relaying messages to appropriate staff inside or outside of the unit; interpreting and verifying provider orders in accordance with scheduling guidelines; scheduling, canceling, re-scheduling patient appointments and/or consults; entering no-show information; monitoring appointment requests from multiple electronic sources; participating in huddles with other administrative and/or clinic staff to determine the daily needs of the clinic; monitoring both inpatient and outpatient appointments in areas of responsibility; verifying and updating demographics and insurance information when patients check-in for appointments; coordinating administrative functions relating to emergency and non-emergency transfers to other medical facilities/hospitals; and determining appointment type based on the patient's eligibility status. (This experience must be supported by your resume to be creditable.)

Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: Candidates must demonstrate ALL of the KSAs below.

Ability to collaborate and communicate with a wide range of medical clinicians across multiple disciplines, e.g. medical doctors, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, clinical pharmacists and nursing staff, to accomplish team goal setting to ensure medical care of patients is met.

Ability to independently set priorities and organize work to meet deadlines, ensuring compliance with established processes, policies, and regulations.

Ability to communicate tactfully and effectively, electronically, by phone, in person, and in writing, [with internal and external customers. This may include preparing reports in various formats and presenting data to various organizational levels, as well as resolving patient concerns.

Advanced knowledge of the technical health care process, including, but not limited to, scheduling across interdisciplinary coordinated care delivery and/or care in the community models and patient health care portals as it relates to access to care.

Advanced knowledge of policies and procedures associated with interdisciplinary coordinated care delivery and/or care in the community operational activities that affect patient flow, and patient support care [administrative functions] to include, but not limited to appointment cycles, outside patient referrals, follow-up care, overbooking, provider availability, etc.

Advanced knowledge of medical terminology due to the technical nature of language utilized by clinicians.

References: VA Handbook 5005/117, Part II Appendix G45. Medical Support Assistant Qualification Standard GS-679

The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-6.

Physical Requirements: Light lifting (under 15 lbs.); reaching above shoulder; use of fingers; walking (intermittent); standing (intermittent); hearing (aid permitted); clear speech. The work is sedentary. Typically, the employee may sit comfortably to do the work. However, there may be some walking, standing, bending and carrying of light items like papers or books. No special physical demands are required to perform the work.

Education

IMPORTANT: A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.

Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/ . If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html .

Additional information

This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.

It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment.

This position is in the Excepted Service and does not confer competitive status.

VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply. The health-related positions in VA are covered by Title 38, and are not covered by the Schedule A excepted appointment authority.

Veterans and Transitioning Service Members: Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members.

If you are unable to apply online or need to fax a document you do not have in electronic form, view the following link for information regarding an Alternate Application .