Medical Support Assistant (Advanced)

The incumbent serves as an Advanced Medical Support Assistant in the Clinical Access Management Service for the LTC Charles S. Kettles VA Medical Center assigned to perform duties at Jackson (CBOC).

Qualifications:

Basic Requirements:

• Citizenship: Be a citizen of the United States (U.S.). Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens according to 38 U.S.C. § 7407(a).
• Experience: No experience required.
• Education: High school diploma, General Education Development equivalency certificate, or proficiency certificate from a State or territorial-level Board or Department of Education.
• Licensure/Certification/Registration: None
• Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Service for requirements. See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Service for requirements.
• English Language Proficiency: Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f).

Grade Determinations: In addition to the basic requirements above, applicants must meet the following experience:

GS-3: Experience or Education: None beyond the basic requirements.
GS-4: Experience. One year of creditable experience equivalent to the next lower grade. OR
Education. One year of education above high school.
GS-5: Experience: One year of creditable experience equivalent to the next lower grade OR
Education. Two years of education above high school.


Grade Determinations: GS-06

Experience: One year of experience equivalent to the [GS-5] grade level.

You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-05 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization.
Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to:

• Independently performs a full range of duties related to the delivery of healthcare services in an inpatient or outpatient setting.
• Advises clinical staff on current administrative processes.
• Responsible for answering phones, greeting patients, relaying messages to appropriate staff inside or outside of the unit, scheduling appointments, including interpreting and verifying provider orders in accordance with VHA national 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 MSAs 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.
• Coordinates administrative functions relating to emergency and non-emergency transfers to other VA facilities or private hospitals, and determines appointment type based on the patient's eligibility status (i.e., TRICARE, sharing agreements, collaterals, research patient, VA employee, etc.).

Additionally, candidates must demonstrate all of the following Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: Please make sure that each is addressed in your application package.

1. 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 to patients is met.
2. Ability to independently set priorities and organize work to meet deadlines, ensuring compliance with established processes, policies, and regulations.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. Advanced knowledge of medical terminology due to the technical nature of language utilized by clinicians.

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.

Note: You must provide detailed information of your experience performed. Information such as "I was a Medical Support Assistant" is insufficient to determine your qualifications. Experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month and year start/end dates AND hour worked per week.

Note: Quality of Experience. Qualifying experience must be at a level comparable to MSA experience or equivalent administrative clinical support role in a non-VA medical inpatient or outpatient setting at the next lower grade level. For all assignments above the full performance level, the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, administrative independence, complexity/difficulty and a range of varieties.

Physical Requirements: Work requires some physical exertion such as prolonged periods of standing, bending, reaching, crouching, stooping, stretching and lifting moderately heavy items such as manuals and record boxes. Work environment is in an adequately lighted, heated, and ventilated medical facility setting. The work environment involves everyday discomforts or risks that require normal safety precautions.

Responsibilities:

The Advanced Medical Support Assistant (AMSA) performs various administrative functions in the Medicine, Patient Care Services, Behavioral Health, Community Based Care, Critical Care, Emergency Medicine, Primary Care, Surgery Service, Compensation/Pension/Occupational Health, Health Administration, Imaging, and the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Service Lines.

This positions is located in fast paced environments where emergency, walk-in, and admission patients are processed. The AMSA will interface with personal computer (PC) applications as well as numerous Veterans Affairs applications. AMSA's are primarily assigned to work the administrative work week, Monday through Friday. However, the position may require cross-coverage to evenings, weekends and holidays.

Some of the major duties of this position include, and are not limited to:

• Scheduling, canceling, re-scheduling patient's appointments and/or consults
• Entering no-show information
• Monitoring the electronic wait list
• Preparing for clinic visits-Monitoring outpatient appointments for areas of responsibility
• Ensuring encounter forms are completed in order to obtain appropriate workload credit
• Verifying and updating demographics and insurance information
• Processing all emergency and non-emergency transfers to other VA facilities or private hospitals
• Performing basic eligibility, co-pays and pre authorization requirements for specific coverage (i.e., TRICARE, sharing agreements, etc.)

The AMSA must be customer oriented and conduct themselves in a professional, courteous and friendly manner at all times.

Work Schedule: Primarily Monday through Friday (schedule to be discussed during interviews).
Telework: Not Available.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 91463A
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized.
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized.
Financial Disclosure Report: Not Required.

Salary : $54,773