Medical Support Assistant (Advanced)

The Advanced Level Medical Support Assistant (MSA) position serves as a Consult Coordinator and is a foundational role within the continuum of patient care and works collaboratively with other members of expanded health care teams (i.e. PACT, specialty care) including Community Care providers, pharmacists, social workers, dieticians, behavioral health staff, etc. to provide a robust interdisciplinary approach to care.

Qualifications:

Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met.

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. None.
• 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.
• English Language Proficiency. Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f).

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 and meet the criteria).

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

Grade Determinations: GS-06 Medical Support Assistant (Advanced)In addition to the basic requirements, you must meet the following grade requirements. To qualify at this level, candidates must have: One year of experience equivalent to the GS-5 grade level. Examples of credible experience at this level include, but are not limited to: 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 clinical/medical facilities or private hospitals and determines appointment type based on the patient's eligibility status.

AND

Candidates must also demonstrate the Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs) below:

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

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.

Preferred Experience: Previous experience as a medical support assistant, working in a call center and/or performing administrative health care functions.

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

The full performance level of this vacancy is 06.

Physical Requirements: Typically, the Advanced Medical Support Assistant must be able to operate a computer terminal and be able to manage multiple activities at one time. Work is generally sedentary; however, there may be some walking, standing, bending, and carrying of light items. Work Environment: The work may be stressful due to the accelerated pace for several hours at a time during peak clinic hours or on days that have a large volume of clinic activity.

Responsibilities:

The Advanced MSA works collaboratively in an interdisciplinary coordinated care delivery model and assists the clinical providers in coordinating certain administrative details, appointment schedules and clinic consult services; customer service and other duties assigned for the proper and timely treatment of patients and maintain appointment schedules for multiple Community Care clinics.Major duties include, but are not limited to:

• Supporting patient safety standards using the correct Veterans Affairs identification of all patients
• Setting the tone for perception concerning quality of healthcare services at the VA.
• Explaining the VA's mandate to collect insurance information to veterans, their families, and other eligible patients.
• Screening/Receiving phone calls in a courteous and timely manner, determine the nature of requests and provide the information desired using privacy rules and established processes.
• Generating authorizations for pre-authorized outpatient, unauthorized and emergency care claims, while making eligibility determinations for the various programs in Community Medical Care.
• Managing and coordinating appointment management with the creation of authorizations.
• Collaborating with VA clinicians, third party administrator (TPA) and community clinicians to obtain clinical documentation and direction to further coordinate, plan, organize, and direct outpatient/inpatient community care and complex outpatient/inpatient diagnostic procedures.
• Coordinating follow-up care at the direction of the community clinicians/vendor, TPA and the VA clinicians including providing evaluation and diagnostic reports to VA clinicians for continuation of care and verification of care authorized.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 7:45AM - 4:30PM
Telework: May be authoroized on an ad-hoc basis by the supervisory.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 60119-F
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized

Salary : $47,903