Medical Support Assistant

This position serves as a Medical Support Assistant (MSA) in the of Business Office Service (BOS), at the Warrensburg, Missouri VA Clinic. Incumbent is under the supervision of the Supervisory Medical Support Assistant and works within the Outpatient Care Clinics. At this level, incumbent independently performs a full range of duties related to the delivery of healthcare services in the assigned work area.

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.

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).

Grandfathering Provision. Employees in VHA in this occupation, under a permanent, appropriate, and legal placement on the effective date of the qualification standard, are considered to have met all qualification requirements for the grade and/or assignment held, including positive education and registration/certification where applicable. For employees who do not meet all the basic or assignment-specific requirements in this standard but met the qualifications applicable to the position at the time they were appointed, the following provisions apply:

1. 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.
2. Employees retained in this occupation under this provision who subsequently leave the occupation lose protected status and must meet the full VA qualification standard requirements in effect at the time of reentry to the occupation.

Experience.

• Creditable Experience. To be creditable, the experience must have required the use of knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) associated with current MSA responsibilities or an equivalent administrative patient support role in a non-VA medical inpatient or outpatient setting. Experience satisfying this requirement may be paid or non-paid employment as an MSA or an equivalent position in a non-VA hospital or clinic setting.
• Part-Time Experience. Part-time experience is creditable according to its relationship to a full-time workweek. For example, an individual employed 20 hours per week, or on a half-time basis, would receive credit for 1 full-time workweek for each 2 weeks of service.
• 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 of the position being filled. For all assignments above the full performance level (FPL), the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, administrative independence, complexity, and range of variety as described in this standard at the specified grade level and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time.

Grade Determinations: In addition to the basic requirements for employment, candidates MUST meet the following grade-determining criteria for placement at grade levels specified.

Medical Support Assistant, GS-05.Experience or Education.

• Experience. One year of creditable experience equivalent to the next lower grade;

OR

• Education. Two years of education above high school.

AND

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs). In addition to the experience or education above, the candidate MUST demonstrate the following KSAs:

1. Advanced knowledge of medical terminology specific to understand medical diagnosis and procedures sufficient to communicate clinical staff instructions to patients.
2. Skill in customer service with the ability to identify customer concerns, and refer to the appropriate staff, as necessary, to ensure a satisfactory resolution.
3. Ability to operate computerized programs and systems in order to enter, modify, and retrieve sensitive medical and patient identifying information (PII) into or from electronic health records, scheduling systems, and/or reports.
4. Ability to schedule medical appointments in a clinical setting.
5. Ability to work independently in the accomplishment of a wide variety of duties performing patient support work.
6. Ability to communicate effectively and professionally in person, electronically, and/or by telephone, with internal and external customers.

Physical Requirements: The work is primarily sedentary. Typically, the employee sits comfortably to do the work. However, there may be some walking, standing, bending, carrying light items such as papers, books and small parts, etc. No special physical demands are required to perform the work.

The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-5. The actual grade at which an applicant will be selected for this vacancy is GS-5.

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

Responsibilities:

The Medical Support Assistant (MSA) for the Kansas City VA Medical Center (KCVAMC) are located within Business Office Service (BOS) and provide support to various clinics throughout the Kansas City VA Healthcare network.

Medical Support Assistant (MSA) Annual Salary:
GS-5: $49,745 to $64,669

Duties of the position include, but not restricted to:

The position is under the Supervisory Medical Support Assistant who provides direction, coordination, and supervision of a variety of administrative and clerical functions. Employee works independently; ensures work is completed and check for timeliness. The employee plans to carry out work assignments in accordance with instructions, policies, and training. Referring unusual problems to the supervisor.

• Receives patients/family members/visitors in person or telephonically.
• Records and relays messages and/or redirects calls or performs scheduling changes as necessary. Obtain identifying information and determine the nature of the call.
• Refers patients to the Triage Nurse when appropriate.
• Schedules appointments and provides information regarding outpatient clinics. Enters and/or retrieves information and data from the Clinical Information System.
• Completes consult requests through the advice of the physician with the use of Computerized Patient Record System (CPRS).
• Type administrative notes using various automation systems and programs to accomplish work, such as text editing, maintain and retrieval use of messaging by using e-mail.
• Maintains and monitors patient appointment schedules for the facility and communicates delays in scheduled appointments to the appropriate staff and patients.
• Coordinates and/or schedules patient appointments with other clinics or specialties.
• Manages, schedules and monitor consult requests and various orders/requests for specialty and/or diagnostic services.
• Perform check-in and check-out of patients for their appointments; verify and edit each patient's demographics information; verify insurance information by using Insurance Capture Buffer (ICB) system; scheduling appointments in accordance with VHA national scheduling guidelines.
• Refer eligibility enrollment and means test when necessary to the appropriate area.
• Upon leaving the outpatient clinic area, the MSA ensures that the patients are scheduled according to physician order requisition.
• Knowledge of scheduling appointments but not limited to re-scheduling, cancelling, no-show, and recall reminders.

Note: Duties may vary slightly depending on the VA Clinic you will be supporting


Work Schedule: Full-Time, Monday - Friday, 7:00am-3:30pm
Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases.
Paid Time Off: 37-50 days of annual paid time offer per year (13-26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, 11 paid Federal holidays per year)
Parental Leave: After 12 months of employment, up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave in connection with the birth, adoption, or foster care placement of a child.
Child Care Subsidy: After 60 days of employment, full time employees with a total family income below $144,000 may be eligible for a childcare subsidy up to 25% of total eligible childcare costs for eligible children up to the monthly maximum of $416.66. Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA.
Insurance: Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement)
Telework: Not Available.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 00000
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized



Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional

Salary : $417