Advanced Medical Support Assistant

Summary

This is the advanced level of the position. The Advanced Medical Support Assistant (Advanced MSA) works for the San Francisco VA Health Care System (SFVAHCS) - of the Sierra Pacific network (VISN 21). The position is located within the Office of Community Care (OCC).

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

• United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy
• English Language Proficiency: Advanced Medical Support Assistants must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with VA Policy
• Creditable Experience Knowledge of MSA Practices
• To be creditable - the experience must have demonstrated the 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/non-paid employment as an MSA or an equivalent position in a non-VA hospital or clinic setting
• 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 as described in this standard - at the specified grade level and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time
• Part-Time Experience
• Part-time experience as an MSA or equivalent administrative patient support in a non-VA medical inpatient or outpatient setting is creditable according to its relationship to the full-time workweek
• For example - an MSA employed 20 hours a week - or on a 1/2-time basis - would receive one full-time workweek of credit for each two weeks of service 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)
• Advanced Medical Support Assistant - GS-6 Experience
• One year of experience equivalent to the GS-5 grade level
• 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 to patients is met
• Ability to independently] set priorities and organize work to meet deadlines - ensuring compliance with established processes - policies - an 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
• Reference: For more information on this qualification standard - please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.Physical Requirements: No special physical qualifications are required.
  
  

Duties

• The Advanced MSA performs duties related to the receipt - intake - and indexing of health and administrative information
• The Advanced MSA performs Community Care Coordination duties related to consult review - scheduling - and the coordination of Community Care documentation
• The Advanced MSA will interface with numerous clinical and administrative applications required for scheduling - coordination - and management of Community Care referrals
• The Advanced MSA works collaboratively with staff at the Medical Center - Contract Vendors - Medical Center affiliates - Community Healthcare Providers - and any Third- Party Administrator(s) to coordinate Veteran Community Care and TriWest activities
• This coordination involves multi-disciplinary communication and coordination as a member of a cross-functional team
• Advanced MSA assists with the coordination of records between Medical Center - OCC providers and coordinate the return of outside records to the CPRS/VISTA Imaging System to process results to the VA Provider
• The Advanced MSA maintains effective and efficient communication with the patient - the interdisciplinary team - VA Medical Centers - contract providers and community providers
• The Advanced MSA(s) supports Patient Safety standards using the correct Veterans Affairs identification of all patients using two forms of identification - name and full social security number
• The Advanced MSA will coordinate the daily duties for Office of Community Care - which includes but not limited to the processing authorizations under the Outpatient medical care programs - Inpatient medical care - and miscellaneous other Community Care programs
• Care Coordination may be complicated by planned and unplanned absences of other Community Care staff
• Changes in priorities maybe required to meet deadlines
• The Advanced MSA assists with developing and recommending proposals for the purpose of improving workload distribution - efficiency - effectiveness - and productivity
• Based on defined objectives by the Supervisor - the Office of Community Care Services determines specific steps to take and implements those using standard operating procedures (SOPs)
• The Advanced MSA uses interpretive skills to follow a variety of technical manuals and instructions - medical center policies - public laws - legal guides - and federal regulations to give instructions to patients - arrange appointments - record data involving outpatient appointments (authorization numbers - date and times of appointments - provider contact information - etc.) using automated medical records systems like VistA
• Furthermore - the Advanced MSA is required to have abroad understanding of related programs and how they impact the local - network - and national Community Care functions
• Frequently - reference materials (technical manuals - directives - policies - etc.) are not completely applicable to some of the work or have gaps in specificity due to the constantly evolving program requirements surrounding Community Care
• The Advanced MSA must exercise judgment to adapt and interpret guidelines to address specific issues and problems (payment issues - patient complaints - additional requests for services - implementation of new programs) as they arise during performance of day-to-day operations
• The Advanced MSA coordinates care for Veterans eligible for the Community Care Program which includes processing consults - coordinating care with Community Providers and/or Third-Party Administrators and ensuring that the Veteran receives the necessary medical appointment timely
• The Advanced MSA coordinates and assures that medical records are received timely - and the Community Care consult is completed and closed when all the treatment has been received
• The Advanced MSA coordinates between the VA Medical Staff and the Community Providers and/or Third-Party Administrators to ensure that all necessary treatment is provided
• Other duties as assigned
• Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 8:00am to 4:30pm Compressed/Flexible: No Telework: No Virtual: This is not a virtual position
• Functional Statement #: Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Permanent Change of Station (PCS): PCS Appraised Value Offer (AVO):