Lead Medical Support Assistant

About the role

The incumbent is assigned to Medical Administration Service at the VA Maryland Health Care System (VAMHCS) at Baltimore. Medical Administration Service supports specialty clinics, inpatient and outpatient services.

Responsibilities

• Scheduling appointments in accordance with VHA Directive 1230(3) and VHA Directive 1232 (2); including canceling, re-scheduling, and no-show patient appointments and/or consults.
• Verifies and updates patient demographics to include capturing of insurance data.
• Ensures all patients are identified by photo identification.
• Receives and routes all Veterans who report to the facility for scheduled and unscheduled examinations and appointments, assuring that the patients are electronically checked-in for their appointment.
• Explains in detail to Veterans about upcoming appointments, ensuring they understand what they must do and where they must go to complete their work-up.
• Captures scheduling preferences.
• Completes open disposition list.
• Ensures clinic assigned staff are appropriately utilizing Recall List (Delinquent), Return to Clinic Orders (Query from VS GUI), insurance capture buffer report, Upcoming appointment with no enrollment, VAOS report, bene-travel consults report, consult tracking manager report.
• Completes patient encounters for clinics assigned by the end of each business day (no-shows and patient cancellations through AudioCare, VeText, etc.). Encounters should be given to the Providers at the end of each business day.
• Makes Veterans aware of community care wait time.
• Collects Patient Tracking forms.
• Ensures clinic assigned staff is appropriately using the insurance capture buffer exception list and appropriately utilizing Vet Link for clinics assigned.
• Receives and directs patients and visitors by telephone, answering routine inquiries, and making appropriate referrals of questions concerning patients' care.
• Directs patients to Beneficiary Travel for transportation support and mileage reimbursement if required.
• Processes and arranges travel for eligible/entitled Veterans when requested.
• Maintains daily work assignments, resolves daily workplace issues, and maintains efficient workflow in the clinics assigned.
• Determines and accurately verifies legal eligibility of all patients presenting for care. When eligibility is not established, ensures the patient are counseled and that documentation of counseling is filed in the enrollment system. Follow-up to ensure eligibility is verified.
• Reviews the eligibility and financial assessment status of all patients and updates when required.
• Completes daily rounds to ensure adequate administrative support coverage in all areas distributing and balancing workload in clinic areas assigned.
• Orients and provides on-the-job training for new and current employees as required.
• Ensures AMSAs are well informed of management goals and directives. The incumbent will also ensure employees are informed of new procedures, instructions and techniques required in the function of the sections.
• Makes daily work assignments, resolves daily workplace issues, and maintains efficient workflow in the clinics assigned.
• Ensures accurate daily posting of employee's time assigned to specific T&L unit.
• Ensures all patient areas are covered during episodes of vacancies, annual and sick leave.
• Responsible for other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

• Basic Requirements: Citizenship. Citizen of the United States. (Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Chapter 3, Section A, paragraph 3.g.). Experience and Education.
• 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.
• Documentation Requirements for Proof of High School Completion or higher:
• If using post-high school education to substitute for experience at the GS-04 or GS-05, you must submit a copy of your unofficial or official college transcript with your application.
• English Language Proficiency. MSAs must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Chapter 3, Section A, paragraph 3.j
• Physical Requirements. See VA Directive and Handbook.
• GRADE REQUIREMENTS.
• 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. 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
• Grade Determinations:Lead Medical Support Assistant, GS-7
• Experience. One year of experience equivalent to the GS-6 grade level. Examples of specialized experience include but are not limited to: provides specialized and expert administrative patient support while working collaboratively in an interdisciplinary coordinated care delivery mode, work involves specialized administrative judgment and the flexible use of a wide range of clinical flow processes relating to access to care across multiple clinics, specialties, and/or care in the community resources, recommends changes to existing clinic procedures based on current administrative guidelines, expertise in utilizing numerous advanced patient systems in support of multiple clinics involved in an interdisciplinary coordinated care delivery model, coordinates with the patient care team to review clinic appointment availability to ensure that clinic schedules are closely monitored to effectively support the needs of the clinics, and makes adjustments necessary.