Medica Support Assistant

About the role

The James E. Van Zandt VA Medical Center - State College VA Clinic in Pennsylvania is seeking a Medical Support Assistant (MSA). The MSA plays a key role in supporting clinical operations by performing a variety of technical support duties that facilitate the work of physicians, physician assistants, nurses, nursing assistants, and other members of the medical facility who provide direct patient care.

Responsibilities

• Schedules routine and specialized appointments for the unit and with other units within the health care system, while ensuring proper sequencing.
• Performs clerical duties related to patient care and treatments such as admitting and discharging, travel arrangements, forwarding medication orders, work orders, and maintaining electronic medical charts.
• Responsible for performing a variety of duties including, but not limited to data entry.
• Notifies service administrative staff of supplies necessary to perform duties.
• Applies knowledge of medical terminology correctly in order to complete duties.
• Verifies and updates demographics including temporary addresses, insurance information, sharing caregiver information, and administrative clinical reminders.
• Effectively communicates, both verbally and in writing with internal and external sources.
• Captures and relays a high volume of incoming and outgoing communication via telephone, fax, and email, from patients, staff and outside sources concerning a variety of medical, personnel, and administrative matters. Determines the nature of the inquiry and independently responds or routes to appropriate clinical staff in a timely manner appropriate to the urgency of the correspondence.

Requirements

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.
• Education: High school diploma, General Education Development equivalency certificate, or proficiency certificate from a State or territorial-level Board or Department of Education.
• English Language Proficiency: Candidates must be proficient in spoke and written English in accordance with 38 USC § 7403(f).

Qualifications

• Medical Support Assistant, GS-3: Experience or Education. None beyond the basic requirements.
• Medical Support Assistant, GS-4: Experience. One year of creditable experience equivalent to the next lower grade; OR Education. One (1) year of education above high school. Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. Candidates must demonstrate all of the KSAs below:
• Knowledge of basic medical terminology to assist in the provision of care to patients.
• Skill in recording patient messages and understanding physician requests pertaining to follow-up medical care in internal or external clinics.
• Ability to meet, communicate, and interact with individuals from varying backgrounds and other health care team members in a courteous and helpful manner in order to facilitate medical care for patients.
• Ability to use, and navigate between, various types of office automation equipment and software (i.e. computer systems, web-based scheduling programs; insurance collection system; scanning software, multiple line phone systems; electronic faxing programs) to support patient care.
• Medical Support Assistant, GS-5: Experience. One year of creditable experience equivalent to the next lower grade. Qualifying specialized experience includes: scheduling, canceling, re-scheduling patient's appointments and/or consults; interviewing patients for appointments; referring patients to other medical specialty clinics; providing information to patients necessary to resolve complaints; reviewing and documenting medical outpatient and inpatient health records; verifying third party insurance and updating information; OR Education. Two (2) years of education above high school. Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: Candidates must demonstrate all of the KSAs below:
• Advanced knowledge of medical terminology specific to understand medical diagnosis and procedures sufficient to communicate clinical staff instructions to patients.
• Skill in customer service with the ability to identify customer concerns, and refer to the appropriate staff, as necessary, to ensure a satisfactory resolution.
• 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.
• Ability to schedule medical appointments in a clinical setting.
• Ability to work independently in the accomplishment of a wide variety of duties performing patient support work.
• Ability to communicate effectively and professionally in person, electronically, and/or by telephone, with internal and external customers.

Benefits

• 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)