Medical Support Assistant (Advanced)

About the role

The Advanced Medical Support Assistant (AMSA) provides specialized administrative support to both Nutrition & Food Services (NFS) and Prosthetics and Sensory Aids Service (PSAS) at the Iowa City VA Clinic.

Responsibilities

• Scheduling, cancelling, and re-scheduling patient appointments by managing appointment requests (including but not limited to Return-to-Clinic Orders (RTC), Recall Reminders, Veteran's Appointment Requests (VAR), Consults, and Patient initiated requests) in accordance with scheduling business rules as outlined in VHA Directive 1230 and VHA Directive 1232.
• Coordinate the scheduling/rescheduling of consults or forwarding of consults to community care using the various scheduling systems and tools.
• Contact the Veteran to discuss VA and community care options, gather the Veteran's scheduling preferences, and appropriately document all mandatory consult scheduling elements as outlined in VHA Directive 1232.
• Responsible for tracking consult progress from file entry date to the scheduled date or cancellation of the consult.
• Document all patient related correspondences and outreach for scheduling in the electronic medical record.
• Retrieves and responds to data generated from Audio Care system.
• Conducts outbound phone calls in response to Veterans' requests to reschedule cancelled appointments.
• Distributes, receives, sorts, and delivers incoming and outgoing mail or other documents to the appropriate individuals.
• Generates letters and appointment/group instructions to patients.
• Works Monday through Friday from 7:30 AM to 4:00 PM.

Requirements

• Basic Requirements: Citizenship, High school diploma or equivalent, proficiency certificate from a State or territorial-level Board or Department of Education, Physical Requirements as per VA Directive and Handbook 5019 - Employee Occupational Health Service.
• Experience: One year of experience equivalent to the GS-5 grade level.
• Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs): Advanced knowledge of the technical health care process, policies and procedures associated with interdisciplinary coordinated care delivery and/or care in the community, medical terminology, collaboration and communication with medical clinicians across multiple disciplines, ability to prioritize and organize work, and ability to communicate effectively.

Qualifications

• Education: High school diploma or equivalent.
• Licensure/Certification/Registration: None.
• Foreign Education: Must be deemed at least equivalent to that gained in a conventional U.S. program by a private organization specializing in the interpretation of foreign educational credentials.
• 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).

Skills

• Advanced knowledge of the technical health care process (including scheduling across interdisciplinary coordinated care delivery and/or care in the community operational activities that affect patient flow and patient support care administrative functions to include appointment cycles, outside patient referrals, follow-up care, overbooking, provider availability, etc.).
• 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 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.
• 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, and regulations.
• Ability to communicate tactfully and effectively, electronically, by phone, in person, and in writing, with internal and external customers.

Benefits

• Paid Time Off: 37-50 days of annual paid time off per year (13-26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, 11 paid Federal holidays per year).
• Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior military service experience.
• Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not authorized.
• Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized.

Pay

• Competitive salary and regular salary increases.
• Higher step rate of the appropriate grade may be determined after consideration of higher or unique qualifications or special needs of the VA.
• Above Minimum Rate of the Grade.

Schedule

• Monday through Friday from 7:30 AM to 4:00 PM.