Medical Support Assistant (Advanced)

About the role

The Advanced Medical Support Assistant (AMSA) serves in the Medical Administration Service. The position directly impacts the administrative and operational aspects of Veteran care delivery - including access management, appointment scheduling, and coordination using advanced clinic access principles.

Responsibilities

• Serves as a primary administrative support resource for outpatient clinics, independently managing complex scheduling and access activities in accordance with VHA and local policies.
• Performs receptionist duties, both face-to-face and telephonically, including ACD/call room scheduling coverage, providing courteous, timely, and Veteran-centered customer service while safeguarding privacy and confidentiality.
• Screens and receives incoming calls, determines the nature of requests, and provides accurate information or resolution using established clinic processes and privacy regulations.
• Uses VHA approved scheduling and appointment applications to coordinate, schedule, reschedule, and cancel appointments using advanced access principles, adjusts appointment times, dates, or locations to support contingency plans related to staffing shortages or provider availability.
• Manages and performs daily reviews of active and pending consults, ICBWeb, VA Online Scheduling (VAOS), Open Slot Management (OSM), Audiocare communications to ensure accuracy, proper disposition, and timely follow-up as well as end-of-day review of no-show and/or patient cancellation reports and disposition accordingly.
• Collaborates with interdisciplinary staff to ensure continuity of inpatient and outpatient care, coordinates administrative services for Veterans, family members, caregivers, the general public, and interdisciplinary staff.
• Ensures receipt, processing, and integration of medical and administrative records into the Computerized Patient Record System (CPRS), including initiating scanning when required.
• Interprets and applies a complex body of laws, regulations, directives, and policies governing VA health care benefits and administrative operations.
• Develops and maintains effective working relationships with clinical and administrative staff to establish priorities and support direct patient care.
• Assists with workload distribution among Clinical Support Section employees in accordance with established workflows or job specialization to ensure timely completion of work.
• Participates in performance improvement, access management, and quality assurance initiatives to enhance clinic operations and Veteran satisfaction.

Requirements

No experience required. High school diploma - General Education Development equivalency certificate - or proficiency certificate from a State or territorial-level Board or Department of Education.

Licensure/Certification: None required.

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).

Qualifications

• Experience: One year of experience equivalent to the GS-5 grade level.
• Experience is defined as experience that includes - but is not limited to: scheduling, canceling, re-scheduling patient's appointments and/or consults, entering no-show information, monitoring the electronic wait list, preparing for clinic visits, monitoring both inpatient and outpatient appointments for areas of responsibility, ensuring encounter forms are completed in order to obtain appropriate workload credit, verifying and updating demographics and insurance information, processing all emergency and non-emergency transfers to other VA facilities or private hospitals, performing basic eligibility, co-pays, and pre-authorization requirements for specific coverage (i.e., TRICARE, sharing agreements, etc.).
• Assignment: The Advanced MSA provides specialized and expert administrative patient support while working collaboratively in an interdisciplinary coordinated care delivery model. 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.
• 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 (utilization) to ensure that clinic schedules are closely monitored to effectively support the needs of the clinics, and makes adjustments as necessary.
• MSAs at this level develop and/or maintain effective and efficient communication with the patient, interdisciplinary coordinated care delivery model teams, VA medical centers, and other agencies (e.g., assist with communications during the inpatient to outpatient discharge, communicate with non-VA medical facilities, prepare correspondence to notify patients of normal lab results, manage a system for follow-up care such as consults, tests, etc.).
• Other assignments at this level include - but are not limited to: processes incoming patient secure messaging through MyHealthyVet and coordinates with care team as appropriate, participates in team huddles and team meetings to manage, plan, problem solve, and follow-up with patient care by sharing information and collaborating with the interdisciplinary team, sets priorities and deadlines, adjusts the flow and sequencing of the work to meet team and patient needs, identifies incomplete encounters and communicates findings to providers, as needed, assists the team to reinforce the plan of care and self-help solutions, enters appropriate information into the electronic record, monitors preappointment information and/or requirements to assure readiness for patient visit/procedure, manages patient systems to verify and validate accuracy and resolve issues, evaluates patient information and clinic schedule lists to determine whether the patient requires an immediate appointment, informs team members about shared patients (i.e., those who receive their care at multiple VA centers or those who receive care in the community).

Skills

• Organizes work, sets priorities, and delegates tasks/responsibilities in order to meet deadlines.
• Communicates with individuals to obtain the desired effect, ensuring compliance with established policies and regulations.
• Provides staff development and training.
• Manages staffing requirements, manages priorities, and coordinates with staff in the unit in order to complete duties in an accurate and timely manner.
• Reviews and monitors data to ensure all reports are complete and accurate.

Benefits

None specified.

Pay

GS-6

Schedule

Monday-Friday 8:00 am to 4:30pm

Physical Requirements

See VA Directive and Handbook 5019 - Employee Occupational Health Service for requirements.

Virtual

This is not a virtual position.

Functional Statement #

267