Medical Support Assistant (Advanced)

About the role

The VA Northeast Ohio Healthcare System is recruiting for Medical Support Assistants (Advanced). This job is open to current permanent Department of Veteran Affairs employees, current permanent federal employees of other agencies, and all US citizens.

Responsibilities

• Schedules patient appointments.
• Coordinates with the patient care team to review the clinic utilization by using various reports (e.g., Clinic Utilization Statistical Summary), ensures that the clinic setup is closely monitored to effectively support the needs of the clinic, and provides the necessary recommendations to ensure compliance or corrective actions and the appropriate level of access.
• Maintains effective and efficient communication with the patient, interdisciplinary team, VA Medical Centers, and other agencies (e.g., assist with communications during the inpatient to outpatient discharge).
• Communicates with non-VA medical facilities; facilitates/processes secure messaging with the patient and team; notifies patients of appointments.
• Manages a tracking system for follow up care such as Return to Clinic Orders, Recall, consults, tests, etc.
• Participates in team huddles and team meetings to manage and plan patient care.
• Sets priorities and deadlines, adjusts the flow and sequencing of the work to meet team and patient needs.
• Works with the team to reinforce the plan of care and self-help solutions and enters appropriate information into the electronic record.
• Maintains the confidentiality of information obtained to carry out required duties.
• Routinely communicates with physicians, case managers, and other allied health professional staff using sound interpersonal skills and is constantly aware of the sensitive information.
• Works independently making decisions based on guidelines, precedents and regulations and performs duties in such a manner that only minimal supervision is required.
• Works independently making decisions based on guidelines, precedents and regulations and performs duties in such a manner that only minimal supervision is required.

Qualifications

• One year of experience equivalent to the GS-5 grade level, including operating 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; knowledge of medical terminology specific to understand medical diagnosis and procedures sufficient to communicate clinical staff instructions to patients; scheduling medical appointments in a clinical setting; working independently in the accomplishment of a wide variety of duties performing patient support work; communicating effectively and professionally in person, electronically, and/or by telephone, with internal and external customers; and providing customer service and identifying customer concerns and referring to the appropriate staff, as necessary, to ensure a satisfactory resolution.
• 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. 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 clinic.