Medical Support Assistant (Advanced)

About the role

The Advanced Level Medical Support Assistant (MSA) collaborates with other members of the healthcare team in the clinic to provide a robust interdisciplinary approach to care. Important interfaces and collaborations also occur with larger health care system providers including VA and non-VA specialists, hospitals, diagnostic and treating facilities, and community-based programs. The incumbent performs duties related to the receipt, intake, and indexing of health and administrative information.

Responsibilities

• Works collaboratively in an interdisciplinary coordinated care delivery environment (e.g., patient aligned care team or other specialty care)
• Coordinates with the patient care team to review clinic utilization using various reports (e.g., Clinic Utilization Statistical Summary)
• Ensures clinic setup is closely monitored to effectively support clinic needs and makes necessary adjustments
• Develops and maintains effective and efficient communication with patients, interdisciplinary team, management team, VA medical centers, and other agencies
• Collects, scans, and updates health insurance information; promotes Veteran registration and utilization of My Healthy Vet (MHV)
• Trains other MSAs on correct clinic operations and serves as a preceptor to developmental level MSAs
• Schedules appointments; notifies supervisor when clinic area access is less than desirable or if an individual patient cannot be scheduled within mandated timeframes
• Daily review of active/pending Consults, Encounters, Electronic Wait List, Recall list, and MHV secure messaging communications for accuracy and disposition
• Reports backlogs, difficulties meeting deadlines, uncooperative physicians, or difficulty securing information from clinicians or employee plans
• Organizes work independently and handles scheduling problems and deviations based on personal knowledge of clinic operations, policy, schedules, and provider preferences

Qualifications

Basic Requirements

• Citizenship: Must be a citizen of the United States. Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with 38 U.S.C. 7407(a).
• Experience: No experience required for basic eligibility.
• Education: High school diploma, General Education Development equivalency certificate, or proficiency certificate from a State or territorial-level Board or Department of Education.
• Licensure/Certification/Registration: None required.
• English Language Proficiency: Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with 38 U.S.C. 7403(f).

Grade Determinations (GS-5 Equivalent Experience)

In addition to the basic requirements above, applicants must meet the following experience and demonstrated competencies:

• Experience: One year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level (GS-5 Medical Support Assistant). Duties at this level include, but are not limited to:
  • Performing a full range of duties related to the delivery of healthcare services in an inpatient or outpatient setting
  • Answering phones, greeting patients, relaying messages to appropriate staff inside or outside the unit
  • Scheduling appointments, including interpreting and verifying provider orders to schedule within scheduling guidelines
• Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs): Candidates must demonstrate all of the following:
  • 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 and 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, including preparing reports in various formats, presenting data to various organizational levels, and resolving patient concerns
  • Advanced knowledge of the technical health care process (including 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 (including 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

Grandfathering Provision

Applicants 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).

Experience Documentation Requirements

You must provide detailed information of your experience performed. Statements such as "I was a Medical Support Assistant" are insufficient to determine qualifications. Experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month and year start/end dates, and hours worked per week. 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. For all assignments above the full performance level, the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, administrative independence, complexity/difficulty, and a range of varieties.

Skills

• Interdisciplinary collaboration and communication across medical disciplines
• Independent prioritization and workflow organization under regulatory compliance
• Tactful, multi-channel communication (electronic, phone, in-person, written) with diverse stakeholders
• Report preparation and data presentation to organizational leadership
• Patient concern resolution
• Advanced technical healthcare process knowledge (scheduling, coordinated care models, patient portals)
• Advanced policy/procedure knowledge for coordinated care operations and patient flow management
• Advanced medical terminology proficiency

Work Environment & Physical Requirements

• Physical Requirements: Typically must be able to operate a computer terminal and manage multiple activities simultaneously. Work is generally sedentary; however, there may be some walking, standing, bending, and carrying of light items.
• Work Environment: Work may be stressful due to accelerated pace for several hours at a time during peak clinic hours or on days with large volumes of clinic activity.

Schedule

• Work Schedule: Monday–Friday, 7:45 am–4:30 pm
• Telework: Available
• Virtual Position: No

Benefits

• Paid Time Off: 37–50 days of annual paid time off per year (13–26 days annual leave, 13 days sick leave, 11 paid Federal holidays). Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual based on prior work experience or military service.
• 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 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 a monthly maximum of $416.66.
• Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5-year vesting) and federal 401K (TSP) with up to 5% matching contributions by VA.
• Insurance: Federal health, vision, dental, term life, and long-term care insurance (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement).