Medical Support Assistant (Advanced)-Care in the Community

About the role

Performs clerical and administrative support in the coordination, care, and treatment provided to veterans through the CITC referral processing procedures at VA Black Hills Health Care System.

Responsibilities

• Provides specialized and expert administrative patient support while working collaboratively in an interdisciplinary coordinated care delivery model.
• Works closely with clinical personnel to ensure veterans receive timely referred and scheduled care in their local community. This work involves specialized administrative judgment and the flexible use of a wide range of clinical flow processes relating to access to care across all disciplines and specialties through community care.
• The AMSA recommends changes to existing clinic procedures based on current administrative guidelines.
• Coordinates veteran appointments through community vendors utilizing guidance and direction from the veteran's care team to ensure appointments are scheduled accurately, efficiently and within the clinical needs requested by the provider.
• Develops and/or maintains effective and efficient communication with the veteran, veteran representatives, interdisciplinary care teams, VA medical centers, and other agencies (e.g., coordinating community care appointments and additional requests for care with non-VA medical facilities, administratively triaging phone calls related to community care requests, assisting other VA teams in understanding community care eligibilities in regards to the Mission Act of 2018, assisting CITC RN in care coordination of referrals, following up with community vendors to ensure appointment completion and obtaining of medical records).
• Processes incoming veteran messages through message manager and care requests through my healthy vet, 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 interdisciplinary team; sets priorities and deadlines, adjusts the flow and sequencing of the work to meet team and patient needs; enters appropriate information into the electronic record; manages patient systems to verify and validate accuracy and resolve issues; evaluates and triages scheduling to meet recommendations by clinician in regards to urgency of the referrals.
• Schedules appointments, including interpreting and verifying provider orders in accordance with Community Care processes guidelines and directives. Independently recognizes the urgency of the consults and schedules care in accordance. Assignments include, but are not limited to: scheduling, rescheduling patient consults, and monitoring processes related to Community Care. Accurately schedules the full spectrum of medical care including but is not limited to outpatient appointments, outpatient procedures, inpatient surgery, home care, lab tests and imaging throughout all specialties. Communicates to the veteran any pre-appointment requirements or instructions. Clearly communicates appointment care details to the veteran or point of contact for veteran. Communicates to the PACT Provider or Nurse if instructions are of nature that clinical review is required to determine appropriateness for the veteran. Identifies and communicates veteran concerns or needs recognized during communications regarding upcoming Community Care.
• Provides follow up calls to veterans when it is identified that an appointment was not attended. Incumbent assists veterans in rescheduling appointments in cases of missed or no-show appointments.

Requirements

• Open to current permanent Department of Veteran Affairs employees, current permanent Federal employees of other agencies, and all US Citizens.
• This position requires the incumbent to physically report to work at either Fort Meade or Hot Springs.

Qualifications

• Knowledge of MSA Practices. To be creditable, the experience must have demonstrated the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) associated with current MSA responsibilities [or an equivalent administrative patient support role in a non-VA medical inpatient or outpatient setting]. Experience satisfying this requirement may be paid/non-paid employment as [an] MSA or [an equivalent position in a non-VA hospital or clinic setting].
• Basic Requirements:
  • Citizenship: Be a citizen of the United States (U.S.). Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens according to 38 U.S.C. § 7407(a).
  • Experience. No experience required.
  • 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 spoken and written English in accordance with 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f).