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. Position can be based out of either Fort Meade, SD or Hot Springs, SD. This is an open continuous announcement; qualified candidates will be referred to the hiring manager every 1–2 weeks until the announcement is closed or filled.

Qualifications

Basic Requirements

• Citizenship: Be a citizen of the United States (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.
• Licensure/Certification/Registration: None required.
• Physical Requirements: Must meet standards per VA Directive and Handbook 5019 – Employee Occupational Health Service. A pre-employment examination or evaluation is required; questions about physical demands or environmental factors may be addressed at the time of evaluation.
• English Language Proficiency: Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with 38 U.S.C. 7403(f). May qualify based on the Grandfathering Provision as described in the VA Qualification Standard for this occupation (applicable only to current VHA employees in this occupation who meet the criteria).

Medical Support Assistant (Advanced) GS-6 Requirements

This position is above the full performance level for this job series and requires experience beyond the basic requirements. You must meet the basic requirements and the following:

• One year of experience equivalent to the GS-5 grade level that equips the candidate with:
  • Advanced knowledge of medical terminology specific to understand medical diagnosis and procedures sufficient to communicate clinical staff instructions to patients.
  • Skill in customer service with the ability to identify customer concerns and refer to the appropriate staff as necessary to ensure a satisfactory resolution.
  • Ability to operate computerized programs and systems to enter, modify, and retrieve sensitive medical and patient identifying information (PII) into or from electronic health records, scheduling systems, and/or reports.
  • Ability to schedule medical appointments in a clinical setting.
  • Ability to work independently in the accomplishment of a wide variety of duties performing patient support work.
  • Ability to communicate effectively and professionally in person, electronically, and/or by telephone with internal and external customers.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs) – Candidates must demonstrate all of the following:

• 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 (e.g., appointment cycles, outside patient referrals, follow-up care, overbooking, provider availability).
• 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, 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.

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/. The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-6.

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.
• Exercises specialized administrative judgment and flexible use of a wide range of clinical flow processes relating to access to care across all disciplines and specialties through community care.
• Recommends changes to existing clinic procedures based on current administrative guidelines.
• Utilizes numerous advanced patient systems involved in an interdisciplinary coordinated care delivery model.
• Coordinates veteran appointments through community vendors using guidance from the veteran's care team to ensure appointments are scheduled accurately, efficiently, and within clinical needs requested by the provider.
• Develops and maintains effective 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 under 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 HealtheVet, coordinating with the care team as appropriate.
• Participates in team huddles and 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, adjusting the flow and sequencing of 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