Clarification from the agency

Open to current, permanent VHA employees only

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The Advanced Medical Support Assistant assists all VISN 21 facilities by managing complex scheduling actions and by ensuring compliance to Office of Veterans Access to Care scheduling directives and practices. The position is required to exercise organizational skills, problem-solving ability, and content expertise in the various scheduling programs and best practices. The A/MSA communicates effectively with field staff and VISN Clinical Resource Hub (CRH) leadership on a variety of administrative priorities related to scheduling, order processing and consult management. The position requires travel for purposes including, but not limited to: VISN and facility leadership training, implementation of CRH services at Clinical Resource Hub Spoke sites and others, as assigned. The A/MSA processes orders from the Medical and Nursing staff, which includes responsibility for interpreting and verifying provider orders in accordance with VHA National Scheduling Directive guidelines. The position requires advanced knowledge of human anatomy, medical terminology, and legal requirements of the medical record. The ability to have clear and concise judgement, discretion, customer service, deal with a diverse population, and a high degree of tact and negotiating ability, is required daily to carry out the functions of the position. The Advanced Medical Support Assistant will travel up to 10% of the time, to provide training to Clinical Resource Hub spoke sites throughout VISN 21.Duties Include, but are not limited to:

• Develop and refine scheduling processes and training for the CRH Hub. Train spoke site clerical staff in CRH scheduling practices.
• Serve as a subject matter expert regarding CRH scheduling set up and practices.
• Arrange/schedule appointments for patients with a variety of telehealth clinics, services and consultants, coordinates appointments.
• Monitor the clinic consultations in accordance with the VHA National Scheduling Directive guidelines.
• Monitor the Electronic Wait List (EWL) which requires entry, deletion and scrubbing the lists daily. Oversight of outpatient appointments for areas of responsibility.
• Work in a proficient and self-directed manner in order to accomplish a wide variety of tasks, to include setting priorities and coordinating work.
• Orient new medical staff and all medical/nursing students to such things as the location of the patient files, as well as formatting of CPRS, VISTA, and Visual Aid. Orient staff relative to administrative rules, regulations, procedures and policies in the capacity of a Medical Support Assistant and the CRH program.
• Facilitate communication between providers and patients, serve as the point of contact for incoming provider calls from patients, spoke sites, and others, communicating tactfully and effectively both orally and in writing if needed.
• May frequently receive unclear inquiries from patients and/or spoke sites concerning a variety of medical, personnel and administrative matters; determine nature of inquiry and independently respond to all administrative questions.6. Retrieve and input pertinent data into VISTA and CPRS programs, maneuver and retrieve medical documentation from the VISTA Capture/Display Program, is knowledgeable with Remote Data, and is able to retrieve appropriate data requested.
• Participate in team huddles and team meetings to manage and plan patient care; this requires working collaboratively in an interdisciplinary coordinated care delivery model (i.e., patient aligned care team, or other specialty care setting).
• AMSA's may be required to perform document scanning daily, this requiring the knowledge of which pertinent information is required to be scanned into the patient's medical record and doing so in a timely manner.
• AMSA's may be required to help with VISN and National reports in retrieving and extracting data needed for monthly and/or quarterly reporting
• Coordinate with the patient care team to review the clinic utilization by using various reports, ensuring that the clinic set-up is closely monitored to effectively support the needs of the clinic and make any necessary adjustments.

Work Schedule: Full-Time, Monday through Friday 8:00am to 4:30pm PST
Virtual: This is a virtual position.
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English.
• You may be required to serve a probationary period.
• Subject to background/security investigation.
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).
• Participation in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination program is a requirement for all Veterans Health Administration Health Care Personnel (HCP) - See "Additional Information" below for details.

Qualifications

Basic Requirements:

• United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.

Experience and Education:

• English Language Proficiency: MSAs must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Chapter 3, Section A, paragraph 3j.
• Experience: Six months experience of clerical, office, customer service, or other administrative work that indicates the ability to acquire the particular knowledge and skills needed to perform the duties of the position;

OR

• Education. One year above high school;

OR

• Experience/Education Combination. Equivalent combination of experience and education are qualifying for entry level for which both education and experience are acceptable.

OR

• 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).

AND

In addition to the basic requirements for employment, the following criteria must also be met when determining the grade of candidates.

GRADE DETERMINATION
Advanced Medical Support Assistant, GS-06 level:
Experience: One year of experience equivalent to the GS-5 grade level such as:

• scheduling, canceling, re-scheduling patient appointments and/or consults;
• entering no-show information;
• monitoring appointment requests from multiple electronic sources;
• participating in huddles with other MSAs and/or clinic staff to determine the daily needs of the clinic, monitoring both inpatient and outpatient appointments in areas of responsibility;
• verifying and updating demographics and insurance information when patients check-in for appointments.
• Coordinate administrative functions relating to emergency and non-emergency transfers to other VA facilities or private hospitals and determines appointment type based on the patient's eligibility status (i.e., TRICARE, sharing agreements, collaterals, research patient, VA employee, etc.).

AND

In addition to the above experience, the candidate must also demonstrate all of the following Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSAs):

1. 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.
2. Ability to independently set priorities and organize work to meet deadlines, ensuring compliance with established processes, policies, and regulations.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. Advanced knowledge of medical terminology due to the technical nature of language utilized by clinicians.

CREDITABLE EXPERIENCE

(1) 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.

(2) Quality of Experience. 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 as described in this standard, at the specified grade level and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time.

(3) Part-Time Experience. Part-time experience as an MSA or equivalent administrative patient support in a non-VA medical inpatient or outpatient setting is creditable according to its relationship to the full-time workweek. For example, an MSA employed 20 hours a week, or on a 1/2-time basis, would receive one full-time workweek of credit for each two weeks of service.

References: Medical Support Assistant Qualification Standard GS-679 Veterans Health Administration, VA Handbook 5005/117, Part II Appendix G45.

The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-06.

Physical Requirements: This work is primarily sedentary; there is some walking when covering other clinics within the hospital, retrieving mail, and relaying pertinent information to staff. There is also minimal lifting/bending involved when handling supplies. The work may result in mental stress to the employee due to the nature of the work involving families and patients with life threatening issues which sometimes results in death.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE MAY NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Your application, resume, C.V., and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect consideration for employment.

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

The Department of Veterans Affairs performs pre-employment reference checks as an assessment method used in the hiring process to verify information provided by a candidate (e.g., on resume or during interview or hiring process); gain additional knowledge regarding a candidate's abilities; and assist a hiring manager with making a final selection for a position.

It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment.

Veterans and Transitioning Service Members: Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members.