Clarification from the agency

First Consideration will be given to Current Permanent Employees of the VA West Palm Beach, followed by Agency Employees, VHA wide. This occupation is listed on the OIG Determination of Veterans Health Administration's Occupational Staffing Shortages Fiscal Year (FY26). Therefore, this vacancy announcement is exempt from Veterans Preference. NOTE: The 2-page Resume requirement does not apply to this position. For more information, refer to Required Documents below.

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The Advanced Medical Support Assistant works collaborate in an interdisciplinary coordinated care delivery model. The Advanced Medical Support Assistant reviews care with the facility service areas, non-VA community providers, and third-party administrator to review the eligibility by using various basic guidelines and policies, coordinate care to non-VA community providers through third-party administrators, and makes any necessary adjustments. Assignments at this level include, but are not limited to:

• Serves as the administrative subject matter expert within the patient care team. Provides administrative support and is an integral member of the clinic team to effectively carry out daily administrative operations of the clinic.
• Ensures that all Consults and Scheduling practices are acted upon in accordance with National Directives} Regulations and Standard Operating Procedures.
• Develops and maintains effective and efficient communication with the patient and interdisciplinary care team, VA medical centers, and other agencies. Assists with communications during the inpatient to outpatient discharge; communicates with non-VA medical facilities. Maintains and monitors patient appointment schedules and communicates delays in scheduled appointments to the appropriate staff and patients. Attempts to resolve complaints of a local administrative nature and refers other complaints to supervisor. Coordinates and/or schedules patient appointments with other clinics or specialties.
• Facilitates and processes secure messaging with the patient and care team; notifies patient of normal lab results. Develops and/or manages a tracking system for follow up care to include but is not limited to consult status and test results.
• Participates in team huddles and team meeting to manage and plan patient care. Sets priorities and deadlines, adjusts follow and sequencing of work to meet team and patient needs. Collaborates with the team to reinforce the plan of care and self-help solutions and enters appropriate information into the electronic patient medical record. Participates and provides feedback and input in problem solving on operational issues or procedures in team meetings. Performs administrative follow up actions and independently follows up on team huddles by sharing information and collaborating with the clinical team to assure continuity of care.
• Monitors pre-appointment requirements to assure readiness for patient visit/procedure (e.g. x-ray, lab work). Manages electronic wait list to verify and validate accuracy and resolve issues.
• Evaluates patient information and clinic schedule lists to determine whether patient is vested. Educates providers about shared patients (patients receiving care at another VA medical center or with a community non-VA provider) and brings such patients to the attention of provider.
• Assists with clinic access contingency plans by adjusting appointment times, location, or dates as well as shift patients to other healthcare providers as conflict with staffing and/or coverage occurs.
• Performs administrative duties in support of provider panel management using various VHA databases to extract, categorize, and collate specific patient/provider metrics required to manage the chronic and preventive health care needs of the panel. Develops and maintains specific reports, track, and trend care delivery as well as participating and leading quality improvement efforts focused on cost, access, quality, and customer satisfaction.
• Obtains identifying information and determines the nature of the visit/call. Insures eligibility for care and contacts appropriate staff member for verification, when necessary.
• Incumbent is responsible for appointment management and coordination of all administrative information between the professional staff and the patient. Receives patients and visitors in person or telephonically. Records and relays messages and/or redirect call(s) as necessary. Updates demographic information, scheduling appointments, enters, No Shows, collection insurance information, data entry, administratively managing encounters, consultation requests, and electronic wait list, enters appropriate documentation in patient records, answering telephones, and notifying the patient of his/her appointment.
• Orients medical staff to basic administrative policies and procedures dealing with outpatient scheduling and other administrative matters. Attempts to resolve complaints of a local administrative nature and refers other complaints to supervisor. Coordinates and/or schedules patient appointments with other clinics and specialty areas.

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job.
• All applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English.
• Subject to background/security investigation.
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued dentification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• Must pass pre-employment physical examination.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).
• Complete all application requirements detailed in the "Required Documents" section of this announcement.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1 or 2-year trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:

• your performance and conduct;
• the needs and interests of the agency;
• whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
• whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Upon completion of your trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Qualifications

Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred to and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met.

Basic Requirements:

• Citizenship. Citizen of the United States. (Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Chapter B3, Section A, paragraph 3.g.).
• 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 3.j

Grade Determinations: Medical Support Assistant (Advanced), GS-679-06

Experience. One year of experience equivalent to the GS-5 grade level.

The Advanced MSA provides specialized and expert administrative patient support while working collaboratively in an interdisciplinary coordinated care delivery model. Work involves specialized administrative judgment and the flexible use of a wide range of clinical flow processes relating to access to care across multiple clinics, specialties, and/or care in the community resources. Recommends changes to existing clinic procedures based on current administrative guidelines. Expertise in utilizing numerous advanced patient systems in support of multiple clinics involved in an interdisciplinary coordinated care delivery model. Coordinates with the patient care team to review clinic appointment availability utilization to ensure that clinic schedules are closely monitored to effectively support the needs of the clinics, and makes adjustments as necessary. MSAs at this level develop and/or maintain effective and efficient communication with the patient, interdisciplinary coordinated care delivery model teams, VA medical centers, and other agencies e.g., assist with communications during the inpatient to outpatient discharge; communicate with non-VA medical facilities; prepare correspondence to notify patients of normal lab results; manage a system for follow-up care such as consults, tests, etc..

Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. Candidates must also demonstrate all of the KSAs below:

• 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 clinicians.

References: VA Handbook 5005/117, Part II, Appendix G45, dated August 1, 2019. Medical Support Assistant Qualification Standard GS-0679. http://vaww.va.gov/OHRM/Directives-Handbooks/Documents/5005.pdf this can be found in the local Human Resources Office.

Creditable Experience: 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.
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.
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 instance, 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.

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.

The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-6.

Physical Requirements: Physical aspects associated with work required of this assignment are typical for this occupation, see duty section for essential duties of this position. May require standing, lifting, carrying, sitting. stooping, bending, pulling and pushing.

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.