Clarification from the agency

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 (AMSA) assists all VISN 1 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 AMSA 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 AMSA 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. Duties Include, but are not limited to:

• 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.
• 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: Monday - Friday 8:30am - 5:00pm
Compressed/Flexible:Not Authorized
Telework: ADHOC
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: F01391
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized
Financial Disclosure Report: Not Required

Notifications:

• Due to a critical staffing shortage, 38 U.S.C. § 7412 waives the requirement to apply Veterans' preference for this job announcement.
• These are AFGE Bargaining Unit positions.
• Positions are covered by locality-based comparability pay.
• The incumbent may be required to travel to other VA campuses and CBOCs as needed for coverage.
• Current Federal employees must submit copies of their most recent SF-50, (Notice of Personnel Action). The SF-50 must identify the position title, series, grade, step, tenure and type of service (Competitive or Excepted). In some cases, more than one SF-50 may be required to show a higher grade previously held.
• Veterans' preference does not apply for other current permanent Federal agency employees.
• Applicants may be referred over for consideration prior to the close date of this announcement.

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job.
• To be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. In addition to the application and questionnaire, this position requires an online assessment. The online assessment measures critical general competencies required to perform the job.
• 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

Basic Requirements:

• United States 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: None
• 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
• Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Service for requirements. See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Service for requirements.
• English Language Proficiency: Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f).
• Grandfathering Provision: All Medical Support Assistants (MSAs) employed in Veterans Health Administration (VHA) in this occupation on the effective date of this qualification standard (February 20, 2026) are considered to have met all qualification requirements for the title, series, and grade held, which are a part of the basic requirements of the occupation. For employees who do not meet all the basic requirements required in this standard, but who met the qualifications applicable to the position at the time they were appointed to it, the following provisions apply:(1) Such employees may be reassigned, promoted, or changed to a lower grade within the occupation.(2) Employees who are appointed on a temporary basis prior to the effective date of the qualification standard may not have their temporary appointment extended or be reappointed, on a temporary or permanent basis, until they fully meet the basic requirements of the standard.(3) If an employee who was converted to Title 38 hybrid status under this provision leaves the occupation, the employee loses protected status and must meet the full VA qualification standard requirements in effect at the time of reentry to the occupation.

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

Experience: One (1) year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level in Federal service (GS-05). Experience includes: Clinic experience in a hospital or doctor's office setting to include scheduling a high volume of appointments annually. High level customer service skills as evidenced by daily interaction and communication with clinicians, patients, families and coworkers. Evidence of work in a clinic setting with multiple inputs (in person, telephone, instant message communications) that need timely and professional resolution. Evidence of specific computer scheduling programs or software utilized in a clinic or hospital. In addition to 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.

Preferred Experience: The incumbents should have 1 year telehealth experience.

And

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

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-06.

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.