Clarification from the agency

This announcement is open only to current, permanent employees of Veterans Health Affairs. *NOTE: The 2-page Resume requirement does not apply to this position. For more information, refer to Required Documents below.

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Duties include, but are not limited to:

• Full responsibility for supervising at least one subordinate MSA team leader, supervisor or equivalent administrative patient support staff in the HSA CCC
• Evaluating the work of subordinate staff
• Resolving complex problems to ensure patient services are met; evaluating new products, equipment and systems to make recommendations for improved operations
• Identifying educational or training needs
• Making final decisions on hiring selections; evaluating performance, and taking disciplinary action when necessary
• Working collaboratively with HSA programs, services, and inter-professional coordinated care team members to provide access to care and meet the needs of Veterans via various available contact modalities to include but not limited to telephone calls, secure messaging, chat, text messaging and video
• Planning and directing the subordinate lead, supervisor and MSA's activities
• Extracting and analyzing data to provide reports to senior management in support of tracking measures
• Providing information and resolution to Veterans' requests within scope, using administrative judgement to escalate symptomatic c concerns to clinicians within the HSA CCC or directing the contact to the appropriate discipline within the CCC or department for resolution
• Screening incoming contacts and independently routing the contacts to the appropriate area for resolution
• Using advanced knowledge of health care process as it relates to access of care to ensure Veteran appointment scheduling is efficient, operational and prioritized to maintain Veteran flow and clinic readiness
• Utilizing various software, hardware system products, and data portals to transfer and capture information electronically for the support of the daily operation of the unit
• Other related duties may be assigned

Work Schedule: 8:00am - 4:30 pm CST
Remote: This is a remote position and is exempted from return to office requirements. Remote exempted positions are reviewed annually and do not imply permanent remote work status.
Functional Statement #: FS 54904-F
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized.
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

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 identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• 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: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.
• Experience: None
• Education. High School diploma, General Education Development equivalency certificate, or proficiency certificate from State or territorial-level Board of Department of 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 3.j.
• Foreign Education. To be creditable, education completed outside the U.S. must be deemed at least equivalent to that gained in a conventional U.S. program by a private organization specializing in the interpretation of foreign educational credentials.
• Licensure/Certification/Registration. None

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).

Grade Determinations:
Supervisory Medical Support Assistant, GS-8 Experience. One year of experience equivalent to the GS-7 grade level leading or supervising MSAs or equivalent administrative patient support staff in a non-VA medical inpatient, outpatient, or interdisciplinary setting.

Assignment. For all supervisory assignments the Supervisory MSA must spend 25% or more of their time providing administrative and technical supervision and perform major duties above those at the FPL that consist of significant scope, complexity, difficulty, and variety. Supervisory MSAs at this level plan and direct programs at medical centers and/or satellite outpatient clinics. They have full responsibility for supervising at least one subordinate MSA team leader, supervisor, or equivalent administrative patient support staff in a VA medical inpatient, outpatient, or interdisciplinary setting. Assignments at this level include but are not limited to evaluating the work of subordinate staff; resolving complex problems to ensure patient services are met; evaluating new products, equipment, and systems to make recommendations for improved operations; identifying educational or training needs; making final decisions on hiring selections; evaluating performance and taking disciplinary action when necessary. The employee has administrative and professional responsibility for planning and directing the subordinate lead, supervisor, and MSA's activities. Responsible for extracting and analyzing data to provide reports to senior management in support of tracking measures.

Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition to the experience above, the candidates must demonstrate all of the KSAs below:

• Advanced knowledge of managing or leading patient support staff in a clinic. This includes independently utilizing reference sources, decision making, and 13 empowering the team to collaborate and resolve problems within a complex systems environment.
• Ability to provide the full range of administrative and supervisory duties [to at least one subordinate MSA supervisor or team leader in a patient support setting which includes assignment of work, performance evaluations, selection of staff, and recommendation of awards and/or advancements.
• Ability to collaborate, communicate, and demonstrate customer service and interpersonal skills with internal and external customers to ensure quality/continuity of care and ensure compliance with established policies and regulations.
• Ability to provide briefings, orientations, staff development, and training [in a patient support setting].
• Ability to manage fiscal matters, forecast resource and equipment needs, and identify budget needs.

Preferred Experience:

• Previous call center supervisory experience
• Previous supervisory experience
• Experience in conducting performance evaluations for subordinates
• Previous experience resolving complex issues concerning: patients, co-workers, visitors, exc.
• 1 year experience conducting briefings, orientations, staff development, and training.
• Previous Lead MSA, Adv MSA, MSA experience

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-08. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is in the range of GS-08.

Physical Requirements: The work is mostly sedentary (up to 8 hours), requires walking (up to 4 hours), bending (occasional), standing (up to 1 hour), use of fingers, both hands required, talking on the telephone using telephone headset. The work does not require any special physical effort or ability.

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.

Your qualifications will be evaluated based on your application materials (e.g., resume, supporting documents), your responses on the application questionnaire, and your responses to all assessments required for this position.

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.