Clarification from the agency

Area of Consideration: Open to Current, Permanent VISN 12 Employees only.

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The VISN CRH AMSA is responsible for ensuring that CRH services are delivered at the highest standard and in accordance with national CRH guidelines. This role involves coordinating with various spoke site facilities and other VISN MSAs to implement consistent scheduling practices and standards across the VISN. The individual will ensure that all CRH services are used appropriately and adhere to relevant CRH, telehealth, and other applicable program office policies and procedures.

Major Duties include, but are not limited to:

• Process medical release of information requests related to the patient's current hospitalization, following all rules and regulations regarding the Privacy Act, Freedom of Information Act, and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
• Initiates and carries out a variety of clerical duties associated with patient care and treatment of one or more CRH primary care, mental health, and specialty clinics.
• The incumbent answers a multitude of telephone calls and records messages about such things as detailed laboratory reports, x-rays, and basic medical/pharmacy information.
• Recognizes and refers urgent issues to the professional staff for immediate action. Always shows courtesy, respect, and a positive attitude towards patients, co-workers, and the public. Provides front-line assistance to customers with questions or concerns. Applies discernment and sensitivity when performing required tasks, resolving issues accurately and in a timely manner.
• Facilitates necessary follow-up to ensure satisfactory resolution. Processes administrative interfacility consults and ensures Veterans' appointments are scheduled in a timely manner.
• Develops and refines scheduling processes and training for the CRH Hub. Trains spoke site clerical staff in CRH scheduling practices. Serves as a subject matter expert regarding CRH scheduling setup and practices.
• Arranges/schedules appointments for patients with a variety of telehealth clinics, services, and consultants, coordinates appointments for timeliness to avoid conflicts in provider and patient telehealth clinics, and to meet the schedule of the clinic or service to which they are referred.
• The AMSA also manages the daily appointment list, which requires scheduling, cancelling, or no-showing appointments. Review spoke site schedules several times daily and update the Hub site schedule to ensure provider and patient schedules at both sites match.
• Perform additional duties as assigned.

Work Schedule: Full-time; Monday through Friday; 8:00am to 4:30pm Central Time
Telework: This position is telework eligible and is currently exempted from return to office requirements. Exempted positions are reviewed annually and do not imply permanent telework status.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 000000
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.
• 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 trial period.
• 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.

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.(1) 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,(2) Education. One year above high school; OR,(3) Experience/Education Combination. Equivalent combination of experience and education are qualifying for entry level for which both education and experience are acceptable.

Grade Determinations:
In addition to meeting the basic requirements listed above, you must meet the grade requirements at the GS-6 level to qualify for this position.

GS-6 Level Grade Requirements:
Must have at least one (1) full year of experience that is directly related to the duties of AMSA and that equips you with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of this position. To be creditable, this experience must be equivalent to the next lower grade level, GS-5, and demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities associated with current MSA responsibilities. Experience at this level includes but is not limited to: Advising clinical staff on current administrative processes. Answering phones, greeting patients, relaying messages to appropriate staff inside or outside of the unit, scheduling, canceling, re-scheduling patient appointments and/or consults including interpreting and verifying provider orders in accordance with VHA national scheduling guidelines. 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 patient's check-in for appointments. Coordinates 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,

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs): In addition, applicants must demonstrate the following KSAs:

• 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.

Preferred Experience:

• Experience working with TMP, CERNER, ISS-CPRS, and VISTA systems.
• Experience with arranges/schedules appointments for patients with a variety of telehealth, clinics, services, and consultants, coordinates appointments for timeliness to avoid conflicts in provider and patient telehealth clinics, and to meet the schedule of the clinic or service to which they are referred.

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

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

Physical Requirements: The work is primarily sedentary. Physical demands do not exceed those of a typical office setting. There may be some walking, standing, twisting, turning, sitting, pushing, bending, repetitive keyboarding, or carrying of light items. Some positions may require sitting for long periods of time at a computer terminal, typing data while talking on a telephone headset.

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.