Clarification from the agency

This announcement is open to all US Citizens.

Videos

VA Careers - Medical Support Assistant: https://youtube.com/embed/EE9c4XkaELok

Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional

Major Duties:

• The incumbent performs duties related to the receipt, intake, and indexing of health and administrative information.
• Interface with personal computer (PC) applications as well as numerous VA computer applications.
• The MSA is responsible for scheduling appointments, including interpreting, and verifying Veteran eligibility in accordance with VHA national guidelines.
• Assignments at this level include, but are not limited to: Emergency Department scheduling, manage emergency notifications, verifying and updating demographics and insurance information; performing basic eligibility review including transportation eligibility, informs patients on co-pay, humanitarian rates and preauthorization requirements for Sharing Agreement, CHAMPA VA and Tricare. Completes ROI requests to and from the Emergency Department.
• Employee plans and organizes work with general assistance from the supervisor as to meet local and VA-wide time frames to complete analysis requirements, reports and special assignments and only refers to the non-routine and high technical problems to his/her supervisor.
• The incumbent is responsible for reporting backlogs, difficulties in meeting deadlines, uncooperative physicians, or difficulty in securing information from clinicians or the record.
• Responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of information obtained to carry out required duties.
• Routinely communicates with nursing, providers, case managers, and other allied health professional staff using sound interpersonal skills and is constantly aware of the sensitive information.
• Works independently making decisions based on guidelines, precedents and regulations and performs duties in such a manner that only minimal supervision is required.
• Performance is judged in terms of overall effectiveness of the operation through broad general objectives, the adequacy and accuracy of the work, timeliness, and conformance to established procedures, policies, and instructions.

Work Schedule: Tour/Days will vary, Monday thru Sunday, 7:00am-8:00pm. Compressed tour available.
Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases When setting pay, a higher step rate of the appropriate grade may be determined after consideration of higher or unique qualifications or special needs of the VA (Above Minimum Rate of the Grade).
Paid Time Off: 37-50 days of annual paid time offer per year (13-26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, 11 paid Federal holidays per year)
Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior [work experience] or military service experience.
Parental Leave: After 12 months of employment, up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave in connection with the birth, adoption, or foster care placement of a child.
Child Care Subsidy: After 60 days of employment, full time employees with a total family income below $144,000 may be eligible for a childcare subsidy up to 25% of total eligible childcare costs for eligible children up to the monthly maximum of $416.66.
Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA
Insurance: Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement)
Telework: Not Available
Functional Statement #: 000000

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.
• 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.
• 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:

• 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 3, Section A, paragraph 3.g.).
• Experience and Education.
  • 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
• Certification. None required.
• Foreign Education. To be creditable, education completed outside the U.S. must have been submitted to a private organization that specializes in the interpretation of foreign educational credentials and such education must have been deemed at least equivalent to that gained in conventional U.S. programs.
• Physical Requirements. See VA Directive and Handbook 5019.
• 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.

Medical Support Assistant, GS-5

• Experience. One year of experience equivalent to theGS-4 grade level; OR,
• Education. Four years of education above high school.
• Assignment. This is the full performance level for MSAs. At this level, the MSA independently performs a full range of duties related to the delivery of healthcare services in an inpatient or outpatient setting. Advises clinical staff on current administrative processes. The MSA is responsible for answering phones, greeting patients, relaying messages to appropriate staff inside or outside of the unit, scheduling appointments, including interpreting and verifying provider orders in accordance with VHA national scheduling guidelines. Assignments at this level include, but are not limited to: 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. 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.).
• Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. Candidates must demonstrate [all of] the KSAs below:
  • Ability to operate computerized programs and systems in order to enter, modify, and retrieve sensitive medical and patient identifying information (PII) into or from electronic [health] records, scheduling systems, and/or reports.
  • Advanced knowledge of medical terminology specific to understand medical diagnosis and procedures sufficient to communicate clinical staff instructions to patients.
  • Ability to schedule medical appointments in a clinical setting.
  • Ability to work independently in the accomplishment of a wide variety of duties performing patient support work.
  • Ability to communicate effectively and professionally in person, electronically, and/or by telephone, with internal and external customers.
  • Skill in customer service with the ability to identify customer concerns, and refer to the appropriate staff, as necessary, to ensure a satisfactory resolution.

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

Preferred Experience: Previous experience working on computers and customer service preferred.

The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-05.

Physical Requirements: You will be asked to participate in a pre-employment examination or evaluation as part of the pre-employment process for this position. Questions about physical demands or environmental factors may be addressed at the time of evaluation or examination

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.