Medical Support Assistant (Advanced)

About this role

Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met. 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. English Language Proficiency: Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with 38 U.S.C 7403(f). Experience: No experience required. Education: High School Diploma, General Education Development equivalency certificate, or proficiency certificate from a State or territorial-level Board or Department of Education. 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 Determination: In addition to the basic requirements listed above, the following experience and knowledge, skills, and abilities criteria must be met: Experience: One (1) year of experience equivalent to the GS-5 grade level. Examples of qualifying experience 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; monitoring both inpatient and outpatient appointments in areas of responsibility; verifying and updating demographics and insurance information; coordinating administrative functions related to emergency and non-emergency transfers to other VA facilities or private hospitals; and determining appointment type based on the patient's eligibility status (i.e., TRICARE, sharing agreements, etc.). AND Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs): Candidates must 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. Creditable Experience: To be creditable, the experience must have required the use of 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 or non-paid employment as an MSA or an equivalent position in a non-VA hospital or clinic setting. Preferred Experience: High volume clinic scheduling in a hospital or doctor's office Advanced customer service skills as evidenced by daily interaction and communication with clinicians, patients, families and coworkers. Experience in a clinic setting with multiple inputs (in person, telephone, instant message communications) that need timely and professional resolution. Experience with computer scheduling programs or software utilized in a clinic or hospital. 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: You will be asked to participate in a pre-employment 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.

Required skills

• Customer Service
• Patient Care
• Clinical Documentation
• Medical Terminology