Medical Support Assistant (Advanced)

Medical Support Assistant

The Advanced MSA provides specialized and expert administrative patient support while working collaboratively in an interprofessional coordinated care delivery model. Work involves:

• Specialized administrative judgment and the flexible use of a wide range of clinical flow processes relating to access to care across multiple clinics, specialties, and/or care in the community resources;
• Works collaboratively with STVHCS programs, services, and interprofessional 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;
• Responsible for answering telephones, secure messages, and chat messages, greeting patients, relaying messages to appropriate staff inside or outside of the STVHCS CC, scheduling appointments, interpreting and verifying provider orders in accordance with VHA national scheduling guidelines;
• Recommends changes to existing clinic procedures based on current administrative guidelines;
• Expertise in utilizing numerous advanced patient systems in support of multiple clinics involved in an interprofessional coordinated care delivery model. AMSAs at this level develop and/or maintain effective and efficient communication with the patient, interprofessional care delivery teams, VA medical centers, and other agencies; communicate with non-VA medical facilities;
• Other 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; gathering and obtaining medical information from patients; processing medication refill requests; reviewing electronic health record, obtaining medical records, faxing, participating in huddles with other MSAs and/or peers to determine the daily needs of the STVHCS CC, monitoring outpatient appointments in areas of responsibility; and verifying and updating demographics when contacted by patients;
• Manages patient systems to verify and validate accuracy and resolve issues; evaluates patient information and clinic schedule lists to determine whether the patient requires an immediate appointment; informs interprofessional team members about shared patients (i.e.)., those who receive their care at multiple VA sites or those who receive care in the community;
• Provides information and resolution to Veterans' requests within scope, uses administrative judgement to escalate symptomatic concerns to clinicians within the STVHCS CC or directs the contact to the appropriate discipline within the STVHCS or department for resolution;
• Screens incoming contacts and independently routes the contacts to the appropriate area for resolution;
• Uses 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;
• Utilizes various software, hardware system products, and data portals to transfer and capture information electronically for the support of the daily operation of the unit;
• Operates within the various contact modalities to receive and respond to incoming and outgoing contacts using computerized interfaces and telecommunications hardware and software;
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00am - 4:30pm

Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized

Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not Authorized

Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases.

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: Available on an ad-hoc basis.

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Functional Statement #: 54505-F

Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized