Advanced Medical Support Assistant

Summary

The incumbent serves as a member of the Durham VA Health Care System in the Surgical Service department. The incumbent's work includes serving as the initial point-of-contact for Veteran interactions, conducts scheduling, patient appointments, tracking, electronic orders, consults, and other elements in the electronic medical record and medical systems. The incumbent is an essential member of the Veterans health care team and communicates effectively with health professionals.

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Duties

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Duties include, but are not limited to:

• Greeting patients
• Conduct scheduling, re-scheduling, and cancellation of patient appointments
• Tracking, reviewing, and responding to electronic orders, consults, and other elements in the electronic medical record and medical systems
• Managing phone and mail communications
• Incumbent collaborates closely with a multidisciplinary team to coordinate the Veterans' access to their health care services
• Active participation in team huddles, staff meetings, and daily communication efforts to address the care needs of each Veteran
• Initial point-of-contact within clinics and on the phones
• Communicate with non-VA medical facilities to ensure effective coordination of care
• Assist in emergency management contingency plans for potential scheduling system outages
• Preparing various written correspondences for Veterans, including appointment notifications, normal lab result notices, and pre-appointment instructions
• Reviewing Veterans' eligibility for health services and updating third-party insurance information within the Insurance Capture Benefit (ICB) system

The Advanced Medical Support assistant may be required to serve on more than one Primary Care PACT team or in more than one specialty service line, or rotate into any scheduling area as needed.

Work Schedule : Monday - Friday, 7:30 am - 4:00 pm or 8:00 am - 4:30 pm; TBD

Compressed/Flexible : Not Authorized

Requirements

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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 ( 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.
• Proficient in spoken and written English as required by 38 U.S.C. 7402(d)
• Basic Experience and/or Education Requirement:

1. High school diploma or transcript (including homeschooling)
2. General Education Development (GED) certificate
3. Proficiency certificate issued by a State or Territorial Board or Department of Education
4. Post-high school education
5. You do not have one of the education levels listed above, but you were in the Medical Support Assistant occupation (GS-0679) on a permanent appointment with the Department of Veterans Affairs as of February 5, 2026, meeting all qualification requirements as part of the grandfathering provision

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).

Required Experience : In addition to meeting the basic requirements, applicants must possess one (1) year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade level (GS-5) This experience includes but is 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; 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 hospitals, and determines appointment type based on the patient's eligibility.

Knowledge Skills and Abilities: In addition to meeting the experience for the GS-06 level, applicants must possess the following Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• 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.

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit VA Handbook 5005/117 Part II Appendix G45

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

Physical Requirements: See VA Handbook 5019

Education

Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit:

Additional information

Receiving Service Credit for Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave: Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior work experience or military service experience. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed.

During the application process you may have an option to opt-in to make your resume available to hiring managers in the agency who have similar positions. Opting in does not impact your application for this announcement, nor does it guarantee further consideration for additional positions.

This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.

This position is in the Excepted Service and does not confer competitive status.

VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply. The health-related positions in VA are covered by Title 38, and are not covered by the Schedule A excepted appointment authority.

If you are unable to apply online or need an alternate method to submit documents, please reach out to the Agency Contact listed in this Job Opportunity Announcement.

Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer. For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act.

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

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A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.

Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized

Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not Authorized

Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases

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

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Functional Statement # : 000000

PCS Appraised Value Offer (AVO): Not Authorized

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Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.