Medical Support Assistant (Advanced)

Summary

These Four Advance Medical Support Assistants are part of the Department of Veterans Affairs, VA Connecticut Heath Care System, located in West Haven Connecticut. The incumbents are responsible for a wide range of assignments and provides administrative support to the assigned section. Work is performed collaboratively in a Interdisciplinary Coordinate Care delivery model Patient Aligned Care Team or Specialty Care Setting.

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Duties

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The purpose of these positions are to serve as an Advanced Medical Support Assistant (MSA) at a Medical Center in VISN 1 VA New England Healthcare System. These positions serve as a Medical Support Assistant (Advanced) at VA Connecticut Healthcare System. Position's are responsible for a wide range of assignments and provide administrative support to the assigned section.

Duties may include, but are not limited to:

• Supports clinics regarding clinic profile management.
• Collects and updates insurance information from Veterans, family members and other eligible patients.
• Prepares correspondence and memos as needed.
• Screens/receive phone calls in a courteous and timely manner, determine the nature of request and provide the information desired using privacy rules and established clinic processes.
• Ensures data is entered into VISTA accurately and scans documents into VISTA Imaging within 24 hours of entering the data into VISTA if applicable.
• Promotes Veterans registration for and utilization of MyHealthyVet (MHV) and kiosks usage.
• Follows procedures regarding Community Care referrals.
• Serves as the initial point of contact for units, clinics, patients, call centers, Care in the Community regarding various aspects of patient appointments and referrals.
• Enters Veterans seeking emergent/urgent care, scheduling appointments accurately.
• Pre-Registers Veterans during check-in and utilizing call lists and telephones Veterans before their scheduled visits. Incumbent updates all patient demographics.
• Communicates and interacts with patients in a manner which is appropriate to cognitive, emotional, and chronological maturation needs of the adult and/or geriatric patient.

VA Careers - Medical Support Assistant:

Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional

Work Schedule- Full-time, 40 hours a week, Various Tours,7:00am-3:30pm or 7:30am-4:00pm, EST.

Recruitment/Relocation Incentives (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized.

Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not Authorized.

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 : Maybe available, at supervisory discretion.

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Functional Statement # : F01391.

Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized.

NOTIFICATIONS:

• This position is in the Excepted Service.
• No EDRP/SLRP.
• Valid Drivers License you will be expected to travel for this position.
• Salary Covered OPM LPS West Haven CT Pay Scale.
• This Position is covered by a Bargaining Union.
• Federal Employees MUST Submit Most Recent SF50 (within a year).
• Interchange Agreements with Other Merit System: Employees who occupy medical or medical-related positions and were appointed under 38 U.S.C. 4701(1) or (3) [formerly 38 U.S.C. 4104 (1) and (3)] must be serving in a full-time position without time limit and have served continuously for at least one year in the other merit system to be eligible to convert to the Title 5 System. Some exceptions to this rule may apply if you have previously acquired tenure under a Title 5 appointment.

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.
• Must pass pre-employment physical evaluation/examination.
• 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

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: Be a citizen of the United States (U.S.). Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens according to 38 U.S.C. § 7407(a).
• Experience: None.
• Education: High school diploma, General Education Development equivalency certificate, or proficiency certificate from a State or territorial-level Board or Department of Education.
• Licensure/Certification/Registration. None
• English Language Proficiency: Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f).

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 Determinations : Medical Support Assistant (Advanced) GS-06:

Experience: One (1) year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level in Federal service (GS-05). Experience includes: Clinic experience in a hospital or doctor's office setting to include scheduling a high volume of appointments annually. High level customer service skills as evidenced by daily interaction and communication with clinicians, patients, families and coworkers. Evidence of work in a clinic setting with multiple inputs (in person, telephone, instant message communications) that need timely and professional resolution. Evidence of specific computer scheduling programs or software utilized in a clinic or hospital. In addition to 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,

AND,

Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSA): In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. Advanced knowledge of medical terminology due to the technical nature of language utilized by clinicians.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. Ability to independently set priorities and organize work to meet deadlines, ensuring compliance with established processes, policies, and regulations.
7. 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.

Preferred Experience: Excellent Customer Service, Clerical or Administrative experience, Medical Office experience

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit

Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Service for requirements. See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Service for requirements.

The work requires some physical exertion such as prolonged periods of standing, bending, reaching, crouching, stooping, stretching, and lifting moderately heavy items such as papers, books, manuals, record boxes and boxes of computer paper. Computers are used and therefore keyboarding is required. The work includes walking from area to area when covering other employees. Applicant may at times be exposed to stressful situations with Veterans.

Education

Substitution of Education: There is no educational substitution for the GS-06 level..

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.

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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.