Advanced Medical Support Assistant (EHRM) (Hiring Immediately)

Advanced Medical Support Assistant (EHRM) The Veterans Health Administration was seeking an Advanced Medical Support Assistant for the VA Care Community Section at the Oscar G. Johnson VA Medical Center in Iron Mountain, MI. This position supports the administrative side of patient care, including access, scheduling, appointment coordination, authorizations, demographic and insurance updates, customer service, care-in-the-community coordination, and communication with Veterans, vendors, clinicians, and administrative staff. Agency: Veterans Health Administration Facility: Oscar G. Johnson VA Medical Center Location: Iron Mountain, MI Vacancies: 1 Salary: $49,846 - $64,800 per year Pay Scale & Grade: GS-6 Promotion Potential: None Work Schedule: Full-time, Monday - Friday, 8:00am - 4:30pm Compressed/Flexible: Not authorized Appointment Type: Permanent Telework: Not available Remote/Virtual: Not available Travel Required: 25% or less Relocation Expenses: Not reimbursed Recruitment Incentive: Not authorized PCS: Not authorized PCS Appraised Value Offer: Not authorized Drug Test: Not required Security Clearance: Not required Position Sensitivity/Risk: Non-sensitive / Low Risk Background Check: Credentialing and suitability/fitness required Financial Disclosure: Not required Federal Service: Excepted Service Union Representation: Yes Supervisory Status: No Functional Statement: 09367F Announcement Number: CAZP-12994642-26-KME Key Responsibilities: Provide administrative support to clinicians, administrative staff, and professional staff in the VA Care Community Section. Coordinate VACC medical care when inpatient or outpatient providers determine that care is needed. Schedule and coordinate diagnostic testing and consultative appointments for multiple clinical services. Receive phone calls courteously and timely, determine the nature of requests, and provide information using privacy rules and established processes. Explain procedures to Veterans and family members in a caring, compassionate, and sensitive manner. Independently manage position responsibilities with minimal supervision. Set priorities and deadlines while adjusting workflow and sequencing to meet team and patient needs. Generate authorizations for pre-authorized outpatient, unauthorized, and emergency care claims. Make eligibility determinations for VACC programs. Work with utilization review to ensure proper authorizations are issued and appropriate correspondence is sent to vendors. Serve as a liaison between Veterans, vendors, the VACC section, VA clinical services, and primary care services. Obtain requested reports, x-rays, labs, and other information needed to complete VACC Coordination consults in CPRS. Ensure required documentation is distributed to appropriate services at private institutions where services will be provided. Prioritize requested procedures based on urgency. Coordinate administrative information between professional staff and patients. Perform data entry, administratively manage consult requests, and notify patients of scheduled outside-provider appointments. Maintain a current Excel directory of institutional contact information, including names, addresses, phone numbers, fax numbers, and contact persons. Generate correspondence to Veterans and providers and manage incoming correspondence related to Community Care. Provide advisory and technical assistance to Veterans and staff. Determine the nature of Veterans' needs, questions, or complaints and provide information in atypical and complex situations. Use HSRM and VistA to manage appointment coordination and create authorizations under Office of Integrated Veteran Care guidance. Perform other duties as assigned. Basic Qualifications: Must be a U.S. Citizen. Must be proficient in written and spoken English. Must have six months of clerical, office, customer service, or administrative work experience showing ability to acquire the knowledge and skills needed for the position; or Must have one year of education above high school; or Must have an equivalent combination of experience and education. Must be subject to a background/security investigation. Must pass a pre-employment physical examination. Selective Service registration is required for males born after December 31, 1959. Must complete all application requirements and online onboarding requirements. Must provide acceptable identification for employment eligibility verification. Must participate in the seasonal influenza vaccination program as required for Department of Veterans Affairs health care personnel. Selected applicant will be required to serve a one-year or two-year trial period. Eligibility: This announcement was open only to current permanent Iron Mountain VA employees. The two-page resume requirement did not apply to this position. This position is in the Excepted Service and does not confer competitive status. This announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies. GS-6 Qualification Requirements: Must have one year of experience equivalent to the GS-5 level. Specialized experience includes advising clinical staff on current administrative processes. Specialized experience includes answering phones, greeting patients, relaying messages, and scheduling, canceling, or rescheduling patient appointments and consults in a computerized scheduling system. Specialized experience includes interpreting and verifying provider orders under VHA national scheduling guidelines. Specialized experience includes entering no-show information and monitoring appointment requests from multiple electronic sources. Specialized experience includes participating in huddles with MSAs or clinic staff to determine daily clinic needs. Specialized experience includes monitoring inpatient and outpatient appointments and verifying or updating demographics and insurance information. Specialized experience includes coordinating administrative functions related to emergency and non-emergency transfers to other VA facilities or private hospitals. Specialized experience includes determining appointment type based on eligibility status, such as TRICARE, sharing agreements, collateral, research patient, or VA employee status. Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: Ability to collaborate and communicate with medical clinicians across multiple disciplines to meet patient care goals. Ability to independently set priorities and organize work to meet deadlines while complying with established processes, policies, and regulations. Ability to communicate tactfully and effectively by phone, electronically, in person, and in writing with internal and external customers. Ability to prepare reports in various formats, present data to different organizational levels, and resolve patient concerns. Advanced knowledge of technical health care processes, including scheduling across coordinated care delivery and care-in-the-community models. Advanced knowledge of patient health care portals as they relate to access to care. Advanced knowledge of policies and procedures for interdisciplinary coordinated care delivery and care-in-the-community operational activities. Advanced knowledge of appointment cycles, outside referrals, follow-up care, overbooking, provider availability, patient flow, and patient support care. Advanced knowledge of medical terminology due to the technical language used by clinicians. Preferred Experience: Community Care experience Home Care experience Nursing Home experience Billing experience Administrative experience Secretarial experience: 1 to 2 years Education: One year above high school may qualify at the entry level when used to meet basic requirements. Education must be from an institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Foreign education must be supported by a certificate of foreign equivalency if used to meet qualification requirements. Transcript is required if using education to qualify. Physical Requirements: The work is primarily sedentary. Physical demands do not exceed those of a typical office setting. May involve walking, standing, twisting, turning, sitting, pushing, bending, repetitive keyboarding, or carrying light items. Some positions may require sitting for long periods at a computer terminal while typing data and talking on a telephone headset. Must pass a pre-employment physical examination. Evaluation Criteria: Applicants were evaluated based on qualifications, application materials, resume, CV, and supporting documentation. Experience had to be clearly and specifically described because the agency stated it would not make assumptions. Pre-employment reference checks may be used to verify information and support final selection decisions. Required Documents: Resume SF-50 / Notification of Personnel Action Standard Clinical Resume Document uploaded into the restricted resume field Full resume or CV may be uploaded separately into the Other document upload field without page limitation Transcript, if using education to qualify License, if applicable Professional certification, if applicable DD-214 / Statement of Service, if applicable SF-15 and supporting documentation, if claiming 10-point Veterans' preference Cover letter, disability letter, and other supporting documents, if applicable Benefits: Competitive salary with regular salary increases. 37 to 50 days of paid time off per year, including 13 to 26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, and 11 paid federal holidays. Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual based on prior work experience or military service, subject to approval. Up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave after 12 months of employment. Potential child care subsidy for eligible full-time employees after 60 days of employment. Traditional federal pension with 5-year vesting. Federal 401(k)-style retirement plan with up to 5% VA contribution. Federal health, vision, dental, term life, and long-term care insurance options. C