Medical Support Assistant (Advanced)

Summary

The incumbent serves as an Advanced Medical Support Assistant in the Primary Care Medicine service line at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System. The incumbent's work impacts the administrative aspect of patient care, including access, scheduling/coordinating appointments using advanced clinic access principles, collecting and updating demographic and insurance information, managing the Electronic Waiting List (EWL), patient processing and customer service.

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Duties

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VA Careers - Medical Support Assistant:

Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional

Incumbent is responsible for assuring that various aspects of staffing, training, compliance, reporting, quality assurance, and budgetary initiatives are met. These activities directly affect the revenue cycle, patient access to care, hospital performance goals and objectives, as well as VHA public image. The incumbent plays an integral role in identifying and developing ways to resolve problems with the administrative and clinical staff on access, customer service, patient flow, revenue, and data validation issues. His/her work also impacts processes, action plans, monitoring and reporting. Failure to perform these duties properly could result in the veteran not receiving the treatment to which he/she is entitled or priority access to care to which he/she is entitled. The lack of coordination provided by this employee could negatively impact upon clinical and/or administrative functions. A large part of the duties of a Clinical Support Section employee is acting as a receptionist at the clinic, either face-to-face or telephonically, requiring excellent customer service skills. The work requires a high degree of judgment in responding to both employee and patient concerns and providing solutions to process problems as they affect day-to-day operations. The work is mostly sedentary and is performed in various outpatient clinic or office settings responsible for treating patients with a wide variety of medical problems. The performance of daily rounds to the assigned clinic areas is required. This may include frequent visits to off-site clinics to fill-in for or interact with the Clinical Support Section employees and clinical/administrative staff in these areas. May be required to work staggered shifts and/or weekend clinics in support of Advanced Clinic Access initiatives.

Functions

The Advanced MSA works collaboratively in an interdisciplinary coordinated care delivery model (i.e. PACT) and performs receptionist duties, customer service and other duties assigned for the proper and timely treatment of patients and maintains appointment schedules for one or more outpatient clinics. He/she must assist with clinical access contingency plans by adjusting appointment times, location, or dates as well as shift patients to other healthcare providers as conflict with staffing and/or coverage occurs. Incumbents must screen/receive phone calls in a courteous and timely manner, determine the nature of requests and provide the information desired using privacy rules and established clinic processes. A caring, compassionate and sensitive manner is essential when explaining procedures to veterans and their family members both in person and on the phone. The MSA is able to independently manage position responsibilities with little supervision as well as set priorities and deadlines adjusting the flow and sequencing of the work to meet team and patient needs. The MSA participates in the daily teamlet huddles and weekly team meetings where patient care planning and management occur, except during staff shortages for coverage.

Notifies his/her supervisor when clinic access is less than desirable or if an individual patient cannot be scheduled within mandated clinic timeframes. Daily review of active/pending consults, EWL, Recall list and Audiocare communications for accuracy and disposition. Coordinates administrative services for veterans, family members, caregivers, and general public, administrative and clinical staff to ensure continuity of inpatient and outpatient care. When records are received, the incumbent will ensure that all necessary health/administrative information are integrated into Computerized Patient Record System (CPRS) by scanning the records into the patient's chart and/or sending them to the Scanning Department. Incumbent develops and maintains effective working relationships with all clinical and administrative staff in determining priorities of activities in support of direct patient care. Interprets and applies to a complex body of pertinent laws, regulations, directives, and policies that relate to the administration of VA Healthcare Benefits. The ability to distribute and balance the workload among employees in accordance with established workflow or job specialization, assures timely accomplishment of the assigned workload and assures that each employee has enough work to keep busy.

Work Schedule : Full-time, Monday - Friday, 07:30am - 4:00pm

Telework : Not available

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Functional Statement # : 000000

Relocation/Recruitment Incentives : Not authorized

Permanent Change of Station (PCS): 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

All requirements must be met at the time of the announcement closing.

Basic Requirements :

• 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. 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.
• Licensure/Certification/Registration. None
• Grandfathering Provision. Employees in VHA in this occupation, under a permanent, appropriate, and legal placement on the effective date of the qualification standard, are considered to have met all qualification requirements for the grade and/or assignment held, including positive education and registration/certification where applicable. For employees who do not meet all the basic or assignment-specific requirements in this standard but met the qualifications applicable to the position at the time they were appointed, the following provisions apply:
  
  
  • Employees who are appointed on a temporary basis prior to the effective date of the qualification standard may not have their temporary appointment extended or be reappointed on a temporary or permanent basis until they fully meet the basic requirements of the standard.
  • Employees retained in this occupation under this provision who subsequently leave the occupation lose protected status and must meet the full VA qualification standard requirements in effect at the time of re-entry to the occupation.
• Foreign Education. To be creditable, education completed outside the U.S. must be deemed at least equivalent to that gained in a conventional U.S. program by a private organization specializing in the interpretation of foreign educational credentials.
• 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.
• English Language Proficiency. Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f).

GRADE DETERMINATIONS :

GS-6 Medical Support Assistant (Advanced)

1. Experience : One year of creditable experience equivalent to the GS-5 grade level.

AND

Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition to Basic Requirements and the experience listed above, candidates must be able to demonstrate all of the KSAs below: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. 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.5. Ability to independently set priorities and organize work to meet deadlines, ensuring compliance with established processes, policies, and regulations.6. 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.

Experience:

(1) 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.

(2) Part-Time Experience. Part-time experience is creditable according to its relationship to a full-time workweek. For example, an individual employed 20 hours per week, or on a half-time basis, would receive credit for 1 full-time workweek for each 2 weeks of service.

(3) Quality of Experience. Qualifying experience must be at a level comparable to MSA experience or equivalent administrative clinical support role in a non-VA medical inpatient or outpatient setting at the next lower grade level of the position being filled. For all assignments above the full performance level (FPL), the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, administrative independence, complexity, and range of variety as described in this standard at the specified grade level and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time.

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit Medical Support Assistant Qualification Standard (va.gov).

Physical Requirements : You will be asked to participate in a pre-employment examination or 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 or examination.

Education

A transcript must be submitted with your application.

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

The VA Midwest Health Care Network advocates for a Whole Health System of care in each of the Medical Centers. This is an approach to healthcare that empowers and equips people to take charge of their health and well-being and live their lives to the fullest. As an employee operating in a Whole Health System of care, you will operate in a model with three core elements, seeking to create a personalized health plan for each Veteran. This is done in the context of healing relationships and healing environments and a connection back to the Veteran's community. This aligns with the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Mission Statement to Honor America's Veterans by providing exceptional health care that improves their health and well-being.

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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