Medical Support Assistant

Summary

This Medical Support Assistant (MSA) position serves as an inpatient MSA and performs clerical support as part of the clinical treatment for patients in an inpatient ward or other long or short-term unit of the medical facility. The MSA is responsible for scheduling appointments, including interpreting, and verifying provider orders in accordance with VHA national scheduling guidelines.

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Duties

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Duties for this position include, but are not limited to:

• The incumbent(s) receives telephone calls for the unit, records, and relays messages to appropriate staff. Provides general information regarding visiting hours, and medical center policies on visitors. Able to direct patients and visitors to resources requested and available for veterans care and an understanding of how resources relate to questions asked.
• On ward, the MSA must be able to respond to all emergent situations such as codes, procedures and orders which are urgent/stat in origin. The MSA must be able to perform without delay his/her role in each situation and able to follow established procedures when calling a code, function within the code and renewing resources after the code.
• Coordinates with the medical clinics to send inpatients for required tests, pre-operative procedures, therapies, and scheduled appointments based on the doctor's orders as an inpatient or discharge instructions.
• The incumbent receives, directs, transfers, and discharges patients; receives and directs visitors, answer routine, abrupt, and emergent inquiries and makes appropriate referral of questions concerning patient's condition.
• Coordinates with nursing staff to assign rooms for new admissions and transfers as well as review the day's movements for bed availability. Builds a medical chart for each new admission. Ensures that all required activities have been completed prior to discharging a patient, and that follow-up appointments have been accurately scheduled.
• Responds to technical questions regarding patient rights, responsibilities, and advance directives. In the Extended Care Units, signs for release of patient funds for purchase of services and secures coupons for services in a safe..
• Performs a variety of duties in support of data entry and collection for the unit. Ensures that patients who are admitted from the doctor's orders are entered in the CPRS/GUI computer system. Electronically transfers and discharges patients using the VistA and CPRS/GUI systems.
• Post patients' allergies and medical alerts on the chart and warnings and precautions and nurse/ team assignments into the Bed Management System (BMS). Prints and updates the electronic inpatient ward rosters, current inpatient list, and inpatient appointment list.
• Accurately maintains the Ward Gains and Losses log and disposes of the log at the end of the 24-hour day to remain in compliance of privacy directives and HIPPA laws. Post patient's appointments, therapy times, and required labs and procedures on boards which are maintained at the nurses' station but are also kept in a manner compliant with privacy directives.
• Electronically transcribes all doctors' orders and alerts staff for time critical medications, labs, x-rays, and EKG's. Manually transcribes doctors' handwritten or electronic orders onto the appropriate medication, pre-op, or treatment sheets for nursing staff.
• Verifies and corrects patient information in the computer systems concerning treating specialties, providers, and times of movements, and informs supervisor of discrepancies.
• Contacts each patient during the admission process to ensure each patient has all necessary information for Advance Directives.

Work Schedule : Sunday-Saturday: 7:30am-4:00pm; 3:30pm-12mdnight; 12midnight - 8:00am; rotating weekends and holidays. Subject to change based on the needs of the facility.

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 : Not Available.

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Functional Statement # : 586-00131-F; 586-00132-F; 586-00140-F

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

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 : Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.
• 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
• 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 :

GS-03: Entry Level:

Experience or Education: None beyond the basic requirements.

GS-04: Developmental

Experience. One year of creditable experience equivalent to the next lower grade.

OR,

Education. One year of education above high school.

AND,

Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities . Candidates must demonstrate all of the KSAs below:

1. Ability to meet, communicate, and interact with individuals from varying backgrounds and other health care team members in a courteous and helpful manner in order to facilitate medical care for patients.
2. Ability to use, and navigate between, various types of office automation equipment and software (i.e. computer systems, web-based scheduling programs; insurance collection system; scanning software, multiple line phone systems; electronic faxing programs) to support patient care.
3. Knowledge of basic medical terminology to assist in the provision of care to patients.
4. Skill in recording patient messages and understanding physician requests pertaining to follow-up medical care in internal or external clinics.

GS-05: Full Performance

Experience : One year of creditable experience equivalent to the next lower grade.

OR,

Education . Two years of education above high school.

AND,

Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. Candidates must demonstrate all of the KSAs below:

1. Ability to operate computerized programs and systems in order to enter, modify, and retrieve sensitive medical and patient identifying information (PII) into or from electronic health records, scheduling systems, and/or reports.
2. Advanced knowledge of medical terminology specific to understand medical diagnosis and procedures sufficient to communicate clinical staff instructions to patients.
3. Ability to schedule medical appointments in a clinical setting.
4. Ability to work independently in the accomplishment of a wide variety of duties performing patient support work.
5. Ability to communicate effectively and professionally in person, electronically, and/or by telephone, with internal and external customers.
6. Skill in customer service with the ability to identify customer concerns, and refer to the appropriate staff, as necessary, to ensure a satisfactory resolution.

Preferred Experience: None

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

The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-05. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is in the range of GS-03 to GS-05.

Physical Requirements: Physical aspects associated with work required of this assignment are typical for the occupation, see Duties section for essential job duties of the position. May require standing, lifting, carrying, sitting, stooping, bending, puling, and pushing. May be required to wear personal protective equipment and undergo annual TB screening or testing as conditions of employment.

Work Environment: Work is performed in an office/clinic setting with minimal risks that requires normal safety precautions; the area is adequately lighted, heated, and ventilated. However, the work environment requires someone with the ability to handle several tasks at once in sometimes stressful situations.

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.