Advanced Medical Support Assistant

Summary

The Medical Support Assistant (Advanced) serves in the Care in the Community Service at the VHA Western New York Healthcare System. The incumbent provides advanced administrative and clerical support for the coordination, scheduling, tracking, and documentation of authorized community care services for Veterans. The position supports the administrative components of the Care in the Community.

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Duties

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Duties but not limited to:

Community Care Referral and Consult Coordination

• Provides advanced administrative support for Care in the Community referrals, consults, authorizations, appointments, procedures, diagnostic services, and related follow-up activities.
• Documents referral-related actions, communications, scheduling activity, records requests, and outstanding issues in the appropriate electronic system.
• Assists Care in the Community clinical and administrative staff with the administrative coordination and tracking of referrals. Reviews assigned referral information, coordinates required follow-up actions, documents the status of pending actions, and escalate unresolved or non-routine issues to the appropriate staff member

Scheduling and Appointment Coordination:

• Coordinates community care appointments and additional administrative requests for authorized care with community providers and authorized vendors.
• Accurately schedules the full spectrum of authorized medical care, including appointments, procedures, surgery, imaging, diagnostic testing, specialty care, rehabilitation, and follow-up services, in accordance with documented instructions and established scheduling procedures.

Community Provider and Records Coordination:

• Follows up with community providers and authorized vendors to confirm appointment completion, identify cancellations or no-shows, address scheduling barriers, and obtain outstanding medical records and other required documentation.
• Requests, receives, tracks, and appropriately routes medical records, consultation reports, diagnostic results, operative reports, and other documentation from community providers in accordance with applicable VA policy.
• Follows up on missing, incomplete, illegible, or delayed records and documents the status of outstanding requests.

Administrative Review and Electronic Documentation

• Reviews information entered in approved referral, scheduling, or screening tools for administrative completeness; documents missing or conflicting information; and escalate clinical, eligibility, authorization, or risk-related questions to the appropriate clinical or administrative staff.
• Enters, updates, verifies, and validates appropriate referral, consult, appointment, provider, authorization, and records information in the electronic record and applicable VA systems, including CPRS, HSRM, PPMS, and other approved applications.

Veteran and Customer Communication

• Performs telephone, electronic, written, and face-to-face receptionist and customer-service duties with internal and external customers.
• Obtains and documents administrative information necessary to process or route the request. Provides timely assistance within the scope of the position and refers clinical concerns, symptoms, medical questions, or other clinical matters to the appropriate clinical team member.
• Documents of customer contacts, messages, actions taken, and follow-up requirements in the appropriate electronic record or approved communication system.

Team Participation and Workload Management

• Participate in team huddles, staff meetings, interdisciplinary discussions, and process-improvement activities.
• Sets priorities and adjusts the sequence of work to meet Veteran needs, referral requirements, established timeframes, service priorities, and changing workload demands.
• Reviews assigned information to identify administrative barriers, monitor pre-appointment requirements, follow-up actions, and escalate clinical or unresolved issues to the appropriate staff member.
• Monitors assigned worklists and reports backlogs, unresolved referrals, records delays, scheduling barriers, system problems, vendor concerns, or other conditions that may affect timely coordination of care.
• Performs other duties as assigned that are appropriate to the Medical Support Assistant (Advanced) position and consistent with Care in the Community requirements, VA policy, established procedures, and the employee's training and scope of responsibility.

Work Schedule : 8am - 4:30pm (M-F)

Telework : Ad- hoc

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Functional Statement # : 21 Q78-A

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.
• Must pass pre-employment physical evaluation
• 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 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.
• 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.
• 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).
• 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.
• English Language Proficiency . Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f).

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.

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

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.

Grade Determinations : In addition to the basic requirements for employment, candidates must meet the following grade-determining criteria for placement at grade levels specified.

Medical Support Assistant (Advanced), GS-06.

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

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs) . In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs:

• 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.
• 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.

Assignment. For all assignments above the FPL, the higher-level duties must be 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. At the advanced level, the Medical Support Assistant (Advanced) (AMSA) performs difficult and responsible specialized and expert administrative patient support while working collaboratively in an interdisciplinary coordinated care delivery model. Work involves specialized administrative judgment and the flexible use of a wide range of clinical flow processes relating to access to care across multiple clinics, specialties, and/or care in the community resources. Recommend changes to existing clinic procedures based on current administrative guidelines. Expertise in utilizing numerous advanced patient systems in support of multiple clinics involved in an interdisciplinary coordinated care delivery model. Coordinates with the patient care team to review clinic appointment availability (utilization) to ensure that clinic schedules are closely monitored to effectively support the needs of the clinics, and makes adjustments as necessary. MSAs at this level develop and/or maintain effective and efficient communication with the patient, interdisciplinary coordinated care delivery model teams, VA medical centers, and other agencies (e.g., assist with communications during the inpatient to outpatient discharge; communicate with non-VA medical facilities; prepare correspondence to notify patients of normal lab results; manage a system for follow-up care such as consults, tests, etc.). Other assignments at this level include, but are not limited to: processes incoming patient secure messaging through MyHealthyVet and coordinates with care team as appropriate; participates in team huddles and team meetings to manage, plan, problem solve, and follow-up with patient care by sharing information and collaborating with the interdisciplinary team; setting priorities and deadlines, adjusting the flow and sequencing of the work to meet team and patient needs; identifies incomplete encounters and communicates findings to providers; as needed; assists the team to reinforce the plan of care and self-help solutions; enters appropriate information into the electronic record; monitors pre-appointment information and/or requirements to assure readiness for patient visit/procedure; manages patient systems to verify and validate accuracy and resolve issues; evaluates patient information and clinic schedule lists to determine whether the patient requires an immediate appointment; informs team members about shared patients (i.e., those who receive their care at multiple VA centers or those who receive care in the community).

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

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

Physical Requirements: Work is sedentary but also demands standing, walking, bending, twisting, and carrying light items.

Education

There is no education substitution.

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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