Advanced Med Support Assistant

Veterans Health Administration; Milwaukee (WI); On-site; USD 42,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

Veterans Health Administration at Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center in Milwaukee, WI is seeking a Medical Support Assistant to support the ED patient care delivery team.

The role focuses on scheduling, patient check-in, and communications across disciplines to ensure timely access to care. The incumbent will answer phones, relay messages, verify demographics and insurance information, and coordinate transfers as needed, following VA guidelines and interoperability with community-based

Qualifications

• One year of specialized experience at GS-5 level or equivalent.
• Education: High School Diploma or GED or state proficiency certificate.
• May qualify under Grandfathering Provision for VA employees in this occupation.

Responsibilities

• Answering phones, greeting patients, and relaying messages.
• Schedule, cancel, and reschedule appointments and/or consults per VHA guidelines.
• Enter no-show information and update demographics and insurance at check-in.
• Coordinate transfers to VA facilities or private hospitals; manage patient eligibility and appointment types.

Skills

Collaboration with clinicians

Prioritization & organization

Effective communication

Care access processes

Policy knowledge

Medical terminology

Education

High School Diploma / GED

Job description

This position is located at the Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the Health Administration Department, This position is assigned to the ED patient care delivery team. The team provides the majority of the healthcare needs for the assigned panel of patients. All team members interface and collaborate with large healthcare system providers, including VA and non-VA specialist, hospitals, diagnostics, and treating facilities and community based programs.

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.
• English: Must be proficient in basic written and spoken English.
• Education/Experience: Experience.
• No experience required.
• Education: Must possess a High School Diploma, General Education Development equivalency certificate, or proficiency certificate from a State or territorial-level Board or Department of Education.
• 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).

IN ADDITION TO MEETING THE BASIC REQUIREMENTS LISTED ABOVE, YOU MUST MEET THE GRADE REQUIREMENTS AT THE GS-6 LEVEL TO QUALIFY FOR THIS POSITION.

GS-6 LEVEL GRADE REQUIREMENTS

• SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: Must have one (1) year of experience that is directly related to the duties of a MSA and that equips you with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of this position. To be creditable, this experience must be equivalent to the next lower grade level, GS-5, and demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities associated with current MSA responsibilities. Experience at this level includes, but is not limited to: Advising clinical staff on current administrative processes. Answering phones, greeting patients, relaying messages to appropriate staff inside or outside of the unit, scheduling, canceling, re-scheduling patient appointments and/or consults including interpreting and verifying provider orders in accordance with VHA national scheduling guidelines. Entering no-show information; monitoring appointment requests from multiple electronic sources; participating in huddles with other MSAs and/or clinic staff to determine the daily needs of the clinic, monitoring both inpatient and outpatient appointments in areas of responsibility; verifying and updating demographics and insurance information when patients check-in for appointments.
• Coordinates administrative functions relating to emergency and non-emergency transfers to other VA facilities or private hospitals and determines appointment type based on the patient's eligibility status (i.e., TRICARE, sharing agreements, collaterals, research patient, VA employee, etc.).

AND KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES

• KSA-1. Ability to collaborate and communicate with a wide range of medical clinicians across multiple disciplines to accomplish team goal setting to ensure medical care to patients is met.
• KSA-2. Ability to independently set priorities and organize work to meet deadlines, ensuring compliance with established processes, policies, and regulations.
• KSA-3. Ability to communicate tactfully and effectively, electronically, by phone, in person, and in writing. This may include preparing reports in various formats and presenting data to various organizational levels, as well as resolving patient concerns.
• KSA-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.
• KSA-5. Advanced knowledge of policies and procedures associated with interdisciplinary coordinated care delivery and/or care in the community operational activities that affect the patient flow, and patient support care to include, but not limited to appointment cycles, outside patient referrals, follow-up care, overbooking, provider availability, etc.
• KSA-6. Advanced knowledge of medical terminology due to the technical nature of language utilized by clinicians.

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.

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

Physical Requirements

The work is primarily sedentary. Physical demands do not exceed those of a typical office setting. There may be some walking, standing twisting, turning, sitting, pushing, bending, repetitive keyboarding, or carrying of light items. Some positions may require sitting for long periods of time at a computer terminal