Advanced Medical Support Assistant

US-Department-of-Veterans-Affair; Corpus Christi (TX); On-site; USD 42,000 - 64,000; Full time

Job summary

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is seeking an Advanced Medical Support Assistant (AMSA) in an outpatient clinic within the Health Administration Service of the VATVCBHCS.

The role emphasizes advanced administrative support, care coordination, and collaboration with a multidisciplinary team in a civilian health care setting. The incumbent will assist in scheduling, patient communications, and documentation within electronic health records, ensuring timely access to care and compliance with VA

Qualifications

• Requires high school diploma or GED or proficiency certificate.
• Experience not required but preferred in medical administrative support.
• Strong knowledge of medical terminology and patient care processes.
• Ability to communicate with clinicians and patients across formats.
• Proven ability to prioritize tasks and manage schedules in a clinical setting.

Responsibilities

• Provide advanced administrative support to the clinic ensuring efficient patient flow.
• Coordinate appointment scheduling across multiple providers and clinics.
• Communicate effectively with patients, families, and healthcare staff in writing and verbally.

Skills

Care coordination

Medical terminology

Interdisciplinary communication

Prioritization

Electronic health records

Education

High school diploma or equivalent

Job description

The incumbent serves as an Advanced Medical Support Assistant (AMSA) within an outpatient clinic setting in the Health Administration Service (HAS) of the VA Texas Valley Coastal Bend Health Care Systems (VATVCBHCS).

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

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

Medical Support Assistant (Advanced), GS-6

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

Candidates must demonstrate all of the KSAs below:

• Advanced knowledge of the technical health care process (including, but not limited to, scheduling across interdisciplinary coordinated caredelivery 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 patientconcerns.

Assignment:

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.

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.

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.

Preferred Experience:

• 1 year experience working in a clinical environment coordinating clinic schedules for providers.
• 1 year experience scheduling patients in a medical appointment software in an interdisciplinary coordinated care delivery model.
• 1 year experience managing patient communications in an interdisciplinary coordinated care delivery model (e.g. telephone and/or e-mail).
• 1 year experience with documenting appropriate information into an electronic medical record.
• 1 year of administrative/office customer service skills in de-escalation, problem solving, decision making, and tactful communication skills orally and in writing.

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-06. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is GS-06.

Physical Requirements:

Physical aspects associated with work required of this assignment are typical for the occupation and would generally not require a pre-placement examination.