Advanced Medical Support Assistant

US-Department-of-Veterans-Affair; Fresno (CA); On-site; USD 42,000 - 61,000; Full time

Job summary

The Advanced Medical Support Assistant (Advanced MSA) provides specialized administrative patient support within an interdisciplinary care model across multiple clinics. This role involves advanced scheduling and coordination of access to care, including community resources.

Candidates must have a high school diploma or GED and be capable of communicating effectively with clinicians and patients to ensure timely, accurate appointment processing and patient information updates in Fresno, CA.

Qualifications

• One year of creditable experience including answering phones, greeting patients, relaying messages and scheduling appointments.
• Scheduling, canceling, rescheduling and entering no-show information across multiple sources.
• Ability to communicate with a wide range of clinicians and staff to coordinate care.

Responsibilities

• Answer phones, greet patients and relay messages to appropriate staff.
• Schedule, reschedule and cancel patient appointments and consults.
• Verify demographics and insurance information at check-in.
• Coordinate administrative transfers to other VA facilities or private hospitals.
• Prepare reports and present data to internal stakeholders.

Skills

Health care process

Interdisciplinary coordination

Medical terminology

Cross-disciplinary collaboration

Time management

Report writing

Education

High school diploma or GED

Job description

The Advanced Medical Support Assistant (Advanced MSA) provides 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. 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 Language Proficiency. Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f).
• Education. 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).

Grade Determinations

Medical Support Assistant (Advanced), GS-06:

(1) Experience.

One year of creditable experience equivalent to the next lower grade (GS-05). This experience would include: answering phones, greeting patients, relaying messages to appropriate staff inside or outside of the unit, and scheduling appointments, including interpreting and verifying provider orders in accordance with scheduling guidelines. Scheduling, canceling, re-scheduling patient appointments and/or consults; 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.)

(2) Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (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.

Preferred Experience: Specialty service and multiple complex clinic scheduling experience preferred.

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.

Physical Requirements

The work is mostly sedentary, although some slight physical effort will be required using computers/phones; there may be some light lifting/carrying of files/documents; and walking throughout the service/facility for meetings, etc.