Advanced Medical Support Assistant

US-Department-of-Veterans-Affair; Palo Alto (CA); On-site; USD 42,000 - 62,000; Full time

Job summary

US Department of Veterans Affairs is seeking an Advanced Medical Support Assistant (AMSA) in the Compensation and Pension section of Integrated Primary Care. The AMSA provides essential administrative and patient support, coordinating appointments, communicating with Veterans, managing patient information, and supporting clinic operations to ensure timely access to care.

Applicants pending educational or licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected, but may not be hired until

Qualifications

• High school diploma or GED, or equivalent/proficiency certificate as required.
• Experience coordinating and scheduling patient appointments in a clinical setting.
• Strong communication with Veterans and teamwork with clinical staff.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate and schedule patient appointments and consultations.
• Communicate with Veterans to relay information and collect required data.
• Manage patient demographics and insurance information at check-in.
• Support daily clinic operations to ensure timely access to care.

Skills

Scheduling appointments

Patient communication

Clerical support

Electronic health records

Education

High school diploma / GED

Job description

This position serves as an Advanced Medical Support Assistant (AMSA) for the Compensation and Pension section within Integrated Primary Care. The incumbent provides essential administrative and patient support, including coordinating and scheduling appointments, communicating with Veterans, managing patient information, and supporting clinic operations. The AMSA works collaboratively with clinical and administrative staff to ensure timely access to care and efficient delivery of services.

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.
• Education: High school diploma, General Education Development equivalency certificate, or proficiency certificate from a State or territorial-level Board or Department of Education.
• 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-6 Medical Support Assistant (Advanced): One year of experience equivalent to the GS-5 grade level. This experience includes: 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.

In addition, 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 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.

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.