ADVANCED MEDICAL SUPPORT ASSISTANT

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; Sioux Falls (SD); On-site; USD 40,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is seeking an Advanced Medical Support Assistant (AMSA) to provide essential administrative support in outpatient clinic settings. This role involves managing patient appointments, ensuring efficient clinic operations, and collaborating with healthcare professionals to improve patient flow. Candidates should have prior administrative experience and excellent communication skills, focusing on patient support and dynamic administrative tasks. A commitment to serving veterans is essential.

Qualifications

• Six months of clerical or administrative experience required.
• Must demonstrate proficiency in spoken and written English.
• Experience working with computerized programs for patient data management.

Responsibilities

• Provide medical administrative support in outpatient clinics.
• Manage appointment scheduling and coordinate administrative information.
• Collaborate with medical staff to ensure effective patient care.

Skills

Patient support

Communication

Customer service

Administrative judgment

Education

One year above high school

Six months experience in clerical/administrative work

Job description

The Advanced Medical Support Assistant (AMSA) in this position serves in Clinical Support Services and 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.
Duties

This position provides medical administrative support to one or more outpatient clinics and is an integral member of the clinic team to effectively carry out day to day administrative operations of the clinic. The Medical Support Assistant (MSA) is responsible for accurate appointment management and the coordination of all administrative information between the professional staff, patient, patient caregiver and/or representative.

Major Duties:

Requirements

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 and Education.
  • Experience. Six months experience of clerical, office, customer service, or other administrative work that indicates the ability to acquire the particular knowledge and skills needed to perform the duties of the position; OR,
  • Education. One year above high school; OR,
  • Experience/Education Combination. Equivalent combination of experience and education are qualifying for entry level for which both education and experience are acceptable.
• Foreign Education. To be creditable, education completed outside the U.S. must have been submitted to a private organization that specializes in the interpretation of foreign educational credentials and such education must have been deemed at least equivalent to that gained in conventional U.S. programs.
• English Language Proficiency. MSAs must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Chapter 3, Section A, paragraph 3.j.

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:

REQUIRED EXPERIENCE: One year of experience equivalent to the GS-5 grade level that equips the candidate with the following:

• Operate computerized programs and systems in order to enter, modify, and retrieve sensitive medical and patient identifying information (PII) into or from electronic health records, scheduling systems, and/or reports;
• Advanced knowledge of medical terminology specific to understand medical diagnosis and procedures sufficient to communicate clinical staff instructions to patients;
• Schedule medical appointments in a clinical setting;
• Work independently in the accomplishment of a wide variety of duties performing patient support work;
• Communicate effectively and professionally in person, electronically, and/or by telephone, with internal and external customers;
• Customer service with the ability to identify customer concerns, and refer to the appropriate staff, as necessary, to ensure a satisfactory resolution.

AND
Candidates must be able to demonstrate all of the Knowledge, Skills and Abilities below :

• 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 organizes 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.
• 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.

**Highly Recommended Even though we do not require a specific resume format, your resume must be clear so that we are able to fully evaluate your qualifications. To ensure you receive appropriate consideration, please list the duties you performed under each individual job title. If we are unable to match your experiences with the positions held, you may lose consideration for this vacancy. We cannot make assumptions regarding your qualifications. Even though not required, you may wish to write to the Demonstrated KSA as listed below to provide a more thorough explanation of where you gained your experience.

References: VA Handbook 5005/117 Part II Appendix G45

This position is above the Full Performance Level for this occupation which is GS-5.

Physical Requirements: You will be asked to participate in a pre-employment examination or evaluation as part of the pre-employment process for this position. Questions about physical demands or environmental factors may be addressed at the time of evaluation or examination.