Advanced Medical Support Assistant - Incentive May Be Authorized

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; Fairbanks (AK); On-site; USD 42,000 - 65,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Recruitment Incentive

Relocation Incentive

Paid Time Off: 37-50 days per year

Job summary

Alaska VA Healthcare System seeks an Advanced Medical Support Assistant to provide essential administrative support to clinicians serving Veterans. Responsibilities include determining eligibility, processing enrollment and benefits, and guiding Veterans through health care enrollment options.

The role requires coordinating across clinics and communicating with diverse teams to ensure timely care. Typical duties include scheduling, data entry, record keeping, and support across shifts.

Qualifications

• United States Citizenship is required.
• English language proficient.
• Education: high school diploma or equivalent or GED.
• Specialized experience in coordinating care across multiple clinics.
• Ability to collaborate with a wide range of medical clinicians.
• Ability to independently set priorities and meet deadlines.
• Ability to communicate tactfully and effectively with internal and external customers.
• Advanced knowledge of medical terminology and healthcare processes.

Responsibilities

• Determine health care eligibility for Veteran patients.
• Process enrollment, benefits, and registration for Veteran patients.
• Counsel Veterans regarding enrollment for health care benefits.
• Obtain essential information for enrollment activities.
• Schedule appointments, cancellations, and re-scheduling.
• Facilitate communication between Veterans and facility departments.
• Provide administrative support across day/evening/night/weekend shifts.
• Enter physician orders and consult requests; maintain records.

Skills

Collaborate with clinicians

Set priorities / organize work

Communicate effectively

Medical terminology

Healthcare processes

Education

High school diploma or equivalent

Job description

Summary

The Alaska VA Healthcare System is looking to fill Advanced Medical Support Assistant positions in their Community Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs) in both Juneau - AK and Fairbanks - AK. A recruitment or relocation incentive may be authorized for highly qualified applicants. The list generated from this announcement can be used up to 90 days to fill any additional vacancies that may arise.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position - applicants must meet all requirements by the announcement closing date 09/30/2026.

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 Proficient
• Education: High school diploma OR high school transcript (unofficial or official) OR GED Certificate OR homeschooling completion OR proficiency certificate issued by a State or Territorial Board or Department of Education OR college transcript (official) If selected - to meet the basic requirement of high school education or equivalent and prior to a firm job offer being extended - applicants must provide verification of the education requirement if not covered under the grandfathering provision
• 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)
• Specialized Experience: one year of specialized experience (equivalent to the GS5 grade level) in an advanced or complex clinical setting utilizing numerous advanced patient care systems - scheduling appointments across multiple clinics and coordination of services among a diverse team of medical providers and clinics to include outside agencies - advanced knowledge of medical terminology - advanced knowledge of the technical health care processes - policy and procedures as it relates to coordination of care
• At the GS -6 grade level education cannot be used as a substitution for the above specialized experience
• Candidates must demonstrate the KSAs below: 1
• 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
• 2
• Ability to independently set priorities and organize work to meet deadlines - ensuring compliance with established processes - policies - and regulations
• 3
• 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
• 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
• 5
• 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
• 6
• Advanced knowledge of medical terminology due to the technical nature of language utilized by clinicians
• References: VA Handbook 5005/117 - Medical Support Assistant Qualification Standard - GS-679
• Published August 1 - 2019 The full performance level of this vacancy is GS 6
• Physical Requirements: The work is mostly sedentary but may require periods of standing or walking however - there are no physical requirements for the 0679 Medical Support Assistant occupation.

Duties

• Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional Advanced Medical Support Assistants provide administrative support to our clinical colleagues in the care of our Nation's Veterans
• Our mission is to provide efficient and effective healthcare services by promoting and enabling the delivery of timely - accurate - accessible health care
• VA is committed to cultivating a dedicated workforce of highly skilled employees who understand - believe in and take pride in VA's mission
• AMSAs are essential to the success of this mission and may be assigned to any department/service line of the medical center that have a need
• Duties will include but are not limited to: - Determining health care eligibility for Veteran patients
• - Administrative processing of Veteran patients in enrollment - benefits - and registration
• - Counseling Veteran patients regarding entitlement enrollment for health care benefits and other special programs
• - Obtaining essential information and documentation from Veteran patients for enrollment activities
• - Performing scheduling functions for Veteran patients including appointments - cancellations - and re-scheduling
• - Facilitating communication between Veterans and other facility consult departments
• - Support of inpatient units and wards with administrative duties during day - evening - night - and weekend shifts
• - Processing and record keeping of inpatient medical records
• - Manual and electronic data entry
• - Collation of statistical information
• - Entry of Physician orders and consult requests
• - Prepares Veteran patient statistics
• - Providing reception to incoming and outgoing customers and communication
• - Utilizes Microsoft Office software to compile data and formulate reports Work Schedule: Typical tour of duty is Monday-Friday - 0800-1630
• Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): May be authorized
• Relocation Incentive: May be authorized
• Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases
• When setting pay - a higher step rate of the appropriate grade may be determined after consideration of higher or unique qualifications or special needs of the VA (Above Minimum Rate of the Grade)
• Paid Time Off: 37-50 days of annual paid time offer per year (13-26 days of annual leave - 13 days of sick leave - 11 paid Federal holidays per year)
• Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual - based on prior [work experience] or military service experience
• Parental Leave: After 12 months of employment - up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave in connection with the birth - adoption - or foster care placement of a child
• Child Care Subsidy: After 60 days of employment - full time employees with a total family income below $144 -000 may be eligible for a childcare subsidy up to 25% of total eligible childcare costs for eligible children up to the monthly maximum of $416.66
• Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA Insurance: Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement) Telework: Not Available
• Virtual: This is not a virtual position
• Financial Disclosure Report: Not required.