Medical Support Assistant

Veterans Health Administration; Johnson City (TN); On-site; USD 42,000 - 54,000; Full time

Job summary

The Veterans Health Administration seeks a Medical Support Assistant to support inpatient med-surgical, critical care, psychiatric, extended, and PACU care units. The MSA performs clerical/administrative duties that support care processes during the length of stay and is part of the interdisciplinary team.

Applicants must meet basic requirements including U.S. citizenship, a high school diploma or GED, and English proficiency.

Qualifications

• Explain medical terminology to clinical staff and patients as needed.
• Identify customer concerns and refer to appropriate staff to resolve issues.
• Enter, modify, and retrieve patient data in EHR, scheduling systems, and reports.
• Schedule medical appointments following established guidelines.
• Communicate professionally in person, electronically, and by phone.

Responsibilities

• Support inpatient care processes during the length of stay.
• Provide clerical/administrative support to inpatient care units.

Skills

Medical terminology

Customer service

Electronic health records

Scheduling appointments

Communication skills

Independence

Education

High school diploma or GED

Job description

The MSA performs duties related to support of services on the inpatient med-surgical, critical care, psychiatric, extended, and PACU care units of the hospital. The employee performs clerical/administrative duties that support the inpatient care processes during the length of stay. The MSA is an integral part of the interdisciplinary team and provides support for the care process across the division. 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: Be a citizen of the United States (U.S.). Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens according to 38 U.S.C. § 7407(a).
• Experience and/or Education requirement
  • 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
• 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).

GS-05 - Grade Determination

• Experience. One year of experience equivalent to the GS-4 grade level. Creditable experience at this level include, but are not limited to: scheduling and rescheduling patients for treatment; interviewing patients for appointments; referring patients to other medical specialty clinics; providing information to patients necessary to resolve complaints; interacting with both internal and external customers; reviewing and documenting medical outpatient and inpatient electronic health records, as well as administrative records; verifying third party insurance and updating information; obtaining medical information from patients; coordinating information and actions related to patient care and services; and scheduling appointments in accordance with scheduling guidelines. OR,
• Education. Two years of education above high school.

AND

• Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. Candidates must demonstrate all of the KSAs below:
  1. Advanced knowledge of medical terminology specific to understand medical diagnosis and procedures sufficient to communicate clinical staff instructions to patients.
  2. Skill in customer service with the ability to identify customer concerns, and refer to the appropriate staff, as necessary, to ensure a satisfactory resolution.
  3. Ability to 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.
  4. Ability to schedule medical appointments in a clinical setting.
  5. Ability to work independently in the accomplishment of a wide variety of duties performing patient support work.
  6. Ability to communicate effectively and professionally in person, electronically, and/or by telephone, with internal and external customers.

Note:

You must provide detailed information of your experience performed. Information such as "I was a Medical Support Assistant" is insufficient to determine your qualifications. Experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month and year start/end dates AND hour worked per week.

References:

For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.

The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-5.

Preferred Experience:

None

The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-05. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is the GS-05 grade level.

Physical Requirements:

The work is mainly sedentary but requires some bending, walking, standing and the carrying of such things as patient records, supplies and inter-office mail.