Medical Support Assistant (Advanced)

US-Department-of-Veterans-Affair; Burlington (VT); On-site; USD 41,000 - 59,000; Full time

Job summary

US Department of Veterans Affairs seeks a Medical Support Assistant (Advanced) GS-06 at the Burlington Lakeside VA Clinic in Burlington, VT. The role schedules high volumes of appointments, supports clinicians, and ensures smooth patient flow within a busy clinic.

Ideal candidates will have clinic experience, strong English communication, and familiarity with scheduling software to coordinate care across disciplines and with Veterans and their families.

Qualifications

• Clinical experience in a hospital or doctor's office setting with high-volume appointment scheduling.
• Strong customer service in daily interactions with clinicians, patients, families and coworkers.
• Experience with computer scheduling programs or software in a clinic or hospital.

Responsibilities

Skills

Clinic coordination

Customer service

Communication

Scheduling software

Interdisciplinary collaboration

Education

High school diploma or equivalent

Tools

Clinic scheduling software

Job description

This position is located at the Burlington Lakeside VA Clinic 128 Lakeside Ave STE 260, Burlington, VT 05401

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.
• Experience: No experience required
• English Language Proficiency: Medical Support Assistants appointed to direct patient care positions must be proficient in spoken and written English.
• Grandfathering Provision: All MSAs employed in VHA in this occupation on the effective date of this qualification standard are considered to have met all qualification requirements for the title, series, and grade held, which are a part of the basic requirements for the occupation. For employees who do not meet all the basic requirements required in this standard, but who met the qualifications applicable to the position at the time they were appointed to it, the following provisions apply:(1) Such employees may be reassigned, promoted or changed to a lower grade within the occupation.(2) Employees who are appointed on a temporary basis prior to the effective date of the qualification standard may not have their temporary appointment extended or be reappointed, on a temporary or permanent basis, until they fully meet the basic requirements of this standard.(3) If an employee was converted to Title 38 hybrid status under this provision leaves the occupation, the employee loses protected status and must meet the full VA qualification standard requirements in effect at the time of reentry to the occupation.

Grade Determinations

Medical Support Assistant (Advanced) GS-06:

Experience: One (1) year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level in Federal service (GS-05). Experience includes: Clinic experience in a hospital or doctor's office setting to include scheduling a high volume of appointments annually. High level customer service skills as evidenced by daily interaction and communication with clinicians, patients, families and coworkers. Evidence of work in a clinic setting with multiple inputs (in person, telephone, instant message communications) that need timely and professional resolution. Evidence of specific computer scheduling programs or software utilized in a clinic or hospital.

And

Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSA):

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-0679, dated August 1, 2019.

http://vaww.va.gov/OHRM/Directives-Handbooks/Documents/5005.pdf . This can be found in the local Human Resources Office.

The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-06.

Physical Requirements:

The work requires some physical exertion such as prolonged periods of standing, bending, reaching, crouching, stooping, stretching, and lifting moderately heavy items such as papers, books, manuals, record boxes and boxes of computer paper. Computers are used and therefore keyboarding is required. The work includes walking from area to area when covering for other employees. Applicant may at times be exposed to stressful situations with Veterans.