Medical Support Assistant (Advanced)

US-Department-of-Veterans-Affair; Dallas (TX); On-site; USD 42,000 - 54,000; Full time

Job summary

The Mental Health Service Advanced Medical Support Assistant (AMSA) supports the Mental Health Division at VA North Texas Health Care System by handling administrative tasks that affect patient access and care coordination. The role involves scheduling appointments using advanced access principles and updating demographic and insurance information.

Applicants may be tentatively selected while meeting education or licensure requirements; the full title is GS-6 and requires English proficiency,

Qualifications

• Ability to collaborate and communicate with a wide range of medical clinicians.
• Ability to independently set priorities and organize work to meet deadlines.
• Clear, tactful written and spoken communication with internal and external customers.
• Advanced knowledge of scheduling across interdisciplinary care delivery and portals.
• Familiarity with VA policies for care delivery and patient flow.

Responsibilities

• Schedule and coordinate appointments using advanced clinic access principles.
• Collect and update demographic and insurance information for patients.
• Assist with managing patient access and coordinating care across teams.
• Support timekeeping, attendance, and basic data management tasks as needed.
• Communicate effectively to resolve patient concerns and provide data in reports.

Skills

Collaboration

Prioritization

Communication

Scheduling

Interdisciplinary care

Medical terminology

Education

High school diploma / GED

Tools

VistA

CPRS

VATAS

Job description

The Mental Health Service Advanced Medical Support Assistant (AMSA) serves in the Mental Health Division at VA North Texas Health Care System. The incumbent's work impacts the administrative aspect of patient care, including access, scheduling/coordinating appointments using advanced clinic access principles, collecting and updating demographic and insurance information and time as attendance.

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.
• 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.
• Experience: None
• Education: High school diploma, General Education Development equivalency certificate, or proficiency certificate from a State or territorial-level Board or Department of Education.
• Certification: None required.

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). 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 of 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:

• Such employees may be reassigned, promoted, or [changed to a lower grade] within the occupation.
• 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 the standard.
• If an employee who 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

GS-6

Experience

One year of experience equivalent to the GS-5 grade level.

Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. Candidates must demonstrate all of the KSAs 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 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.
• 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.

Preferred Experience

• Familiarity with basic data management skills, preferably with closing open encounters using VistA and CPRS
• ADPAC support services to include PIV sponsorship
• Basic healthcare administrative technical skills to schedule, cancel, and delete appointments in VistA
• Time and attendance skills with timekeeping in VATAS
• Subject matter expertise with VA standardized policies for memo formatting; competence with MS Word and MS Teams; and basic skills with MS Excel
• Competent with daily use of, and prompting skills, using AI tools

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

Light lifting: under 15 pounds; straight pulling (up to 1 hour); pushing (1 - 2 hours); reaching above shoulder; use of fingers; walking (up to 3 hours); standing (up to 3 hours); repeated bending (up to 1 hour); ability for rapid mental and muscular coordination simultaneously; near vision and far vision correctable in one eye to 20/20 and to 20/40 in the other; both eyes required for depth perception; ability to distinguish basic colors, ability to distinguish shades of color, hearing (aid permitted); climbing stairs; mentally alert, both legs required for operation of motor vehicle; and frequent keyboarding to operate a computer.