Medical Support Assistant (Advanced)

US-Department-of-Veterans-Affair; Martinsburg (WV); On-site; USD 42,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

The Advanced Medical Support Assistant at the Martinsburg VA Medical Center in Martinsburg, West Virginia, works within the Dental Clinic to manage access to care, schedule appointments, and coordinate patient processing in an interdisciplinary care delivery model.

Citizenship and English proficiency are required; a high school diploma or GED is mandatory, and no prior experience is required. Foreign education must be evaluated for equivalence to U.S. standards.

Qualifications

• English language proficiency required for speaking and writing.
• No prior experience required.
• High school diploma or GED required.
• Foreign education must be evaluated for equivalence.

Responsibilities

• Schedule, cancel, and reschedule patient appointments, including clinics and consults.
• Enter and verify demographics and insurance information.
• Process transfers to other VA facilities or private hospitals and handle pre-authorization requirements.
• Monitor clinic schedules and patient flow to support access to care.

Education

High school diploma or GED

Job description

The Advanced Medical Support Assistant serves in the Dental Clinic at the Martinsburg VA Medical Center in Martinsburg, West Virginia. The position directly impacts the administrative and operational aspects of Veteran care delivery, including access management, appointment scheduling, and coordination using advanced clinic access principles, patient processing, customer service, and data integrity. 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. Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f).
• 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.
• Foreign Education. To be creditable, education completed outside the U.S. must be deemed at least equivalent to that gained in a conventional U.S. program by a private organization specializing in the interpretation of foreign educational credentials.

Grade Determinations

GS-6

In addition to the Basic Requirements listed above, the following experience criteria and KSAs must be met when determining the grade of candidates:

Experience

One year of experience equivalent to the GS-5 grade level; Experience is defined as experience that includes, but is not limited to: scheduling, canceling, re-scheduling patient’s appointments and/or consults; entering no-show information; monitoring the electronic wait list; preparing for clinic visits; monitoring both inpatient and outpatient appointments for areas of responsibility; ensuring encounter forms are completed in order to obtain appropriate workload credit; verifying and updating demographics and insurance information; processing all emergency and non-emergency transfers to other VA facilities or private hospitals; performing basic eligibility, co-pays and pre-authorization requirements for specific coverage (i.e., TRICARE, sharing agreements, etc.).

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• 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 the language utilized by clinicians.
• 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.

Assignment

For all assignments above the FPL, the higher-level duties must be of significant scope, administrative independence, complexity, and range of variety as described in this standard at the specified grade level and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time. At the advanced level, the Medical Support Assistant (Advanced) (AMSA) performs difficult and responsible 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. Recommend changes to existing clinic procedures based on current administrative guidelines. Expertise in utilizing numerous advanced patient systems in support of multiple clinics involved in an interdisciplinary coordinated care delivery model. Coordinates with the patient care team to review clinic appointment availability (utilization) to ensure that clinic schedules are closely monitored to effectively support the needs of the clinics, and makes adjustments as necessary. MSAs at this level develop and/or maintain effective and efficient communication with the patient, interdisciplinary coordinated care delivery model teams, VA medical centers, and other agencies (e.g., assist with communications during the inpatient to outpatient discharge; communicate with non-VA medical facilities; prepare correspondence to notify patients of normal lab results; manage a system for follow-up care such as consults, tests, etc.).

Other assignments at this level include, but are not limited to: processes incoming patient secure messaging through MyHealthyVet and coordinates with care team as appropriate; participates in team huddles and team meetings to manage, plan, problem solve, and follow-up with patient care by sharing information and collaborating with the interdisciplinary team; setting priorities and deadlines, adjusting the flow and sequencing of the work to meet team and patient needs; identifies incomplete encounters and communicates findings to providers; as needed; assists the team to reinforce the plan of care and self-help solutions; enters appropriate information into the electronic record; monitors pre-appointment information and/or requirements to assure readiness for patient visit/procedure; manages patient systems to verify and validate accuracy and resolve issues; evaluates patient information and clinic schedule lists to determine whether the patient requires an immediate appointment; inform team members about shared patients (i.e., those who receive their care at multiple VA centers or those who receive care in the community).

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

See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Service for requirements. See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Service, for requirements.