Medical Support Assistant (Advanced)

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; Reno (NV); Remote; USD 48,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, VA Sierra Nevada Health Care System in Reno, NV, seeks a Medical Support Assistant to support health administration services. The role focuses on intake, indexing of health information, and interfacing with PC and Vista applications.

Telework is available on an ad-hoc basis; duties are primarily in a clinical support environment. The incumbent will coordinate with the patient care team to ensure smooth patient flow, assist with discharge communications, and

Qualifications

• United States Citizenship requirement as per VA policy
• English language proficiency in accordance with VA policy
• Knowledge of MSA practices and related KSAs
• Experience in administrative patient support in non-VA settings acceptable
• Part-time experience creditable per VA standards
• For GS-06, one year of specialized experience at GS-05 level or equivalent

Responsibilities

• Develop/maintain effective communication with patients, interdisciplinary team, VA facilities and other agencies
• Assist with communications during inpatient to outpatient discharge
• Schedule patient appointments and manage clinic wait lists
• Maintain and input information into electronic records and reporting tools
• Participate in team huddles/meetings to plan patient care and coordinate services
• Ensure patient readiness for visits by coordinating pre-appointment requirements
• Monitor and resolve issues in patient scheduling and data accuracy

Job description

Summary

The position serves as a Medical Support Assistant in Health Administration Service at the VA Sierra Nevada Health Care System - Reno - Nevada. The incumbent performs duties related to the receipt - intake - and indexing of health and administrative information. The incumbent will interface with personal computer (PC) applications as well as numerous Vista applications.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position - applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement - 10/27/2026.

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 Proficiency: Advanced Medical Support Assistants must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with VA Policy
• Creditable Experience Knowledge of MSA Practices
• To be creditable - the experience must have demonstrated the knowledge - skills - and abilities (KSAs) associated with current MSA responsibilities or an equivalent administrative patient support role in a non-VA medical inpatient or outpatient setting
• Experience satisfying this requirement may be paid/non-paid employment as an MSA or an equivalent position in a non-VA hospital or clinic setting
• Quality of Experience
• Qualifying experience must be at a level comparable to MSA experience [or equivalent administrative clinical support role in a non-VA medical inpatient or outpatient setting] at the next lower grade level
• For all assignments above the full performance level - the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope - administrative independence - complexity (difficulty) - and a range of varieties as described in this standard - at the specified grade level and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time
• Part-Time Experience
• Part-time experience as an MSA or equivalent administrative patient support in a non-VA medical inpatient or outpatient setting is creditable according to its relationship to the full-time workweek
• For example - an MSA employed 20 hours a week - or on a 1/2-time basis - would receive one full-time workweek of credit for each two weeks of service
• 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)
• Grade Determinations: For GS-06 In addition to the basic requirements you must demonstrate that you possess one year of specialized experience at the next lower grade level (GS-05)
• You will be rated on the following Knowledge - Skills - and Abilities based on your application for this position: Please make sure that each is addressed in detail in the body of your resume
• 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 healthcare process including - but not limited to - scheduling across interdisciplinary coordinated care delivery and/or care in the community models and patient healthcare 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
• References: VA Handbook 5005 - PART II - APPENDIX G45 Medical Support Assistant VA Qualification Standards
• The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-06
• The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is GS-06
• Physical Requirements: This is primarily a sedentary position
• See VA Directive and Handbook 5019

Duties

• Work Schedule: Monday through Friday - tour of duty may vary depending upon agency needs Telework: Available - Ad-hoc Virtual: This is not a virtual position
• Functional Statement #: 40215A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required The Advanced MSA works collaboratively in an interdisciplinary coordinated care delivery model (i.e - patient aligned care team)
• The Advanced MSA coordinates with the patient care team to review the clinic utilization by using various reports (e.g - Clinic Utilization Statistical Summary)
• Duties of the position include - but are not limited to: Develop/maintain effective and efficient communication with the patient - interdisciplinary team - VA medical centers - and other agencies
• Assist with communications during the inpatient to outpatient discharge
• Communicate with non-VA medical facilities
• Facilitate/process secure messaging with the patient and team
• Notify patients of normal lab results
• Develop and manage a tracking system for follow up care such as consults - tests - etc
• Participating in team huddles and team meetings to manage and plan patient care;
• Scheduling patient appointments
• Setting priorities and deadlines - adjusting the flow and sequencing of the work to meet team and patient needs
• May work with the team to reinforce the plan of care and self-help solutions and entering appropriate information into the electronic record
• Monitoring pre-appointment requirements to assure readiness for patient visit/procedure (e.g - X-ray - lab work)
• Managing electronic wait list to verify and validate accuracy and resolve issues
• Participating and providing input in problem solving on operational issues or procedures in team meetings - performing administrative follow up actions
• Participating in and independently following up on team huddles by sharing information and collaborating with the medical team to assure continuity of care
• Evaluating patient information and clinic schedule lists to determine whether patient is vested
• Educating providers about shared patients (those who receive their care at multiple VAs or those who have care in the community) and bringing to the attention of the provider
• Higher level duties must consist of significant scope - administrative independence - complexity (difficulty) 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
• Plans and organizes work with general assistance from the supervisor as to meet local and VA-wide time frames to complete analysis requirements - reports and special assignments and only refers to the non-routine and high technical problems to their supervisor
• Responsible for reporting backlogs - difficulties in meeting deadlines - uncooperative physicians - or difficulty in securing information from clinicians or the record
• Is responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of information obtained to carry out required duties
• Routinely communicates with physicians - case managers - and other allied health professional staff using sound interpersonal skills and is constantly aware of the sensitive information
• Works independently making decisions based on guidelines - precedents and regulations and performs duties in such a manner that only minimal supervision is required Other duties as assigned by management.