Medical Support Assistant (Advanced)

US-Department-of-Veterans-Affair; San Antonio (TX); On-site; USD 50,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs seeks a Medical Support Assistant (Advanced) in a Veterans health contact center. You will coordinate access to care, schedule appointments, verify patient information, and route clinical concerns to the care team.

The role requires advanced administrative skills, independent judgment, and strong communication with clinicians and patients to ensure timely, accurate care.

Qualifications

• One year of creditable experience equivalent to GS-05.
• Advanced knowledge of scheduling across care delivery and access to care.
• Advanced knowledge of medical terminology used by clinicians.
• Ability to collaborate with a wide range of clinicians to meet team goals.
• Ability to set priorities and organize work to meet deadlines.

Responsibilities

• Provide advanced administrative support in a Veterans health contact center.
• Coordinate access to care across clinics, specialties and community resources.
• Handle calls and secure messages; schedule/adjust appointments and consults.
• Verify patient information and process records and refill requests.
• Route clinical concerns and resolve access issues; communicate with the care team.

Skills

Advanced health care process knowledge

Policies and procedures

Medical terminology

Interdisciplinary communication

Prioritization and organization

Effective written/verbal communication

Education

High school diploma or GED

Job description

Provides advanced administrative support in a Veterans health contact center, coordinating access to care across clinics, specialties, community resources. Handles calls, secure messages, schedules and adjusts appointments and consults, verifies patient information, processes records and refill requests, routes clinical concerns, resolves access issues, and communicates with care team. Uses independent judgment, advanced systems, and customer service skills to support timely, accurate care. 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.
• 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.
• Grandfathering Provision: Employees in VHA in this occupation, under a permanent, appropriate, and legal placement on the effective date of the qualification standard, May 7, 2026, are considered to have met all qualification requirements for the grade and/or assignment held, including positive education and registration/certification
• 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.
• Physical Requirements. See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Service for requirements.
• English Language Proficiency. Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f).

Grade Determination

Medical Support Assistant (Advanced), GS-06.

• Experience. One year of creditable experience equivalent to the next lower grade, GS-05.
• Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs). In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs:
  • 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.
  • 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.

Reference:

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

The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is GS-06.

Physical Requirements:

The work is sedentary. Some work may require movement between offices, hospitals, warehouses, and similar areas for meetings and to conduct work. Work may also require walking/standing, in conjunctions with travel to and attendance at meetings and/or conferences away from the work site. Incumbent may carry and lift light items weighing less than 15 pounds.

Creditable Experience.

To be creditable, the experience must have required the use of 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 or 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 of the position being filled. For this assignment, the higher-level duties must consist 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.

Part-Time Experience.

Part-time experience is creditable according to its relationship to a full-time workweek. For example, an individual employed 20 hours per week, or on a half-time basis, would receive credit for 1 full-time workweek for each 2 weeks of service.