Advanced Medical Support Assistant

VA Careers - Medical Support Assistant: Rewards of a Allied Health Professional

Major Duties:

The Advanced MSA works collaboratively in an interdisciplinary coordinated care delivery model:

• Provides administrative support to clinicians and other administrative and professional staff to coordinate patient care.
• Administrative scheduling and appointment coordination for diagnostic testing and consultative appointments for many clinical services.
• Receive phone calls in a courteous and timely manner determine the nature of requests provide the information desired using privacy rules and established processes.
• Explaining procedures to Veterans and their family both in person and on the phone.
• Independently manage position responsibilities with little supervision as well as set priorities and deadlines adjusting the flow and sequencing of work to meet team and patient needs.
• Generating authorizations for pre-authorized outpatient unauthorized and emergency care claims while making eligibility determinations for the various programs in VACC.
• Works closely with utilization review to ensure proper authorizations are issued and appropriate correspondence is sent to vendors.
• Acts as a liaison between the veteran and the vendors with regard to the VACC section and VA clinical services.
• Obtains requested reports x-rays labs and any pertinent information required to complete the VACC Coordination consult in CPRS.
• Ensures all necessary components and documentation is distributed to appropriate services at the private institution where service will be provided.
• Prioritizes requested procedure based on urgency.
• Maintain a current directory of contact information in Excel to include name address phone and fax numbers of institution contact person.
• Generating correspondence to the Veterans and various providers and managing all received correspondence related to their Community Care.
• Provides advisory and technical assistance to Veterans and staff in answering questions. Determines the nature of Veterans needs questions or complaints. Provides necessary information to the staff and the patient dealing with a wide range of problems including atypical and complex situations.
• Incumbent utilizes HSRM and VISTA to manage and coordinate appointment management with the creation of authorizations as outlined by the Office of Integrated Veteran Care (IVC) Field Guidebook.
• Other duties as assigned.

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English.
• Subject to background/security investigation.
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements ( Effective May 7 2025 drivers licenses or state-issued identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• Must pass pre-employment physical evaluation.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).
• Complete all application requirements detailed in the Required Documents section of this announcement.

• your performance and conduct;
• the needs and interests of the agency;
• whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
• whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

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.
• Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019.
• 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 3j.

• 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:
  • 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.
  • KSA-2. Ability to independently set priorities and organize work to meet deadlines ensuring compliance with established processes policies and regulations.
  • KSA-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.
  • KSA-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.
  • KSA-5. Advanced knowledge of policies and procedures associated with interdisciplinary coordinated care delivery and/or care in the community operational activities that affect the 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.
  • KSA-6. Advanced knowledge of medical terminology due to the technical nature of language utilized by clinicians.