Medical Support Assistant Advanced

The Advanced MSA provides 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.

Major duties include but may not be limited to:

• Answering phones greeting patients relaying messages to appropriate staff inside or outside of the unit.
• Schedule patient appointments by interpreting and verifying provider orders such as Return to Clinic (RTC) orders Patient Centered Scheduling recall requests consults New Enrollee Appointment Requests (NEAR) and other order sources.
• Schedules future appointments in accordance with provider clinic profiles Advanced Clinic Access principles and input from the patient.
• Generate and provide After Visit Summary for patient following appropriate actions by provider.
• Canceling and rescheduling appointment request.
• Completing no-show process including documenting marking the appointment as a no-show and rescheduling.
• Monitoring appointment requests from multiple electronic sources.
• Verifying and updating demographics including temporary addresses insurance information and sharing caregiver information.
• Works closely with involved providers to expedite emergency request to assure timely patientcare.
• Recommends changes to existing clinic procedures based on current administrative guidelines.
• 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.
• Develop and/or maintain effective and efficient communication with the patient interdisciplinary coordinated care delivery model teams VA medical centers and other agencies.
• Receives and relays a high volume of incoming and outgoing communication via telephone fax and email from patients staff and outside sources concerning a variety of medical personnel and administrative matters. Determines the nature of the inquiry and independently responds or routes to appropriate clinical staff in a timely manner appropriate to the urgency of the correspondence.
• 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.
• Performing clerical duties related to patient care and treatments such as admitting and discharging travel arrangements forwarding medication orders work orders and maintaining electronic medical charts.
• 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; informs team members about shared patients.
• Performs 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.
• 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.

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.
• Education: High school diploma General Education Development equivalency certificate or proficiency certificate from a State or territorial-level Board or Department of Education.
• English Language Proficiency: Candidates must be proficient in spoke and written English in accordance with 38 USC 7403(f).

• Experience. One year of experience equivalent to the GS-5 grade level. Experience includes but is not limited to:
  • Answering phones greeting patients relaying messages to appropriate staff inside or outside of the unit;
  • Scheduling canceling re-scheduling patient appointments and/or consults including interpreting and verifying provider orders in accordance with VHA national scheduling guidelines;
  • Entering no-show information; monitoring appointment requests from multiple electronic sources;
  • Participating in huddles with other MSAs and/or clinic staff to determine the daily needs of the clinic;
  • Verifying and updating demographics and insurance information when patients check-in for appointments;
  • Coordinates administrative functions relating to emergency and non-emergency transfers to other VA facilities or private hospitals and determines appointment type based on the patients eligibility status (i.e. TRICARE sharing agreements collaterals research patient VA employee etc.). AND

• Demonstrated Knowledge Skills and Abilities. Candidates must demonstrate all of the KSAs below:
  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.
  2. Ability to independently set priorities and organize work to meet deadlines ensuring compliance with established processes policies and regulations.
  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.
  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.
  5. 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.
  6. Advanced knowledge of medical terminology due to the technical nature of language utilized by clinicians.