Advanced Medical Support Assistant - Telephone Care Clerk

Advanced Medical Support Assistant

The incumbent serves as an Advanced Medical Support Assistant in the Telephone Care Program. S/he works at a two-divisional teaching hospital affiliated with the University of Kentucky (UK) Medical Center at the Lexington Veterans Affairs Health Care System. The incumbent will normally work at one of the locations for the two divisions (Bowling or Sousley) but may be required to work at the other location as necessary.

The incumbent serves as a Telephone Care Clerk for Patient Care Services within the Primary Care Outpatient Clinics. In this capacity the incumbent will provide telephone access to our veteran population. This is a complex role requiring a global understanding of Lexington VAHCS policies and procedures. Major duties include, but are not limited to:

• Clinical and administrative network designed to provide fast, responsive assistance for veterans seeking information and care at this medical center.
• Works collaboratively with an interdisciplinary coordinated care delivery model.
• Develop/maintain effective and efficient communication with the patient, interdisciplinary team, VA medical centers, and other agencies.
• Provides assistance with telephone coverage and analyzes calls to take action when appropriate in referring calls to the appropriate staff members.
• Acts as primary liaison between the medical facility, patients and their families for consulting, advising and assistance with program access and questions.
• May handle notification to family members of Veterans in regards to program activities and status.
• Performs work involving the collection, compilation and/or tracking of data and statistical information in support of the HBPC programs operation.
• Assists in the planning, review and reporting of data/statistical results of the program and establishes and organizes computerized data sets and retrieves computerized data.
• Preparing for clinic visits; completing encounters in order to obtain appropriate workload credit; verifying and updating demographics and insurance information.
• Other duties as assigned.

Work Schedule: Full-time, Monday - Friday, 8:00am - 4:30pm

Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized

Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not Authorized

Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases

Paid Time Off: 37-50 days of annual paid time offer per year (13-26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, 11 paid Federal holidays per year)

Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior work experience or military service experience.

Parental Leave: After 12 months of employment, up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave in connection with the birth, adoption, or foster care placement of a child.

Child Care Subsidy: After 60 days of employment, full time employees with a total family income below $144,000 may be eligible for a childcare subsidy up to 25% of total eligible childcare costs for eligible children up to the monthly maximum of $416.66.

Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA

Insurance: Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement)

Telework: Not Available

Functional Statement #: 30129F

Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Requirements Conditions of Employment:

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. You may be required to serve a trial period. Subject to background/security investigation. Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process.

Qualifications:

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.

Education or Training: Six months experience of clerical, office, customer service, or other administrative work that indicates the ability to acquire the particular knowledge and skills needed to perform the duties of the position; OR One year above high school; OR Equivalent combination of experience and education are qualifying for entry level for which both education and experience are acceptable.

English Language Proficiency:

MSA's must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with VA Handbook 5005, part II, chapter 3, section A, paragraph 3j.

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 and meet the criteria).

Grade Determinations:

GS-06 Medical Support Assistant (Advanced). In addition to the basic requirements, you must meet the following grade requirements:

You must have one year of experience equivalent to the GS-05 level.

Examples of specialized experience include; but are not limited to:

• Scheduling, canceling, re-scheduling patient appointments and/or consults; 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, monitoring both inpatient and outpatient appointments in areas of responsibility; 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 patient's eligibility status.

AND Candidates must also demonstrate the Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs) below:

• 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 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.

Note: You must provide detailed information of your experience performed. Information such as "I was a Medical Support Assistant" is insufficient to determine your qualifications. Experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month and year start/end dates AND hour worked per week.

Preferred Experience:

Previous experience as a Medical Support Assistant, working in a call center and/or performing administrative health care functions.

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-6. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is GS-6.

Physical Requirements:

Typically, the Advanced Medical Support Assistant must be able to operate a computer terminal and be able to manage multiple activities at one time. Work is generally sedentary; however, there may be some walking, standing, bending, and carrying of light items.

Work Environment:

The work may be stressful due to the accelerated pace for several hours at a time during peak clinic hours or on days that have a large volume of clinic activity.

Education:

There