Medical Support Assistant - Specialty Care ICC

Medical Support Assistant

The incumbent serves as a Medical Support Assistant (MSA) at the Fargo VA and provides clerical administrative support in the coordination, care, and treatment provided to patients throughout the Specialty Care Integrated Clinical Community (ICC), to include Pulmonary, Cardiology, Palliative, Kidney, Oncology/Infusion, Rheumatology, Endocrinology, Diabetic Education, Neurology, Infectious Disease, Front Desk/Emergency Department and other specialty care areas.

Duties include, but are not limited to:

• Advising clinical staff on current administrative processes.
• Answering phones, greeting patients, relaying messages to appropriate staff inside or outside of the unit, scheduling appointments, including interpreting and verifying provider orders in accordance with VHA national scheduling guidelines.
• Scheduling, canceling, rescheduling patient appointments (Consults, RTCs, VVCs, and additional modalities); 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 outpatient appointments in areas of responsibility; verifying and updating third party insurance information when patients check in for appointments.
• Coordinating administrative functions relating to emergency and non-emergency transfers to other VA facilities or private hospitals and determining appointment type based on the patient's eligibility status (i.e., TRICARE, sharing agreements, collaterals, research patient, VA employee, etc.).
• Collaborating and communicating with a wide range of internal and external customers. The incumbent must maintain professional and effective communication [in person, electronically, and/or by phone] to accomplish team goals and ensure that medical care to patients is met.
• MSA has skill in customer service with the ability to identify concerns and refer to the appropriate staff, as necessary, to ensure a satisfactory resolution.
• Incumbent has ability to work independently in the accomplishment of a wide variety of duties performing patient support work.
• MSAs have advanced knowledge of medical terminology specific to understand medical diagnosis and procedures sufficient to communicate clinic staff instructions to patients.
• Incumbent can operate computerized programs and systems to retrieve sensitive medical and patient identifying information into or from electronic health records, scheduling systems and/or reports.
• The MSA carries out additional duties or tasks as requested that may be assigned by the supervisor to ensure efficient daily operations and facility needs.

Work Schedule: 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 #: 000000

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.

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, driver's 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.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1 or 2-year trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest.

Upon completion of your trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Qualifications Basic Requirements:

United States Citizenship: Citizen of the United States.

Experience and Education. (1) Experience. 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, (2) Education. One year above high school (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED); OR, (3) Experience/Education Combination. Equivalent combination of experience and education are qualifying for entry level for which both education and experience are acceptable (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED).

Foreign Education. To be creditable, education completed outside the U.S. must have been submitted to a private organization that specializes in the interpretation of foreign educational credentials and such education must have been deemed at least equivalent to that gained in conventional U.S. programs.

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:

Medical Support Assistant, GS-3 (Entry Level) Experience or Education. None beyond the basic requirements.

Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. Candidates must demonstrate all of the KSAs below:

• Ability to meet, communicate, and interact with individuals in a courteous and helpful manner in order to give instructions and arrange appointments.
• Ability to utilize computer systems to enter administrative data in patient systems.
• Ability to learn and utilize basic medical terminology to record patient messages and physician requests pertaining to follow-up medical care.

Medical Support Assistant, GS-4 (Developmental Level) Experience. One year of experience in 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, Education. Two years of education above high school (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED).

Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. Candidates must demonstrate all of the KSAs below:

• Ability to meet, communicate, and interact with individuals from varying backgrounds and other health care team members in a courteous and helpful manner in order to facilitate medical care for patients.
• Ability to use, [and navigate between], various types of office automation equipment and software [(i.e. computer systems, web based scheduling programs; insurance collection system; scanning software, multiple line phone systems; electronic faxing programs) to support patient care].
• Knowledge of basic medical terminology to assist in the provision of care to patients.
• Skill in recording patient messages and understanding physician requests pertaining to follow-up medical care in internal or external clinics.

Medical Support Assistant, GS-5 (Full Performance) Experience. One year of experience equivalent to the [GS-4] grade level; OR, Education. Four years of education above high school (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED).

Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. Candidates must demonstrate all of the KSAs below:

• Ability to operate computerized programs and systems in order to enter, modify, and retrieve sensitive [medical and patient identifying] information [(PII)] into or from electronic [health] records, scheduling systems, and/or reports.
• Advanced knowledge of medical terminology specific to understand