Medical Support Assistant

Medical Support Assistant

The incumbent serves as a Medical Support Assistant in the Tennessee Valley Healthcare System, Social Work Service. The incumbent performs duties related to the receipt, intake, and indexing of health and administrative information. The incumbent will interface with personal computer (PC) applications as well as numerous Vista applications.

Responsibilities include:

• Scheduling, cancelling, re-scheduling patient's appointments and/or consults
• Entering no show information; monitoring the electronic wait list
• Preparing for clinic visits
• Monitoring both inpatient and outpatient appointments for areas of responsibility
• Ensuring encounter forms are completed to obtain appropriate workload credit
• Verifying and updating demographics and insurance information
• Processing all emergency and non-emergency transfers to other VA Facilities or private hospitals
• Performing basic eligibility, co-pays and pre-authorization requirements for specific coverage

Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional:

• 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
• Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Functional Statement #: 71095-F

Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Requirements:

• 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.

Qualifications:

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 and Education: 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, Education: One year above high school; OR, Experience/Education Combination: Equivalent combination of experience and education are qualifying for entry level for which both education and experience are acceptable.
• Certification: None required.
• 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 3.j.

Grade Determinations:

• GS-05 Medical Support Assistant Experience: One year of experience equivalent to the GS-4 grade level; OR, Education: Four years of education above high school.
• AND Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
• Ability to collaborate, communicate, set priorities, and organize the work in order to meet deadlines, ensuring compliance with established processes, policies, and regulations.
• Ability to communicate tactfully and effectively, both orally and in writing, in order to meet program objectives.
• Advanced knowledge of the technical health care process as it relates to access to care.
• Advanced knowledge of managing a clinic. This includes independently utilizing reference sources, decision making, and empowering the team to collaborate and resolve problems within a complex systems environment.
• Advanced knowledge of policies and procedures associated with operational activities that affect the patient flow, patient care, and the revenue process.
• 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.

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-05. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is in the range of GS-05 to GS-05.

Physical Requirements: 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 hours or on days that have a large volume of activity. See VA Directive and Handbook 5019.

Education IMPORTANT: A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education. Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

Additional Information:

• Receiving Service Credit or Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave: Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior work experience or military service experience.
• This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave.
• Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed.
• During the application process you may have an option to opt-in to make your resume available to hiring managers in the agency who