Medical Support Assistant (advanced)

Advanced Medical Support Assistant

The Marion, IL VAMC is accepting applications for two Advanced Medical Support Assistants (AMSA) for Primary Care Service at the following locations:

• Evansville Health Care Center, Evansville, Indiana
• Paducah Community Based Outpatient Clinic, Paducah, Kentucky

Responsibilities:

The Marion VA Health Care System is seeking two full-time Advanced Medical Support Assistants (AMSA) to join the Primary Care Clinic within Nursing Service. The incumbent's work provides specialized and expert administrative patient support while working collaboratively in an interdisciplinary coordinated care delivery model and involves specialized administrative judgment and the flexible use of a wide range of clinical flow processes related to access to care across multiple clinics, specialties and/or care in the community resources. Other duties include but are not limited to:

• Perform receptionist duties, customer service, and other duties assigned for the proper and timely treatment of patients
• Maintain appointment schedules for one or more outpatient clinics
• Assist with clinic access contingency plans by adjusting appointment times, location, or dates
• Recommend changes to existing clinic procedures based on current administrative guidelines
• Provide expertise in utilizing numerous advanced patient systems in support of multiple clinics involved in an interdisciplinary coordinated care delivery model

Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional:

• Work Schedule: Mon-Friday, 8:00 am-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 #: 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. 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. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements.

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.

You MUST meet one of the three combinations of education and experience described below to meet the BASIC qualifications for this position:

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

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 (Advanced), GS-6

Experience. One year of experience equivalent to the GS-5 grade level.

In order to be considered at the GS-6 grade level, you must fully meet (experience must be documented in your resume or separate KSA responses) both the GS-5 and GS-6 KSAs:

• GS-5 KSAs:
• 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 medical diagnosis and procedures sufficient to communicate clinical staff instructions to patients.
• Ability to schedule medical appointments in a clinical setting.
• Ability to work independently in the accomplishment of a wide variety of duties performing patient support work.
• Ability to communicate effectively and professionally in person, electronically, and/or by telephone, with internal and external customers.
• Skill in customer service with the ability to identify customer concerns, and refer to the appropriate staff, as necessary, to ensure a satisfactory resolution.
• GS-6 KSAs:
• 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.

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: The work is sedentary. Typically, the Advanced MSA sits comfortably to do the work. However, there may be some walking, standing, bending, carrying light items, etc. No special physical demands are required to perform the work.

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,