Advanced Medical Support Assistant

Full Job Description

The Advanced Medical Support Assistant serves as a facilitator and administrative coordinator for a high-volume surgical sub-specialty which includes staff physicians, surgical residents and nursing staff.

The AMSA works closely with the chief/senior resident and may accompany the team on rounds and be present in the outpatient clinics.

The Advanced MSA extends the capability of the surgical residents by performing non-clinical duties which would otherwise need to be done by the physician staff.

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.

English Language Proficiency: Advanced Medical Support Assistants must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with VA Policy. Creditable Experience Knowledge of MSA Practices.

To be creditable, the experience must have demonstrated the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) associated with current MSA responsibilities or an equivalent administrative patient support role in a non-VA medical inpatient or outpatient setting.

Experience satisfying this requirement may be paid/non-paid employment as an MSA or an equivalent position in a non-VA hospital or clinic setting. Quality of Experience.

Qualifying experience must be at a level comparable to MSA experience or equivalent administrative clinical support role in a non-VA medical inpatient or outpatient setting] at the next lower grade level.

For all assignments above the full performance level, the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, administrative independence, complexity (difficulty), and a range of varieties as described in this standard, at the specified grade level and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time .

Part-Time Experience.

Part-time experience as an MSA or equivalent administrative patient support in a non-VA medical inpatient or outpatient setting is creditable according to its relationship to the full-time workweek.

For example, an MSA employed 20 hours a week, or on a 1/2-time basis, would receive one full-time workweek of credit for each two weeks of service.

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).

Grade Determinations: For GS-06 In addition to the basic requirements you must demonstrate that you possess one year of specialized experience at the next lower grade level (GS-05).

You will be rated on the following Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities based on your application for this position: Please make sure that each is addressed in detail in the body of your resume. I.

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.

II. Ability to independently set priorities and organize work to meet deadlines, ensuring compliance with established processes, policies, and regulations. III.

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. IV.

Advanced knowledge of the technical healthcare process including, but not limited to, scheduling across interdisciplinary coordinated care delivery and/or care in the community models and patient healthcare portals as it relates to access to care.

V.

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.

VI. Advanced knowledge of medical terminology due to the technical nature of language utilized by clinicians.

References: VA Handbook 5005, PART II, APPENDIX G45 Medical Support Assistant VA Qualification Standards. The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-06.

The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is GS-06. Physical Requirements: This is primarily a sedentary position. See VA Directive and Handbook 5019 Major Duties:

Major Duties include but are not limited to: Scheduling, cancelling, and re-scheduling patient appointments by managing appointment requests.

Coordinate the scheduling/rescheduling of consults or forwarding of consults to community care using the various scheduling systems and tools.

Documenting all patient related correspondences and outreach for scheduling in the electronic medical record.

Check-in/check-out procedures for patient visits and ensuring patient demographics (to include but not limited to mailing address, contact information, email, basic eligibility, etc.) are validated and up to date in the patient's record.

Logging into phone system application, (multiline phone system application) as directed by the supervisor, to answer incoming calls in accordance with standard operating procedures and customer service policy.

Taking accurate telephone messages and/or documentation of contact within our electronic medical record system.

Responsible for Lobby Management, including, but not limited to monitoring the reception patient check-in/check-out line, general cleanliness of the lobby.

Appropriately complete initial paperwork for same day walk-in "triage" patients, notifies the appropriate nursing staff members and alerts clinical staff immediately of any urgent/emergent issues.

Collaborates effectively with fellow SFVAHCS staff to ensure patient concerns are addressed. Reviews upcoming pending appointments, as necessary, to ensure patients are being seen appropriately.

Electronically uploads outside test results into electronic medical record.

May provide on-the-job training to new employees in accordance with established procedures and practices and may provide feedback to new employees.

Must have minimum basic knowledge of Veteran Health Care Eligibility included but not limited to: Mission Act eligibility for Community Care services, CHAMPVA, VA Priority Groups, and Dental eligibility.

The MSA must also have general knowledge of the role of other San Francisco VA Health Care System departments included by not limited to Medical Services, Business Services, Environmental Management, and Patient Experience.

Other duties as assigned. Work Schedule: 8:00am-4:30pm or as determined by supervisor. Telework: Not available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 662-09520-F