Lead Medical Support Assistant

This position is located in National CARDIO-VET Network, an enterprise-wide rural cardiology access program housed in VISN 10. The Lead Medical Support Assistant (MSA) is responsible for the coordination of Advanced MSA (AMSA) assignments within the CARDIO-VET contact center, an emerging unit with CARDIO-VET AMSAs that provides scheduling support for all CARDIO-VET locations.

VA Careers - Medical Support Assistant: https://youtube.com/embed/EE9c4XkaELo

The Lead MSA is responsible for daily workload assessments, assigning work, and assuring proper staffing coverage; evaluating training records; and determining training needs of MSAs to provide support across the CARDIO-VET contact center. The Lead assists CARDIO-VET with complex and non-standard procedures, including clinical flow processes related to access to care across multiple clinics, specialties, and/or community resources.
Assignments at this level include but are not limited to ensuring accurate and timely scheduling of appointments; providing guidance to staff members, to include changes in policies and procedures; creating and maintaining employee work schedules; and acting as a liaison among Advanced MSA staff, patients, and other interdisciplinary staff to resolve day-to-day conflicts. Assignments include ensuring timely and accurate appointment scheduling; providing guidance on policy or workflow changes; onboarding and training new staff; organizing workload; and serving as liaison among MSAs, providers, rural clinics, and interdisciplinary teams to resolve day-to-day operational issues. The Lead MSA supports coordinated care delivery, maintains high-quality customer service, and ensures processes meet established standards across the rural cardiovascular network. For all assignments above the full performance level, the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, administrative independence, complexity (difficulty) and range of variety as described in this standard at the specified grade level and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time. Duties require administrative independence, strong organizational skills, and the ability to manage complex workflows across multiple sites.

Specific Duties: Any specific duties pertaining to the service or unit are listed below, but not limited to:

• Demonstrates Courtesy and Professionalism: As frontline contact with patients and staff. A high degree of tact and diplomacy is required when dealing with veterans who have multiple health problems and who may be frustrated with the administrative process associated with diagnosis and treatment.
• Meets, Communicates, and Interacts: Demonstrates ability to meet, communicate, and interact with such programs and databases to make appointments in a clinical setting.
• Employee Education: Complies with Employee Education requirements by completing mandatory annual assignments through the TMS.
• Reports Issues and System Barriers: Prepares and submits routine summaries of contact center activity, noting patterns such as increased volume, high abandonment rates, or repeated patient access concerns.
• Coordinates Rural Cardiovascular Workflows: Ensures MSAs are trained and competent in managing the complexities of rural cardiovascular scheduling, including tele-cardiology, mobile services, outreach clinics, and community-based testing.
• Ensures Cross-Functional Collaboration: Acts as liaison between scheduling staff, cardiology clinical teams, and interdisciplinary partners to resolve day-to-day issues, clarify processes, and improve workflow efficiency.
• Supports Quality and Compliance Activities: Conducts periodic audits of appointment scheduling, consult completion, recall reminders, and telephone documentation for accuracy and compliance with VHA policies. Provides additional coaching and training when errors or knowledge gaps are identified.
• Management of the CARDIO-VET Contact Center: This unit comprises of all CARDIO-VET MSAs that are responsible for scheduling. This Lead MSA would be expected to head the scheduling operations while maintaining their own scheduling responsibilities.

Driving: This position requires some driving.

Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 7:30a.m.04:30p.m. EST
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 91831-0

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.
• 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.

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 Requirements: 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 a 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, a MSA employed 20 hours a week, or on a 1/2-time basis, would receive one full-time work week of credit for each two-weeks of service.

Grade Determinations:
Lead Medical Support Assistant,GS-7
Experience. One year of experience equivalent to the GS-6 grade level.

Assignment:
Assignments at this level include, but are not limited to: assuring coverage of all areas of responsibility; conducting ongoing reviews to ensure quality of work; ensuring accurate and timely scheduling of appointments; providing guidance to staff members to include changes in policies and procedures; distributing and balancing workload; orienting and providing on-the-job training for new and current employees; ensuring all training requirements are met; organizing the work structure of his/her assigned areas; and acting as liaison between MSAs and other staff.

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

• Advanced knowledge of medical terminology and a wide range of clinical flow processes relating to access to care across multiple clinics, specialties, and/or community resources.
• Ability to utilize numerous advanced patient systems in support of multiple clinics in an interdisciplinary setting.
• Ability to organize work, set priorities, and delegate tasks/responsibilities in order to meet deadlines.
• Skill in communicating with individuals to obtain the desired effect and coordinating with a variety of interdisciplinary care team staff.
• Ability to provide staff development and training.
• Ability to manage staffing requirements, manage workflow priorities, and adjust the flow of work to meet team and patient needs. This includes the ability to follow-up on pending issues and demonstrate an understanding of the impact of incomplete work across multiple clinics.

Preferred Experience: 2 years experience as a Medical Support Assistant-Advanced

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-07.

Physical Requirements: The work is mostly sedentary. It typically requires sitting with sustained periods of concentration. There will be some walking, standing, bending, and carrying of relatively light objects. The position may also require stooping, reaching, lifting, pulling, and other moderate exertion or strain. Incumbent may occasionally have to walk some distance to a meeting.

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/.

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job.
• To be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. In addition to the application and questionnaire, this position requires an online assessment. The online assessment measures critical general competencies required to perform the 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 (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). 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.
• Must pass pre-employment physical examination.
• 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.
• Valid Drivers license.

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. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:

• your performance and conduct;
• the needs and interests of the agency;
• whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
• whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

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.