Medical Support Assistant (Advanced)

The Advanced Level Medical Support Assistant (MSA) position works collaboratively with other members of expanded health care teams (i.e., PACT, specialty care, RCI/RCT Care) including Community Care providers, pharmacists, social workers, dieticians, behavioral health staff, etc. to provide a robust interdisciplinary approach to care. This position is located on Phelan Avenue.

Please include full-time/part-time status or number of hours worked for each position listed on resume.

This is an Open Continuous Announcement until September 30, 2026. The initial cut-off-date for referral eligible applications will be Junes 17, 2026. Applications will be referred as requested until vacancies are filled. Eligible applications received after that date will be referred at regular intervals or as additional vacancies occur on an as-needed basis until positions are filled. All qualified candidates encouraged to apply.

Announcement will be closed once all vacancies are filled.

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

Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional

The Advanced Level Medical Support Assistant (MSA) position serves as a Consult Coordinator and is a foundational role within the continuum of patient care. Important interfaces and collaborations also occur with larger health care system providers including VA and non-VA specialists, hospitals, diagnostic and treating facilities, and community-based programs.

Major duties include, but are not limited to:

• Responsible for generating authorizations for pre-authorized outpatient, unauthorized and emergency care claims, while making eligibility determinations for the various programs in Community Medical Care and/or Specialty Care under the RCI process.
• Schedule appointments accurately and timely. All appointments will be made with the patient's input. This may require a high level of coordination to avoid patients having to make multiple trips to the medical center or clinic whenever possible.
• Notifies his/her supervisor if an individual patient cannot be scheduled within mandated clinic timeframes.
• Timely review of active/pending consults for accuracy and disposition.
• Collaborates with VA clinicians, third party administrator (TPA) and community clinicians to obtain clinical documentation and direction to further coordinate, plan, organize, and direct outpatient/inpatient community care, complex outpatient/inpatient diagnostic procedures and/or specialty care under the Referral Coordination initiative; where applicable.
• Coordinates follow-up care at the direction of the community clinicians/vendor, TPA and the VA clinicians including providing evaluation and diagnostic reports to VA clinicians for continuation of care and verification of eligibility for authorized care under the Referral Coordination Initiative and/or Community Care services.
• Independently manage position responsibilities with little supervision as well as set priorities and deadlines adjusting the flow and sequencing of the work to meet team and patient 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 when setting pay, a higher step rate of the appropriate grade may be determined after consideration of higher or unique qualifications or special needs of the VA (Above Minimum Rate of the Grade).
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: Ad-hoc telework may be approved at Supervisory discretion
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 50128-F
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met.

Basic Requirements: To qualify for appointment to this position, all applicants must possess the following:

1. Citizenship. Be a citizen of the United States (U.S.). Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens according to 38 U.S.C. § 7407(a).
2. Experience. None.
3. Education. High school diploma, General Education Development equivalency certificate, or proficiency certificate from a State or territorial-level Board or Department of Education.
4. Licensure/Certification/Registration. None.
5. Foreign Education. To be creditable, education completed outside the U.S. must be deemed at least equivalent to that gained in a conventional U.S. program by a private organization specializing in the interpretation of foreign educational credentials.
6. Physical Requirements. See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Service for requirements.
7. English Language Proficiency. Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f).

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: In addition to the basic requirements for employment listed above, the following education and experience criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates:

Medical Support Assistant (Advanced), GS-6

• Experience. To qualify at this level, candidates must have: One year of experience equivalent to the GS-5 grade level. Examples of creditable experience at this level include, but are not limited to: scheduling, canceling, re-scheduling patient appointments and/or consults; 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 both inpatient and outpatient appointments in areas of responsibility; verifying and updating demographics and insurance information when patients check-in for appointments; coordinates administrative functions relating to emergency and non-emergency transfers to other clinical/medical facilities or private hospitals and determines appointment type based on the patient's eligibility status.

Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities.. In addition to the experience or education above, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs:

• 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.
• 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.

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.

Note: Quality of Experience. Qualifying experience must be at a level comparable to Advanced 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.

Preferred Experience: None

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: Typically, the Advanced Medical Support Assistant must be able to 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 clinic hours or on days that have a large volume of clinic activity.

Work Environment: The work may be stressful due to the accelerated pace for several hours at a time during peak clinic hours or on days that have a large volume of clinic activity.

There is no substitution of education for experience at this grade level.

• 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 (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.

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.