Medical Support Assistant

This position provides administrative support services to Veterans residing in the Primary Service Area of the Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital. The Edward Hines Jr. VA is a 1A complex facility. "The 2-page Resume requirement does not apply to this occupational series. For more information, refer to Required Documents below."

Functions or Scope of Assigned Duties:

The MSA works collaboratively in an interdisciplinary coordinated care delivery model or other specialty care setting where the specialty care team model is used.

• Ancillary Services. Clinics that provide diagnostic studies and/or support services to assist in the provision of patient care. Areas of service include, but are not limited to, Blind and Vision Rehabilitation, Diagnostic Laboratory, Nutrition and Food Service, Prosthetics, Radiology (x-rays and imaging), Recreation and Creative Arts Therapists (music, art, dancing, and drama), Social Work (housing, discharge, planning, family support), and Speech/Language Pathology.
• Call Center. Centralized unit dedicated to multiple ancillary and interdisciplinary outpatient clinics that determine the need of the caller (i.e., scheduling, processing refill requests, reviewing CPRS, and routing clinical questions to appropriate clinical staff).
• Care in the Community (CitC). The local VA Community Care department is the 'clinic' that coordinates all patient services for Veterans outside the VA Healthcare System.
• Consult Management. Includes the basic review and scheduling of patient consult appointments and further review of a specific clinics consults, (i.e., care in the Community consults, primary care provider entered consults and specific clinic consult listings). This review includes identification of status issues, (i.e. scheduled but not linked; scheduled to past appointment; significant findings, etc.) and taking appropriate action to fix such issues or referring to lead/supervisor for further action.
• Direct Scheduling. Schedules routine appointments without a consult referral.
• Interdisciplinary Coordinated Care Delivery Models. Coordination of care across all elements of the broader health care system, which may include primary care, mental health, specialty care, Call Center, and community care services and support.
• Patient Aligned Care Team (PACT). Team of health care professionals that provides comprehensive primary care in partnership with the patient, and the patient's personal support person(s), and manages and coordinates health care services consistent with agreed upon goals of care.
• Patient Systems. Various software, hardware system products, and data portals used to transfer and capture information electronically used in the support of the daily operation of the unit. These systems include, but are not limited to: Veterans Integrated System Technology Architecture (VistA), Computerized Patient Record System (CPRS), Vetlink, VistA Scheduling Graphical User Interface (VS GUI), Insurance Capture Buffer (ICB), VHA Support Service Center (VSSC), Fee Basis Claim System (FBCS), Bed Management Systems (BMS), Compensation and Pension Record Interchange (CAPRI), Veterans Benefit Management System (VBMS), Strategic Analytics for Improvement and Learning (SAIL), Patient Centered Management Model (PCMM), Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS), Telecare Record Manager (TRM), Automated Call Delivery (ACD), Audio Care (AC), Business Intelligence Service Line (BISL), Scheduling Audit Tool (SAT), and Veterans Affairs Portal to view external medical records. Patient systems names may vary from institutions and change over time.
• Specialty Clinics. A variety of specialized medical, surgical, and mental health outpatient clinics. Services performed in the Specialty Care Clinics include, but are not limited to: Arthritis Clinic, Cardiology Clinic, Cardio-Thoracic Clinic, Chest/Pulmonary Clinic, Colorectal Clinic, Dermatology Clinic, Diabetes Education, Ears, Nose and Throat Clinic, Eye Clinic, Gastroenterology Clinic, General Surgery Clinic, Hand and Plastics Reconstruction Clinic, Liver Clinic, Metabolic/Endocrine Clinic, Neurology and Memory Disorder Clinic, Neurosurgery Clinic, Orthopedics Clinic, Podiatry Clinic, Proctology Clinic, Renal Clinic, Traumatic Brain Injury Clinic, Urology Clinic, and Vascular Clinic. Specialty clinic names may vary from institutions and change over time.
• Performs other directly related duties as assigned.

Work Schedule: Full Time, Monday - Friday, 6:30am - 5:00pm. May be required to work weekends. Tour of duty may vary based on the needs of the service.
Telework: Not Suitable
Virtual: This is not a virtual position
Functional Statement #: 10567F GS3, 10568F GS4, 10569F GS5.
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Basic Requirements:
Citizenship: Citizen of the United States.
English Language Proficiency: MSAs must be proficient in spoken and written English
Education: Must possess a High School Diploma, General Education Development equivalency certificate, or proficiency certificate from a State or territorial-level Board or Department of Education.

IN ADDITION TO MEETING THE BASIC REQUIREMENTS LISTED ABOVE, YOU MUST MEET THE FOLLOWING GRADE REQUIREMENTS TO QUALIFY FOR THIS POSITION.

GS-3 Grade Requirements:
Experience or Education. None beyond the basic requirements.

GS-4 Grade Requirements:
Experience or Education: Must have one of the following:
Experience: One year of creditable experience equivalent to the next lower grade.; OR
Education: One year of education above high school.

AND,
GS-4 Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs):
In addition to the experience or education above, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs:
(a) Knowledge of basic medical terminology to assist in the provision of care to patients.
(b) Skill in recording patient messages and understanding physician requests pertaining to follow-up medical care in internal or external clinics.
(c) Ability to meet, communicate, and interact with individuals from varying backgrounds and other health care team members in a courteous and helpful manner in order to facilitate medical care for patients.
(d) Ability to use, and navigate between, various types of office automation equipment and software (i.e., computer systems, webbased scheduling programs; insurance collection system; scanning software, multiple line phone systems; electronic faxing programs) to support patient care.

GS-5 Grade Requirements:
Experience or Education: Must have one of the following:
Experience: One year of creditable experience equivalent to the next lower grade; OR
Education: Two years of education above high school.

AND
GS-5 Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
In addition to the experience or education above, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs:
(a) Advanced knowledge of medical terminology specific to understand medical diagnosis and procedures sufficient to communicate clinical staff instructions to patients.
(b) Skill in customer service with the ability to identify customer concerns, and refer to the appropriate staff, as necessary, to ensure a satisfactory resolution.
(c) 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.
(d) Ability to schedule medical appointments in a clinical setting.
(e) Ability to work independently in the accomplishment of a wide variety of duties performing patient support work.
(f) Ability to communicate effectively and professionally in person, electronically, and/or by telephone, with internal and external customers.

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.

Physical Requirements: The work is primarily sedentary. Physical demands do not exceed those of a typical office setting. There may be some walking, standing twisting, turning, sitting, pushing, bending, repetitive keyboarding, or carrying of light items. Some positions may require sitting for long periods of time at a computer terminal typing data while talking on a telephone headset.

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: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html.