Supervisory Medical Support Assistant

The Supervisory Medical Support Assistant functions as an administrative expert and is responsible and accountable for all elements of the Community Care process when providing or supervising administrative staff. The primary purpose of this position is to provide overall operational and administrative support to the Chief and or Assistant Chief of Community Care.

Major duties include, but are not limited to:

• Demonstrate leadership skills and understand processes and procedures related to assignment; collaborates and works well with others.
• Demonstrates knowledge and supports compliance with regulatory and accreditation standards, Directive, policies, and standard operating procedures (SOP).
• Leads professional development and motivation for employees to work at optimal efficiency.
• Provide management of the department daily. Collaborates with other healthcare professionals in coordinating care and seeks assistance when needed.
• Ensure department is staffed appropriately based on staffing guidelines.
• Promote performance-based improvement activities and sharing information with staff to enhance the quality of patient care provided and consult management.
• Collecting and preparing information for required reports in a timely manner including performance improvement reports, certified time, Issue Briefs, Heads Up Messages, Action Items, and other workload and consult management data requested.
• Plan and coordinate the orientation and training of all new employees as required by hospital and departmental policy. Provide continuous on the job training, cross training and required annual training of all employees under his/her supervision. Facilitates staff education and development.
• Actively participate in interdisciplinary team huddles, workgroups, and performance improvement meetings.
• Conducting regularly scheduled unit staff meetings encourages open communication and verbalization of options when identifying problems on the Unit.
• Collaborate with Employee Relations/Labor Relations for seamless communication between management and employees and work to effectively resolve conflicts that arise in the workplace. Consistently counseling and/or providing constructive feedback to staff members as indicated by performance or conduct; documents according to prescribed procedures; and maintains an objective relationship with the staff.
• Works in partnership with the union and adheres to EEO principles.
• Create daily assignments according to departmental metrics and departmental workflow.
• Monitor workflow activities to ensure performance standards are achieved (i.e., weekly (biweekly) productivity reviews).
• Quality Performance: completing quality assurance audits on consults and any assigned tasks.
• Complete Performance Standards within facility assigned deadlines.
• Consult Management to include processing consults appropriately.
• Complete and discuss quarterly time and attendance reviews.
• Complete and adhere to necessary annual VHA training requirements (i.e., TMS, etc.).

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00AM-4:30PM
Compressed/Flexible:
Telework: Ad-hoc.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 59998F
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized.
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:

• 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: Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f).
• Education: High school diploma, General Education Development equivalency certificate, or proficiency certificate from a State or territorial-level Board or Department of Education.

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). Grandfathering Provision. Employees in VHA in this occupation, under a permanent, appropriate, and legal placement on the effective date of the qualification standard, are considered to have met all qualification requirements for the grade and/or assignment held, including positive education and registration/certification where applicable. For employees who do not meet all the basic or assignment-specific requirements in this standard but met the qualifications applicable to the position at the time they were appointed, the following provisions apply: (1) Employees who are appointed on a temporary basis prior to the effective date of the qualification standard may not have their temporary appointment extended or be reappointed on a temporary or permanent basis until they fully meet the basic requirements of the standard. (2) Employees retained in this occupation under this provision who subsequently leave the occupation lose protected status and must meet the full VA qualification standard requirements in effect at the time of re-entry to the occupation. NOTE: This provision is not intended to regularize appointments/ placements.

Grade Determinations: Supervisory Medical Support Assistant, GS-08.
Experience. One year of creditable experience equivalent to the next lower grade (GS-07) leading or supervising MSAs or equivalent administrative patient support staff in a non-VA medical inpatient, outpatient, or interdisciplinary setting. Examples of creditable experience include but are not limited to: 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 interdisciplinary settings; 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.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs). In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs:
(a) Advanced knowledge of managing or leading patient support staff in a clinic. This includes independently utilizing reference sources, decision making, and empowering the team to collaborate and resolve problems within a complex systems environment.
(b) Ability to provide the full range of administrative and supervisory duties to at least one subordinate MSA supervisor or team leader in a patient support setting which includes assignment of work, performance evaluations, selection of staff, and recommendation of awards and/or advancements
(c) Ability to collaborate, communicate, and demonstrate customer service and interpersonal skills with internal and external customers to ensure quality/continuity of care and ensure compliance with established policies and regulations.
(d) Ability to provide briefings, orientations, staff development, and training in a patient support setting.
(e) Ability to manage fiscal matters, forecast resource and equipment needs, and identify budget needs.

Preferred Experience: Experience in Community Care scheduling, referral, and authorization workflows. Prior experience supervising staff to include experience in workload management, performance monitoring, performance appraisals. Demonstrated capability to compile analyze reports that evaluate workflow barriers, performance data, and implement effective process improvement strategies. Demonstrated skills in training and orienting staff in scheduling accuracy, timeliness standards, and compliance requirements. Excellent communication and customer service skills in a healthcare or administrative environment. Strong knowledge of VHA Scheduling Directive and Veteran Community Care consult management procedures. Proficient with VA systems such as VistA, CPRS, Healthshare Referral Management (HSRM), VEText, Automatic Call Distribution Line (ACD).

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-05. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is the GS-8.

Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019.

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.

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.
• 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.
• 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.