Qualifications

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:

• 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)
• *Experience
• No experience required
• *Education
• High school diploma, General Education Development equivalency certificate, or proficiency certificate from a State or territorial-level Board or Department of Education
• Licensure/Certification/Registration
• None Physical Requirements
• See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Service for requirements
• See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Service for requirements
• English Language Proficiency
• Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with 38 U.S.C. 7403(f)
• Grade Determinations: In addition to the basic requirements, you must meet the specialized experience for the grade
• Advanced Medical Support Assistant, GS-6 Experience
• One year of experience equivalent to the GS-5 grade level
• Experience includes, but is not limited to: answering phones, greeting patients, relaying messages to appropriate staff inside or outside of the unit
• scheduling, canceling, re-scheduling patient appointments and/or consults, including interpreting and verifying provider orders in accordance with VHA national scheduling guidelines
• 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
• 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 VA facilities or private hospitals and determines appointment type based on the patient's eligibility status (i.e., TRICARE, sharing agreements, collaterals, research patient, VA employee, etc.)
• AND Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
• Candidates must demonstrate all of the KSAs below: 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
• 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
• 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).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.