Lead Medical Support Assistant

Veterans Health Administration • Hines, IL

9d • Onsite

About The Position

This is a Lead Medical Support Assistant position for the Inpatient Wards. The incumbent may also be used as a float, assigned to support multiple clinical areas or may directly support the office of Patient Administrative Services / PAS Chief. Additional vacancies may be filled from this announcement as needed. The 2-page Resume requirement does not apply to this occupational series. For more information, refer to Required Documents below.

Requirements

• 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.
• You may be required to serve a probationary period.
• Subject to background/security investigation.
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process.
• Must pass pre-employment evaluation.
• 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 dentification 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).
• This position is a hybrid title 38 occupation reported among the occupations with the largest staffing shortages and, therefore, under 38 U.S.C. § 7412 waives the requirement to apply Veterans' preference to applicants for Fiscal Year 2026.
• Current, Permanent Federal Employees are asked to upload a copy of the most recent SF-50 (that is not for an award), indicating current Federal employment.
• Incumbent must possess knowledge of clinic processes and service in order to interact with various clinic staff members.
• This employee must have working understanding of national performance measures and monitors, particularly in relation to no-shows, appointment cancellations, new patient scheduling, consult management and management of returning patients.
• Maintains current knowledge of procedures, policies, guidelines, etc. to be able to answer questions or obtain needed information to make an informed decision.
• Incumbent complies with all mandatory requirements regarding the scheduling process in order to maintain scheduling access.
• Must have a High School Diploma, General Education Development equivalency certificate, or proficiency certificate from a State or territorial-level Board or Department of Education.
• Must have one year of creditable experience within the healthcare field that is directly related to the duties of a MSA and that equips you with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of this position.
• To be creditable, this experience must be equivalent to the next lower grade level, GS-6 and demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities associated with current MSA responsibilities.
• Work involves specialized administrative judgment and the flexible use of a wide range of clinical flow processes relating to access to care across multiple clinics, specialties, and/or care in the community resources.
• Recommending changes to existing clinic procedures based on current administrative guidelines.
• Expertise in utilizing numerous advanced patient systems in support of multiple clinics involved in an interdisciplinary coordinated care delivery model.
• Coordinating with the patient care team to review clinic appointment availability utilization to ensure that clinic schedules are closely monitored to effectively support the needs of the clinics and adjusting as necessary.
• Maintaining effective and efficient communication with the patient, interdisciplinary coordinated care delivery model teams, VA medical centers, and other agencies (e.g., assist with communications during the inpatient to outpatient discharge; communicate with non-VA medical facilities.
• Preparing correspondence to notify patients of normal lab results.
• Managing a system for follow-up care such as consults, tests, etc.).
• Processing incoming patient secure messaging through MyHealthyVet and coordinating with care team as appropriate.
• Participating in team huddles and team meetings to manage, plan, problem solve, and follow-up with patient care by sharing information and collaborating with the interdisciplinary team.
• Setting priorities and deadlines, adjusting the flow and sequencing of the work to meet team and patient needs.
• Identifying incomplete encounters and communicates findings to providers.
• Assisting the team to reinforce the plan of care and self-help solutions.
• Entering appropriate information into the electronic record.
• Monitoring pre-appointment information and/or requirements to assure readiness for patient visit/procedure.
• Managing patient systems to verify and validate accuracy and resolve issues.
• Evaluating patient information and clinic schedule lists to determine whether the patient requires an immediate appointment.
• Informing team members about shared patients.
• 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.

Nice To Haves

• The incumbent may also be used as a float, assigned to support multiple clinical areas or may directly support the office of Patient Administrative Services / PAS Chief.
• Additional vacancies may be filled from this announcement as needed.
• The 2-page Resume requirement does not apply to this occupational series.

Responsibilities

• Provides educational sessions to train new employees in Clerical process in an efficient and effective manner to ensure that clerical processes, functions, and goals are understood and met.
• Must have knowledge of VA policies, regulations, guidelines, and process as they relate to the scheduling of patient appointments, consults, NEAR, Electronic Wait Lists, and pre-appointment clinical requirements (i.e., labs, EKGs, x-rays) to ensure readiness for the patient visit.
• Monitors clinic's Access to care.
• Monitors ICB usage ensuring insurance is collected at time of appointments and captured appropriately by the incumbent and other scheduling staff.
• Must keep abreast of rapidly changing regulations, directives, software patches, programs, and processes involved in the delivery of the healthcare benefits package.
• Assist with the clean-up of the EARR (Encounter Action Required Report) and delinquent recall report; support clinics regarding utilization and clinic profile management i.e., set-up of clinic grids, cancel and restore clinics.
• Screens/receive phone calls in a courteous and timely manner, determine the nature of request and provide the information desired using privacy rules and established clinic processes.
• Prepares correspondence and memos as needed.
• Promotes Veteran registration for and utilization of My Healthy Vet (MHV).
• Stocks basic office supplies for the executive suite.
• Enters Veterans seeking emergent/urgent care, scheduling appointments accurately.
• Utilizes call lists and telephones Veterans to pre-register them before their scheduled visits.
• Incumbent updates all patient demographics.
• Communicates and interacts with patients in a manner which is appropriate to cognitive, emotional, and chronological maturation needs of the adult and/or geriatric patient.
• Assures that all appropriate VA forms are used correctly, and regulations followed.
• The incumbent oversees the status of work for all lower grade MSA positions working in the various clinical services making day-to-day adjustments in accordance with established priorities, obtaining assistance from the supervisor on problems that may arise, such as backlogs which cannot be disposed of promptly.
• Able to resolve workplace issues, simple informational complaints of employees, referring other to supervisor for resolution.
• Incumbent will conduct ongoing audits to ensure quality of work for accurate and timely scheduling of appointments.
• Recognizes and refers substandard performance or substandard behavior to supervisor as needed.
• Provides information and/or makes recommendations to supervisor on MSA performance, behavior.
• Identifies education and training needs of staff and evaluating scheduling practices.
• Makes recommendation for reassignments, recognition for outstanding performance and other personnel needs.
• Orienting and providing on the job training for new and current employees.
• As a front-line contact with patients and staff, in the scheduling role, the incumbent sets the tone for perception concerning quality of healthcare services at the VA and will show a high degree of tact and diplomacy when dealing with Veterans who have multiple health problems and who may be frustrated with the administrative process associated with diagnosis and treatment.
• The incumbent supports patient safety standards using appropriate standards of identification. validation i.e., two forms of identification, name, and full Social Security Number.
• The incumbent must ensure preregistration is completed and collects, scans, and updates health insurance information serving a major role in the revenue process.
• Will also possess superb telephone etiquette utilizing the standardized telephone greeting while ensuring other frontline staff is as well.
• This incumbent must have the ability to learn the technical competency in the use of BMS, Vista, VSE, CPRS, ICB Scanners, Vet-link, Kiosks, HIN, VAR and MHV.
• Must provide excellent customer service and have an advanced understanding of medical terminology, medical administrative practices, patient consult processes, patient scheduling procedures, medical record system, Privacy Act, HIPP A rules and the Freedom Act as they relate to the handling of confidential and sensitive patient information.
• Incumbent must be a proficient computer operator who is able to learn, understand, and monitor department specific software programs.
• Must also be knowledgeable in Microsoft Office programs such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook; proficient in gathering, analyzing, and reporting data as it relates to inpatient units and outpatient clinic operations.

Benefits

• A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package.
• As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding.
• Learn more about federal benefits .
• Review our benefits
• Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent.
• Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: High school or GED