Medical Support Assistant (Advanced)

Veterans Health Administration • Bonham, TX

2d • Onsite

About The Position

The Primary Purpose of the Position is: To perform administrative and clerical support work relating to the care and treatment given to patients of the inpatient units, outpatient clinics, ancillary support services, scheduling call center, Eligibility & Enrollment (E&E) Office, Beneficiary Travel Reimbursement office, and Compensation and Pension office at these facilities. The Organizational Location: Bonham Domiciliary, Mental Health Service, VA North Texas Health Care System (VANTHCS). The Advanced MSA provides specialized and expert administrative patient support while working collaboratively in an interdisciplinary coordinated care delivery model. 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. Recommends 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. Coordinates 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 makes adjustments as necessary. MSAs at this level develop and/or maintain 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; prepare correspondence to notify patients of normal lab results; manages a system for follow-up care such as consults, tests, etc.).

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.
• 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.
• 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 evaluation.
• 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.
• 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).
• English Language Proficiency. Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f).
• High school diploma, General Education Development equivalency certificate, or proficiency certificate from a State or territorial-level Board or Department of Education.
• One year of experience equivalent to the GS-5 grade level.
• 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.

Nice To Haves

• 4+ years of customer service experience in a team environment.
• 2+ years of computer proficiency-specifically with VISTA, BMS, CPRS, EXCEL and WORD.
• Create/monitor provider schedules, schedule/cancel appointments, accept/process consults, determine eligibility.
• 2+ years of data entry, data sort, data analysis, creating/maintaining spreadsheets, drafting official memos and other professional documentation.
• Demonstrated 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.
• Ability to independently set priorities, multitask and organize work to meet deadlines, ensuring compliance with established processes, policies, and regulations.

Responsibilities

• Processes incoming patient secure messaging through MyHealthyVet and coordinates with care team as appropriate.
• Participates 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.
• Identifies incomplete encounters and communicates findings to providers; as needed.
• Enters appropriate information into the electronic record.
• Monitors pre-appointment information and/or requirements to assure readiness for patient visit/procedure.
• Manages patient systems to verify and validate accuracy and resolve issues.
• Evaluates patient information and clinic schedule lists to determine whether the patient requires an immediate appointment.
• Informs team members about shared patients (i.e., those who receive their care at multiple VA centers or those who receive care in the community).
• Answers questions such as those dealing with the patient's eligibility for services, availability of appointments, procedures for obtaining an appointment, requests for appointments and/or appointment changes.
• Schedules, cancels, reschedules follow-up and/or consult appointments.
• Processes emergency and nonemergency transfers to other VA facilities or private hospitals.
• Enters information such as clinic appointment, no-show, clinic or patient cancellation data into the ISS, VSE or Vista information system(s) and software.
• Generates a variety of documents/reports for the clinic/section.
• Provides clinical staff with clinic availability profiles to improve and compliment Access.
• Informs patient about the benefits of My HealtheVet in-person authentication and direct patients to areas associated with the program to be registered.
• 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 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.).

Benefits

• Competitive salary and regular salary increases.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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 .
• Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA.
• Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement).

What This Job Offers

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