Medical Support Assistant

Veterans Health Administration • Pocatello, ID

12d • Onsite

About The Position

The Medical Support Assistant (MSA) works in Health Administration Service at the Pocatello Community Based Outpatient Clinic, part of the Salt Lake City VA Health Care System. The role supports customer service, greeting, and telephone operations in the main facility. The full performance level is GS-5, and applicants may be selected at GS-3 through GS-5. The MSA independently performs administrative patient-support duties in an inpatient or outpatient setting, including answering phones, greeting patients, relaying messages, scheduling appointments, and interpreting and verifying provider orders in accordance with VHA national scheduling guidelines. The position is full-time, with a stated schedule of 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; telework is ad hoc. This is not a virtual position.

Requirements

• U.S. citizenship is required, with a stated exception when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens.
• High school diploma, GED equivalency certificate, or qualifying state or territorial proficiency certificate.
• Proficiency in spoken and written English.
• Pass a TB examination and participate in the seasonal influenza vaccination program.
• For GS-4: one year of creditable experience equivalent to the next lower grade, or one year of education above high school, plus the specified knowledge, skills, and abilities.
• For GS-5: one year of creditable experience equivalent to the next lower grade, or two years of education above high school, plus the specified knowledge, skills, and abilities.
• GS-4 KSAs include basic medical terminology; recording patient messages and understanding physician follow-up requests; courteous communication with people from varying backgrounds and health care team members; and navigating office automation equipment and software.
• GS-5 KSAs include advanced medical terminology; customer-service skills to identify concerns and refer them appropriately; ability to use computerized systems to enter, modify, and retrieve sensitive medical and patient-identifying information; ability to schedule clinical appointments; ability to work independently across varied patient-support duties; and professional communication in person, electronically, and by telephone.
• Submit transcripts when relying on post-high-school education to qualify; selected applicants must provide acceptable verification of high school education or equivalent if it is not covered by the grandfathering provision.
• Complete the application, questionnaire, online assessment, required application documents, and online onboarding process.
• Undergo a background/security investigation and serve a one- or two-year trial period.

Responsibilities

• Receive incoming telephone calls and route them to appropriate services.
• Greet Veterans and direct them to appointment locations.
• Check patients in and out of appointments.
• Schedule, cancel, and reschedule patient appointments and consults.
• Receive and place telephone calls; scan documents and send faxes.
• Resolve simple to moderate problems and refer customer concerns to appropriate staff as needed.
• Monitor appointments for areas of responsibility.
• Verify and update demographic and insurance information.
• Perform basic eligibility, co-payment, and preauthorization checks for specific coverage.
• Use personal computer applications and VA-specific applications, including VISTA, CPRS, VSE GUE, and other scheduling software.
• Create, edit, and mail correspondence that is not pre-prepared using templates.
• Relay messages to appropriate staff and interpret and verify provider orders in accordance with VHA national scheduling guidelines.
• Advise clinical staff on current administrative processes.
• Perform other assigned duties.

Benefits

• Competitive salary and regular salary increases; a higher step rate may be considered based on higher or unique qualifications or VA needs.
• 37–50 days of annual paid time off per year, including 13–26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, and 11 paid federal holidays.
• Eligible employees may receive credit toward annual leave accrual based on prior work or military service experience.
• Up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave after 12 months of employment, in connection with birth, adoption, or foster-care placement of a child.
• Eligible full-time employees may qualify for a childcare subsidy after 60 days of employment, subject to family-income and other eligibility limits.
• Traditional federal pension, with five-year vesting, and federal 401(k) with up to 5% in contributions by VA.
• Federal health, vision, dental, term life, and long-term care insurance; many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement.

What This Job Offers

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