Medical Support Assistant

Veterans Health Administration • Pocatello, ID

10d • Onsite

About The Position

The Medical Support Assistant (MSA) works in Health Administrative Services at the Pocatello Community Based Outpatient Clinic, part of the Salt Lake City VA Health Care System. The role supports greeting and customer-service functions and telephone operations in the main facility. At the GS-5 full-performance level, the MSA independently performs a broad range of administrative duties related to delivering healthcare services in an outpatient or inpatient setting, including patient support and appointment coordination.

Requirements

• U.S. citizenship, subject to the stated exception for non-citizens when qualified U.S. citizens cannot be recruited.
• Proficiency in spoken and written English.
• Six months of clerical, office, customer-service, or other administrative experience, or one year of education above high school, or an equivalent combination of education and experience for entry-level qualification.
• For the GS-5 grade: one year of experience equivalent to GS-4, or two years of education above high school.
• Demonstrated knowledge, skills, and abilities associated with current MSA responsibilities or an equivalent administrative patient-support role in a non-VA medical inpatient or outpatient setting.
• Ability to use computerized programs and systems to enter, modify, and retrieve sensitive medical and patient-identifying information in electronic health records, scheduling systems, and reports.
• Advanced knowledge of medical terminology sufficient to understand diagnoses and procedures and communicate clinical staff instructions to patients.
• Ability to schedule medical appointments in a clinical setting and work independently across a wide variety of patient-support duties.
• Ability to communicate effectively and professionally in person, electronically, and by telephone with internal and external customers.
• Customer-service skill, including identifying customer concerns and referring them to appropriate staff for resolution.
• Pass a background/security investigation and TB examination; participate in the VA seasonal influenza vaccination program.
• Complete required application steps and online assessment, and provide required education documentation when relying on education to qualify.
• Serve a one- or two-year trial period, subject to written certification for continued employment.
• Meet applicable pre-employment identification and onboarding requirements; males born after December 31, 1959 must meet Selective Service registration requirements.

Responsibilities

• Receive incoming telephone calls and route them to appropriate services; place and receive telephone calls.
• Greet Veterans and direct them to appointment locations.
• Check patients in and out of appointments.
• Schedule, cancel, and reschedule patient appointments and consults.
• 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 and appointment requests from electronic sources.
• Verify and update demographic and insurance information.
• Perform basic eligibility, copayment, and preauthorization requirements for specific coverage.
• Use personal-computer applications and VA applications, including VISTA, CPRS, VSE GUE, and other scheduling-related software.
• Create, edit, and mail correspondence that is not pre-prepared using templated forms.
• Enter no-show information, interpret and verify provider orders in accordance with VHA national scheduling guidelines, and participate in clinic huddles to identify daily needs.
• Relay messages to appropriate staff and record patient messages and physician requests related to follow-up care.
• Perform other assigned duties.

Benefits

• Competitive salary and regular salary increases; a higher step rate may be considered for higher or unique qualifications or VA special 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.
• Possible 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 requirements.
• Traditional federal pension, with five-year vesting, and federal 401(k) with up to 5% in VA contributions.
• 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