Medical Support Assistant (Advanced)

Veterans Health Administration • Anderson, SC

10d • Onsite

About The Position

The Advanced Medical Support Assistant (AMSA) is an administrative foundational role in outpatient areas throughout the facility, including call centers, primary care, operator suites, medicine, surgery, mental health, radiology, audiology, dental, spinal cord, rehabilitation, nutrition, community-based outpatient clinics, and other non-Primary Care areas. The role facilitates health care needs, coordinates with team members, and responds to Veterans and families with instructions, appointments, or actions to be taken. The AMSA works collaboratively in an interdisciplinary coordinated care delivery model, maintaining effective communication with patients, care teams, VA medical centers, and other agencies. The position sets priorities and deadlines, adjusts the flow and sequencing of work to meet team and patient needs, reinforces plans of care and self-help solutions, enters appropriate information into electronic records, and monitors pre-appointment requirements to ensure readiness for visits or procedures.

At the GS-6 level, the AMSA provides specialized administrative patient support involving judgment and flexible use of clinical flow processes across multiple clinics, specialties, and/or community-care resources. The role helps manage clinic appointment availability and schedules, communicates and coordinates follow-up care, supports team huddles and meetings, processes incoming patient secure messages through My HealtheVet, identifies incomplete encounters, validates patient-system information, and helps determine whether patients need immediate appointments. The position is permanent, is not virtual, and does not offer telework. Work schedules vary and are determined upon selection; rotating weekends and holidays may be required.

Requirements

• U.S. citizenship is required, subject to the stated VA exception for non-citizens when qualified citizens cannot be recruited.
• High school diploma, GED, or state- or territorial-level proficiency certificate.
• Proficiency in spoken and written English.
• For GS-6 grade determination, one year of experience equivalent to GS-5 is required.
• Ability to collaborate and communicate with medical clinicians across multiple disciplines to support team goals and patient care.
• Ability to independently set priorities and organize work to meet deadlines while complying 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, presenting data, and resolving patient concerns.
• Advanced knowledge of health care processes related to access to care, including interdisciplinary scheduling and/or community-care models and patient health care portals.
• Advanced knowledge of policies and procedures affecting patient flow and administrative patient-support functions, including appointment cycles, outside referrals, follow-up care, overbooking, and provider availability.
• Advanced knowledge of medical terminology.
• Must pass a pre-employment physical evaluation and background/security investigation.
• Must participate in the VA seasonal influenza vaccination program.
• Must complete required application and onboarding documentation and serve a one- or two-year trial period.
• May be required to work rotating weekends and holidays.

Responsibilities

• Facilitate Veterans’ health care needs and respond to Veterans or family members with instructions, appointments, or actions to be taken.
• Collaborate with interdisciplinary care teams, VA medical centers, patients, and other agencies to maintain effective communication and coordinate care.
• Set priorities and deadlines, organize work, and adjust work flow and sequencing to meet team and patient needs.
• Review clinic appointment availability and monitor schedules, making adjustments as necessary to support clinic needs.
• Process incoming patient secure messages through My HealtheVet and coordinate with the care team as appropriate.
• Participate in team huddles and meetings to manage, plan, problem-solve, and follow up on patient care.
• Reinforce plans of care and self-help solutions with patients in coordination with the team.
• Enter appropriate information into the electronic record and identify incomplete encounters for communication to providers as needed.
• Monitor pre-appointment information and requirements to ensure readiness for patient visits and procedures.
• Manage patient systems to verify and validate accuracy and resolve issues.
• Evaluate patient information and clinic schedule lists to determine whether a patient requires an immediate appointment.
• Communicate information about shared patients, including patients receiving care at multiple VA centers or in the community.
• Support communications related to inpatient-to-outpatient discharge, non-VA medical facilities, normal lab-result notifications, and follow-up care such as consults and tests.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

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, comprising 13–26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, and 11 paid federal holidays.
• Potential credit toward annual leave accrual based on prior work or military service, subject to request and approval.
• Up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave after 12 months of employment in connection with birth, adoption, or foster-care placement.
• Eligible full-time employees may qualify for a child-care 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 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: Mid Level
• Education Level: High school or GED