Medical Support Assistant

Veterans Health Administration • Temple, TX

12d • Onsite

About The Position

This position is in the Care in the Community Service at the VA Central Texas Health Care System in Temple, Texas. The Medical Support Assistant responds to concerns from employees, patients, and vendors and helps resolve process problems. The role requires judgment, the ability to work independently with frequent supervision, and the ability to follow priorities and deadlines while adjusting workflow to meet team and patient needs. The full performance level is GS-05; selection may be at GS-03 through GS-05.

The MSA supports Veterans receiving care in the community by handling calls and faxes, processing and coordinating consults and appointments, documenting communications, and working with VA staff, contractors, Veterans, families, and community providers. The position also contributes to continuity-of-care discussions and process improvement, helps peers troubleshoot systems, and maintains current knowledge of applicable processes and procedures.

The work is sedentary, with occasional movement between offices and other areas for work or meetings. It may involve walking and standing while attending meetings or conferences away from the work site and carrying or lifting items weighing less than 15 pounds. The work schedule is Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Requirements

• High school diploma, GED equivalency certificate, or state or territorial proficiency certificate.
• Proficiency in spoken and written English.
• U.S. citizenship is generally required; non-citizens may be appointed only when qualified U.S. citizens cannot be recruited under VA policy.
• No experience is required for the basic requirements. Grade-specific qualifications may require qualifying experience or education: GS-4 requires one year of experience equivalent to GS-3 or one year of postsecondary education; GS-5 requires one year of experience equivalent to GS-4 or two years of postsecondary education.
• For GS-4, demonstrate basic medical terminology knowledge; skill in recording patient messages and understanding physician requests about follow-up care; courteous communication with people from varied backgrounds and health care team members; and ability to use office automation equipment and software supporting patient care.
• For GS-5, demonstrate advanced medical terminology knowledge; customer-service skill in identifying concerns and referring them appropriately; ability to enter, modify, and retrieve sensitive patient information in electronic records and scheduling systems; ability to schedule clinical appointments; ability to work independently on varied patient-support duties; and professional communication with internal and external customers in person, electronically, or by telephone.
• Meet applicable background and security investigation requirements and pass a pre-employment physical evaluation or examination.
• Selected applicants are subject to urinalysis for illegal drug use before appointment and must participate in the seasonal influenza vaccination program.
• Complete the required online onboarding and application documentation; provide acceptable identification for pre-employment requirements.
• Male applicants born after December 31, 1959, must meet Selective Service registration requirements.
• Serve a one- or two-year trial period, subject to written certification for continued employment.

Nice To Haves

• Ability to work independently while setting priorities, coordinating care tasks, and organizing workflow.
• Tactful and effective oral and written communication, including preparing reports in different formats and presenting data to teams.
• Ability to gather and trend data to assess efficiency of internal Team/Pod processes.
• Ability to use computer programs and databases to enter, modify, and retrieve sensitive information from electronic medical records, scheduling systems, and reports; Excel is particularly important.
• Ability to use reference sources, judgment, and teamwork to collaborate and resolve problems in a complex systems environment.
• Ability to identify customer concerns, resolve them accurately and promptly, and follow up to ensure satisfactory resolution.

Responsibilities

• Answer calls through the Automated Call Distribution system from Veterans, family members, community providers, and VA staff, providing customer service.
• Call Veterans to determine whether they opt in or out of community care.
• Contact Veterans, community vendors, and facilities to verify attendance at scheduled appointments, answer questions, and resolve basic issues.
• Document phone calls in CPRS according to established guidelines.
• Process faxes promptly and perform appropriate Enterprise Precision Scanning & Indexing actions according to the established standard of work.
• Action community care consults, schedule appointments, resolve issues, and support patient and vendor satisfaction.
• Build collaborative relationships with VA providers and staff and with contractor staff to communicate and resolve issues related to community care requests.
• Participate in meetings to identify and resolve issues affecting continuity of care for patients receiving community care.
• Identify process-improvement opportunities and participate in service- or facility-level improvement activities and teams.
• Use VISTA, Microsoft Office, CPRS, HSRM, and other computer equipment, software, and systems; troubleshoot minor problems and assist peers with system or software issues.
• Research and complete training to remain current on community-care processes and procedures, maintain technical knowledge, and serve as a resource in the assigned area.
• Participate in scheduling training events.
• Serve as a resource and advocate for protecting the rights of Veterans, families, and staff.
• Follow medical-record management guidelines, including those concerning release of information.
• Keep community-care RNs, LVNs, and the supervisor informed of patient-care issues and family concerns.
• Identify ways to resolve problems and needs and facilitate desired outcomes.
• Perform other duties as assigned to accomplish the program or service mission.

Benefits

• Competitive salary and regular salary increases.
• 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, subject to approval.
• Up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave after 12 months of employment for 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) contributions of up to 5%.
• Federal health, vision, dental, term life, and long-term care insurance; many federal insurance programs may be carried into retirement.

What This Job Offers

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