Overview
Medical Support Assistant (Advanced) Jobs in Iowa City, IA at U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Title: Medical Support Assistant (Advanced)
Company: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Location: Iowa City, IA
Summary
The Advanced Medical Support Assistant (AMSA) provides specialized administrative support to both Nutrition & Food Services (NFS) and Prosthetics and Sensory Aids Service (PSAS) – at the Iowa City VA Clinic. The AMSA supports the NFS and MOVE! (VA Weight Management Program) by coordinating appointments – monitoring consults – managing documentation – and facilitating communication among dietitians – providers – nurses – pharmacists – and caregivers.
Qualifications
Basic Requirements:
- a
- Citizenship
- Be a citizen of the United States (U.S.)
- Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens b
- Experience
- None
- c
- Education
- High school diploma – General Education Development equivalency certificate – or proficiency certificate from a State or territorial-level Board or Department of Education
- d
- Licensure/Certification/Registration
- None
- f
- Foreign Education
- To be creditable – education completed outside the U.S. must be deemed at least equivalent to that gained in a conventional U.S. program by a private organization specializing in the interpretation of foreign educational credentials
- g
- Physical Requirements
- See VA Directive and Handbook 5019 – Employee Occupational Health Service for requirements
- h
- English Language Proficiency
- Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with 38 U.S.C.
- 7403(f)
- Grade Determinations: Medical Support Assistant (Advanced) – GS-6 Experience
- One year of experience equivalent to the GS-5 grade level Examples of qualifying experience – include but are not limited to – independently performing a full range of duties related to the delivery of healthcare services in an inpatient or outpatient setting
- Advising clinical staff on current administrative processes
- Performing administrative support duties including answering phones – greeting patients – relaying messages to appropriate medical staff inside or outside of the unit – scheduling appointments – including interpreting and verifying provider orders in accordance with VHA national scheduling guidelines
- AND Knowledge – Skills – and Abilities (KSAs)
- In addition to the experience above – the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs: (a) 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
- (b) 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
- (c) Advanced knowledge of medical terminology due to the technical nature of language utilized by clinicians
- (d) 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
- (e) Ability to independently set priorities and organize work to meet deadlines – ensuring compliance with established processes – policies – and regulations
- (f) 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
- Reference: For more information on this qualification standard – please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/
- The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-6. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is GS-6.
Duties
- The primary duties of the Advanced Medical Support Assistant may include but are not limited to: Scheduling – cancelling – and re-scheduling patient appointments by managing appointment requests(including but not limited to Return-to-Clinic Orders (RTC) – Recall Reminders – Veteran's Appointment Requests (VAR) – Consults – and Patient initiated requests in accordance with scheduling business rules as outlined in VHA Directive 1230 – Outpatient Scheduling Management – and VHA Directive 1232 – Consult Management – utilizing scheduling programs as mandated by your supervisor
- Consult Management: Coordinate the scheduling/rescheduling of consults or forwarding of consults to community care using the various scheduling systems and tools
- Contacts the Veteran to discuss VA and community care options – gathering the Veteran's scheduling preferences and appropriately documenting all mandatory consult scheduling elements as outlined in VHA Directive 1232 – Consult Management
- Responsible for tracking consult progress from file entry date to the scheduled date or cancellation of the consult
- Documenting all patient related correspondences and outreach for scheduling in the electronic medical record
- Retrieves and responds to data generated from Audio Care system
- Conducts outbound phone calls in response to Veterans requests to reschedule cancelled appointments
- Distributes – receives – sorts – and delivers incoming and outgoing mail or other documents to the appropriate individuals
- Generates letters and appointment/group instructions to patients
- Work Schedule: Monday – Friday – 7:30am – 4:00pm Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not authorized Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not authorized Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases
- When setting pay – a higher step rate of the appropriate grade may be determined after consideration of higher or unique qualifications or special needs of the VA (Above Minimum Rate of the Grade)
- Paid Time Off: 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 military service experience
- Parental Leave: 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
- Child Care Subsidy: 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
- Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA Insurance: Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement) Telework: Not available Virtual: This is not a virtual position
- Functional Statement #: 000000 Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized
