This position is for the Idaho Falls, ID. The primary duties of the Lead Medical Support Assistant (MSA) are to ensure the work assignments of the other employees of the team are carried out and to perform a variety of support functions in connection with the care and treatment given to patients in all specialty and primary care clinics within the VHA SLC Hospital and Outpatient Clinics.

Duties

The Lead MSA monitors and makes work assignments, provides input on performance, resolves daily workplace issues and maintains efficient workflow. Assignments at this level include, but are not limited to: assuring coverage of all areas of responsibility; conducting ongoing reviews to ensure quality of work; ensuring accurate and timely scheduling of appointments; providing workload; creating and maintaining employee work schedules; orienting and providing on-the-job training for new and current employees; ensuring all training requirements are met; organizing the work structure of his/her assigned areas; and acting as liaison between MSA and staff in order to resolve day to day conflicts. Distribute and balance the workload among employees in accordance with established workflow or job specialization, assure timely accomplishment of the assigned workload, and assure that each employee has enough work to keep busy. Check the status and progress of work and make day to day adjustments in accordance with established priorities, obtaining assistance from the supervisor on problems that may arise. Create and maintain consult, wait list, and recall reports for assigned areas to ensure that patients are scheduled in a timely manner. Assist with access measures by monitoring clinic openings and ensuring that all open appointment slots are filled. Assist with other access measures as assigned by the supervisor. Perform analysis to ensure proper distribution of workload. Estimate and report on expected time of completion of work and maintain records of work accomplishments and time expended and prepare reports as requested. Perform all assigned timekeeping and backup timekeeping duties and regularly run exception reports according to established guidelines and procedures. Resolve simple, informal complaints of employees and refer others to the supervisor. Report to the supervisor on behavior problems, performance, progress, and training needs of employees. Provide information to the supervisor, as requested, concerning promotions, reassignment, recognition of outstanding performance and personnel needs. Print out open encounters on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis for all clinical areas. Provide reports about open encounters to all supervisors and distribute encounters to staff for completion as directed. Perform clinical cancellations including cancelling Vista clinics, completion of all required paperwork and calling patients as necessary. Provide coverage in other clinic areas and the Centralized Scheduling Unit as needed. Rotate through different Clinical Business Support units to develop skills in all areas and to build relationships and rapport with all staff and supervisors. The Lead MSA performs a full range of duties. The Lead MSA is responsible for scheduling appointments, including interpreting, and verifying provider orders in accordance with VHA national scheduling guidelines. Assignments at this level include, but are not limited to: scheduling, canceling, re scheduling patient's appointments and/or consults; entering no information; monitoring the electronic wait list; preparing for clinic visits; monitoring both inpatient and outpatient appointments for areas of reasonability; ensuring encounter completion in order to obtain appropriate workload credit; verifying and updating demographics and non-emergency transfer to other clinics, other VA facilities or private hospitals; performing basic eligibility, co pays and preauthorization requirements for specific coverage (i.e. TRICARE, sharing agreements, etc.). The Lead MSA reviews patients' records and physicians' orders on a variety of records; and selects, completes, and routes requests for patient activities and treatment procedures. The Lead MSA counsel's patients, their families, and agency employees on entitlement of benefits. The Lead MSA is accountable for adherence to all organizational and departmental policies, directives, and standards pertaining to all job functions, especially the universal scheduling process, the use of electronic wait lists and the recall system, pre-registration updates, check in, check out, clinic "clean up" privacy laws, business office policies and insurance capture. All MSA's will actively assist the organization in meeting performance measures, collecting information that allows the organization to collect revenue and maintain all policies/procedures/operation manuals to meet Joint Commission (JC) and other VHA Quality Assurance (QA) standards. The MSA creates, copies, edits, stores, retrieves, and prints a variety of narrative and tabular material. The MSA is able to prepare documents using the proper format, create form letters, and perform grammar checks. Utilize VetLink software to check patients into appointments as applicable and serve as a navigator for Veterans requiring assistance.

Requirements

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
• You may be required to serve a probationary period.
• Subject to background/security investigation.
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process.
• Must pass a TB test.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).
• Participation in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination program is a requirement for all Veterans Health Administration Health Care Personnel (HCP) - See "Additional Information" below for details.
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English.

Qualifications

Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met. Basic Requirements: United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy. Experience and Education: (1) Experience - Six months experience of clerical, office, [customer service], or other [administrative] work that indicates the ability to acquire the particular knowledge and skills needed to perform the duties of the position; or (2) Education - One year above high school; or (3) Experience/Education - Equivalent combination of experience and education. English Language Proficiency. MSAs must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with VA Handbook 5005, part II, chapter 3, section A, paragraph 3j.May qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision as described in the VA Qualification Standard for this occupation (only applicable to current VHA employees who are in this occupation and meet the criteria). May qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision as described in the VA Qualification Standard for this occupation (only applicable to current VHA employees who are in this occupation and meet the criteria). Grade Determinations: Lead Medical Support Assistant, GS-07. In order to be found qualified for this position, you must possess the following: One year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level (GS-6). The required specialized experience for this position must include: Works collaboratively in an interdisciplinary coordinated care delivery model; Applies specialized administrative judgment and the flexible use of a wide range of clinical flow processes relating to access to care across multiple clinics, specialties, and/or care in the community resources; Recommends changes to existing clinic procedures based on current administrative guidelines; Expertise in utilizing numerous advanced patient systems in support of multiple clinics involved in an interdisciplinary coordinated care delivery model; Coordinates with the patient care team to review clinic appointment availability to ensure that clinic schedules are closely monitored to effectively support the needs of the clinics, and Develop and/or maintain effective and efficient communication with the patient, interdisciplinary coordinated care delivery model teams, VA medical centers, and other agencies Manage a system for follow-up care such as consults, tests, etc. Participates in team huddles and team meetings to manage, plan, problem solve, and follow-up with patient; Setting priorities and deadlines, adjusting the flow and sequencing of the work to meet team and patient needs; Monitors pre-appointment information and/or requirements to assure readiness for patient visit/procedure. Candidates must also demonstrate the following Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: 1. Advanced knowledge of medical terminology and a wide range of clinical flow processes relating to access to care across multiple clinics, specialties, and/or community resources. 2. Ability to utilize numerous advanced patient systems in support of multiple clinics in an interdisciplinary setting. 3. Ability to organize work, set priorities, and delegate tasks/responsibilities in order to meet deadlines. 4. Skill in communicating with individuals to obtain the desired effect [and coordinating with a variety of interdisciplinary care team staff] 5. Ability to provide staff development and training. 6. Ability to manage staffing requirements, manage workflow priorities, and adjust the flow of work to meet team and patient needs. This includes the ability to follow-up on pending issues and demonstrate an understanding of the impact of incomplete work across multiple clinics. GS-07 Lead Medical Support Assistant Assignment: The Lead MSA [is responsible for the coordination of Advanced MSA assignments and workflow found in an interdisciplinary unit. The Lead MSA is responsible for daily workload assessments, assigning work, and assuring proper staffing coverage; evaluating training records; and determining training needs of MSAs to provide support across interdisciplinary settings. The Lead assists the unit with complex and non-standard procedures, including clinical flow processes related to access to care across multiple clinics, specialties, and/or community resources. Assignments at this level include but are not limited to: ensuring accurate and timely scheduling of appointments; providing guidance to staff members, to include changes in policies and procedures; creating and maintaining employee work schedules; and acting as a liaison among Advanced MSA staff, patients, and other interdisciplinary staff to resolve day-to-day conflicts.] For all assignments above the full performance level, the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, administrative independence, complexity (difficulty) and range of variety as described in this standard at the specified grade level and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time. References: VA Handbook 5005/117, PART II, APPENDIX G45 The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-07. Physical Requirements: The work is mostly sedentary and requires incumbent to utilize a personal computer resulting in a large amount of keyboarding/data entry. Faxing clinical documentation to the outside providers/vendors at their request during the scheduling/approving process for Fee Basis care. Additionally, lifting and carrying items such as medical records, paperwork, folders and will be required to do tasks that require some fine manipulation skills/abilities. May be required to work many hours at a computer terminal.

Education

IMPORTANT: A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.

Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html.

Contacts

• Address VA SALT LAKE CITY HCS 500 Foothill Drive Salt Lake City, UT 84148 US
• Name: Eddie Woods
• Phone: 317-988-0086
• Email: [email protected]