The Lead MSA serves as the link between clinical staff providing treatment on a day-to-day basis and the administrative staff processing patients. Areas of assigned responsibility require daily personal contact with a wide variety of individuals from all walks of life. The Lead MSA in this assignment plays an independent role coordinating and accomplishing the work unit.

Duties

The Lead Medical Support Assistant (Lead MSA) at VA Caribbean Healthcare System (VACHS) for the VA Community Care (VACC) Service, serves as the link between clinical staff providing treatment on a day to day basis and the administrative staff processing patients. The Lead MSA is responsible for the coordination of Advanced MSA assignments and workflow found in an interdisciplinary unit of the VACC Service. Major Duties, but are not limited to: Provides specialized and expert administrative patient support while working collaboratively in an interdisciplinary coordinated care delivery model at a specialty care setting where the patient aligned care team model (Behavioral Health Interdisciplinary Program). Supports the Outpatient Clinics of the Medical Center and can be pulled to work in any clinic, due to low staffing or assigned consults from any clinic, due to backlog. Coordinates and provides information to professional VA staff, patients and visitors related to direct medical care. Coordinates administrative functions related to emergency and non-emergency transfers to other VA facilities or private hospitals and determines appointment type based on the patient's eligibility. Receives and routs all veterans who report to the facilities for scheduled and unscheduled examinations and appointments. Coordinates patient's laboratory, radiology and other essential tests. Explains in detail to the veterans about their appointments ensuring they understand what they must do and where they must go to complete their work-up schedules and provides appointment dates. Assures that patients are electronically checked-in for their appointments and clinicians are notified. Confirms with patient that the demographic information is still accurate. Refers patients to the appropriate area for proper test performance before the scheduled appointment. Identifies health insurance for veterans seeking care. Assists in orienting and advising physicians, residents and interns on VA regulations, policies and procedures on patient care administrative matters. Provides orientation and information of changes in VA policies, directives, local procedures, and programs to clinical staff and house staff. Attends clinical staff meeting to help solve patient processing problems. Identities and summarizes problem areas and submits those findings in writing to Supervisory MSA along with recommended resolutions. Maintains the flow and quality of assigned workload, establishing priorities, and making daily adjustments to provide beneficiaries with expeditious and caring services. Ensures that data is entered accurate and timely to prevent error codes and loss of revenue due to inaccuracies. Ensures that the appointment management menu is completed and checked out without inconsistencies. Retrieves orders and schedule appointments for patient as ordered by clinical staff. Identifies potentially serious medical symptoms by observation and questioning of patients. Refers patients to the appropriate areas of medical care overseeing that a prompt evaluation is done and that all administrative procedures are completed. Schedules appointments in accordance to the time frame established in the physician's orders. Coordinates appointments is such a manner that the patient and service needs are met. Completes the process of each appointment scheduled daily by using the Scheduling Activity Package. Enters data related to each scheduled appointment including Check-in, service-connected related appointment, no-shows and others as required by the current scheduling packages and national and local procedures. Verifies encounter completion including check out, provider, diagnostic code, and CPT codes. Identifies veterans requiring new co-pay, Means Test and routing them appropriately upon arrival to the appropriate area for completion of the tests. Cancels and reschedules patients calling for changes of appointments. Gives general information about eligibility, medical service availability, and other related matters. Sets and manage priorities. Complies daily with tasks assigned (RTC's, encounters, consults, etc.) Searches into the CPRS system, the medical and administrative records for specific information needed such as diagnosis, health insurance coverage, service­ connected conditions to determine eligibility for outpatient care, prosthetics and other related services. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 7:30a-4:00pm Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

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. 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 3. 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 for GS-7: must have (1) one year of experience equivalent to the GS-6 grade level. Experience includes the ability to organize work, set priorities, and delegate tasks/responsibilities in order to meet deadlines; skill in communicating with individuals to obtain the desired effect, ensuring compliance with established policies and regulations; ability to provide staff development and training; ability to manage staffing requirements, manage priorities, and coordinate with staff in the unit in order to complete duties in an accurate and timely manner; this includes the ability to follow-up on pending issues and demonstrate an understanding of the impact of incomplete work and ability to review and monitor data to ensure all reports are complete and accurate. In addition, candidates must demonstrate all of the KSAs below: a. 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. b. Ability to utilize numerous advanced patient systems in support of multiple clinics in an interdisciplinary setting. c. Ability to organize work, set priorities, and delegate tasks/responsibilities in order to meet deadlines. d. Skill in communicating with individuals to obtain the desired effect and coordinating with a variety of interdisciplinary care team staff e. Ability to provide staff development and training. f. 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. *Note: Please ensure how you meet these KSAs is clearly described in your resume; we may not make assumptions regarding your experience. Selective Placement Factor: must be proficient written and spoken Spanish. Knowledge of MSA Practices: to be creditable, the experience must have demonstrated the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) associated with current MSA responsibilities or an equivalent administrative patient support role in a non-VA medical inpatient or outpatient setting. Experience satisfying this requirement may be paid/non-paid employment as an MSA or an equivalent position in a non-VA hospital or clinic setting. Quality of Experience: qualifying experience must be at a level comparable to MSA experience [or equivalent administrative clinical support role in a non-VA medical inpatient or outpatient setting] at the next lower grade level. For all assignments above the full performance level, the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, administrative independence, complexity (difficulty), and a range of varieties as described in this standard, at the specified grade level and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time.

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 San Juan VA Medical Center 10 Calle Casia San Juan, PR 00921 US
• Name: Janet Agront
• Phone: 813-503-8291
• Email: [email protected]