This position is located within the Surgical & Specialty Care ICC at the St. Cloud VA Health Care System and is the first administrative point-of-contact for Veterans, family, and other visitors contacting the St. Cloud VA. This position will provide advanced administrative support to clinical staff members and Veterans, in addition to overseeing the daily clerical functions of the Scheduling of all Surgical & Specialty Care areas.

Duties

Communication - Provides specialized and expert communication and appropriate information across service lines for seamless function of program and collaboration of care for Veterans. - Expertly develops and maintains effective and efficient communication with the Veterans, outside agencies, all VA staff and any customers. - Main point of contact for clinical, administrative and MSA staff - Participates in team meetings to help manage and plan Veteran care as needed. - Participate in and independently follow up on team huddles, sharing information and collaborating with the medical team assuring continuity of care. - Advanced skills in Composing and editing letters and reports. Advanced knowledge to access reports for clinic utilization (for scrubbing clinic schedules to ensure appropriate scheduling), Access databases, consults, tracking scheduling attempts and consult scheduling, and various other reports as they become available. This includes assisting with the development of letters used by their team or work area. - Advises MSA staff on how to handle problems and complaints as they arise, keeping the supervisor advised and obtaining assistance as needed. Administrative and Operational - Is the expert in the department for scheduled and unscheduled visits - Screens calls and determines if the call requires attention from a Registered Nurse, Licensed Practical Nurse, Provider, or other designated professional - Advanced knowledge of scheduling management software following appropriate National and local scheduling policies and directives. - Enters appropriate information into the Veterans electronic medical record - Assures appropriate forms and documents are presented, sent out, or completed by the Veterans. - Administrative independence and ability to independently set priorities and organize work to meet deadlines. - Ability to use various types of office automation equipment and software, computer systems, web-based programs, Insurance collection systems, scanning software, multiple line phone system, electronic faxing programs and any other software that supports patient care. - Advanced skill in recording patient messages and understanding physician requests pertaining to follow up medical care in internal or external clinics. - Makes calls to coordinate information and actions relating to Veteran care and/or services available. - Ability to multitask daily (i.e. changing priorities at a moment's notice in high stress situations) - Advanced knowledge in processing orders accurately, seeking clarification when needed. - Follows all National and local scheduling, Health Care System, and service line policies, procedures, and guidelines. - Specialized administrative judgement and flexible use of a wide range of clinical flow processing relating to access to care across multiple clinics, specialties and care in the community resources. - Coordinates with teams to review clinic appointment availability utilization to ensure clinic schedules are closely monitored to effectively support the needs of the clinics and recommend necessary adjustments. - Participate and providing input in problem solving on operational issues or procedures in team meetings. - Problem solve and follow up with patients care by sharing information and collaborating with the team. Participate in and independently following up on team huddles but sharing information and collaborating with the medical team to assure continuity of care. - Is Advanced in setting priorities and deadlines. - Advanced knowledge of medical terminology specific to understanding medical diagnosis and procedures enough to communicate with clinical staff instructions to patients. - Is the main on-the-job trainer to new employees and keeps the supervisor advised of progress in training. - Answer questions from other staff and obtain needed information/decisions from the supervisor on problems that come up. Work Schedule: 8am-4:30pm Telework: Ad-Hoc Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 00202-F Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

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. 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, Education. One year above high school; OR, Experience/Education Combination. Equivalent combination of experience and education are qualifying for entry level for which both education and experience are acceptable. Foreign Education. To be creditable, education completed outside the U.S. must have been submitted to a private organization that specializes in the interpretation of foreign educational credentials and such education must have been deemed at least equivalent to that gained in conventional U.S. programs. Physical Requirements. See VA Directive and Handbook 5019. English Language Proficiency. MSAs must be proficient in spoken and written English. 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: Medical Support Assistant (Advanced), GS-6 Experience. One year of experience equivalent to the GS-5 grade level. Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. Candidates must demonstrate all of the KSAs below: 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. Ability to independently set priorities and organize work to meet deadlines, ensuring compliance 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 in various formats and presenting data to various organizational levels, as well as resolving patient concerns. 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. 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. Advanced knowledge of medical terminology due to the technical nature of language utilized by clinicians. References: VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Appendix G45 The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-6. Physical Requirements: You will be asked to participate in a pre-employment examination or evaluation as part of the pre-employment process for this position. Questions about physical demands or environmental factors may be addressed at the time of evaluation or examination.

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 St Cloud VA Medical Center 4801 Veterans Drive St Cloud, MN 56303 US
• Name: Glenda Abfalter
• Phone: 3202556480 X5201
• Email: [email protected]