This position of Lead Medical Support Assistant (MSA) is for Outpatient Clinical Support in Medical Service at the VA Boston Healthcare System. The duty station is West Roxbury, MA but coverage to the Boston and Brockton Campuses may be necessary for patient care.

Duties

The Lead MSA's working knowledge of various policies and procedures relating to the business rules regarding scheduling, clinical access, and the proper flow of work within the team contributes significantly to the daily business activities. The Lead MSA performs a variety of administrative functions associated with the scheduling of patient care for the clinical programs at the VA Boston Healthcare System. Duties include but are not limited to: Ensures readiness for the patient visits through scheduling appointments and consults. Monitors clinics' access to care Monitors Insurance Capture Buffer (ICB) usage, ensuring insurance is collected at the time of appointments. Keep aware of rapidly changing regulations, directives, software patches, programs and processes involved in the delivery of the healthcare benefits package. Assist with the clean-up of the Encounter Action Required Report (EARR) and delinquent recall report and support clinics regarding utilization and clinic profile management. Receives and screens phone calls. Prepares correspondence and memos as needed. Promotes veteran registration for and utilization of MyHealtheVet (MHV). Stocks basic office supplies as needed. Assists veterans seeking emergent/urgent care and schedules appointments accurately. Utilizes call lists and telephones veterans to pre-register them before their visits when necessary. Oversee the status of work for all lower grade MSA positions working in the various clinical services. Make day-to-day adjustments in accordance with established priorities. Provides on-the-job training for new and current employees. Assist Supervisor MSA and leadership on taskings as needed. Assists with all other duties as assigned by Supervisor MSA Work Schedule: Full Time, Monday - Friday 8:30am - 5pm Telework: Not Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 523-F1117 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized NOTIFICATIONS: This position is a NAGE bargaining unit position. Position is in the excepted service. Will be required to travel to other campuses within VA Boston Healthcare System as needed. Current and former federal employees must submit copies of their most recent non-award SF50 (notice of personnel action). The SF50 must identify the position, title, series, grad, step, tenure and type of service (competitive or excepted). In some cases, more than one SF50 may be required to show a higher grade previously held.

Requirements

Qualifications

Applicants must be fully qualified by the closing date of this announcement. 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 Requirement: Per VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Chapter 3, Section A, Paragraph 3j: No person will be appointed under authority of 38 U.S.C., chapter 73 or 74, to serve in a direct patient-care capacity in VHA who is not proficient in written and spoken English. Six months experience of clerical, office, customer service, or other administrative work that indicates the ability to acquire the knowledge and skills needs to perform the duties of the position; OR One year above high school; OR Equivalent combinations of experience and education are qualifying for entry level for which both education and experience are acceptable. (Transcripts required if using education to qualify). Grade Determinations: For the GS-7 Lead Medical Support Assistant Experience: One (1) year of experience equivalent to at least the GS-6 grade level is required. In addition to the experience listed candidates must also demonstrate the following Knowledge, Skills and abilities (KSAs): 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. Ability to utilize numerous advanced patient systems in support of multiple clinics in an interdisciplinary setting. Ability to organize work, set priorities, and delegate tasks/responsibilities in order to meet deadlines. iv. Skill in communicating with individuals to obtain the desired effect [and coordinating with a variety of interdisciplinary care team staff. Ability to provide staff development and training. 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. In addition, candidates should be able to demonstrate the KSAs of the lower graded MSA: Ability to operate computerized programs and systems to enter, modify, and retrieve sensitive information into or from electronic records, scheduling systems, and/or reports. Advanced knowledge of medical terminology specific to understand medical diagnosis and procedures sufficient to communicate clinical staff instructions to patients. Ability to schedule medical appointments in a clinical setting. Ability to work independently in the accomplishment of a wide variety of duties performing patient support work. Ability to communicate effectively and professionally in person, electronically, and/or by telephone, with internal and external customers. Skill in customer service with the ability to identify customer concerns, and refer to the appropriate staff, as necessary, to ensure a satisfactory resolution. 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. 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. 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-7. Physical Requirements: Incumbent must work in a multi-screen computer environment and be able to navigate easily between various VA programs (e.g., VistA, CPRS, VSE). Work is mostly sedentary but may require some standing, walking, bending, twisting and stair climbing.

Education

There is not educational substitution for this occupation/grade combination.

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: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

Contacts

• Address VA Boston Healthcare System 940 Belmont Street Brockton, MA 02301 US
• Name: Marianne Coutinho
• Phone: 774-826-4812
• Email: [email protected]