Medical Support Assistant

Incumbent serves as a Medical Support Assistant in the Patient Support Section of Health Administration Service in Lexington, Kentucky. This assignment is at a two-divisional teaching hospital affiliated with the University of Kentucky (UK) Medical Center at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center, Lexington, KY. Incumbent will be assigned to the Cooper or Leestown Division.

Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional

Duties include but are not limited to:

• Answer phones, greeting patients, relaying messages to appropriate staff inside or outside of the unit, scheduling appointments, including interpreting and verifying provider orders in accordance with VHA national scheduling guidelines
• Schedule, cancel, re-schedule patient appointments and/or consults
• Enter no-show information and monitor appointment requests from multiple electronic sources
• Participate in huddles with other MSAs and/or clinic staff to determine the daily needs of the clinic
• Monitor both inpatient and outpatient appointments in areas of responsibility
• Verify and update demographics and insurance information when patients check-in for appointments
• Coordinate administrative functions relating to emergency and non-emergency transfers to other VA facilities or private hospitals and determines appointment t-type based on the patient's eligibility status (i.e., TRICARE, sharing agreements, collaterals, research patient, VA employee, etc.)
• Serve as an initial point of contact for the units, clinics, patient, call centers, CitC, to include, but not limited to, scheduling patient appointments, tracking, reviewing, and responding to electronic orders, consults, and other elements in the electronic medical record and medical systems
• Utilize practical knowledge of computerized data entry, information processing systems and software related to patient care, the healthcare system's organization and services, basic rules and regulations governing visitors and patient treatment
• Apply, knowledge of standard procedures, utilizing medical records, and medical terminology

Work Schedule: Various shifts to include days, evenings, nights, weekends, and holidays. Schedule will be assigned upon selection.
Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not authorized
Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not authorized
Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases
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 [work experience] or 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 #: 67942A
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

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:

• Citizenship. Be a citizen of the United States (U.S.). Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens according to 38 U.S.C. § 7407(a).
• Experience. None.
• Education. High school diploma, General Education Development equivalency certificate, or proficiency certificate from a State or territorial-level Board or Department of Education.
• Licensure/Certification/Registration. None.
• 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.
• Physical Requirements. See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Service for requirements.
• English Language Proficiency. Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f).

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: GS-5 Medical Support Assistant (Full Performance Level)

To qualify at this level, candidates must have: One year of experience equivalent to the GS-4 grade level. Examples of credible experience at this level include, but are not limited to: scheduling and rescheduling patients for treatment; interviewing patients for appointments; referring patients to other medical specialty clinics; providing information to patients necessary to resolve policy complaints; interacting with both internal and external customers; reviewing and documenting medical outpatient and inpatient electronic health records, as well as administrative records; verifying third party insurance and updating information in we-based applications to collect and verify insurance data; obtaining medical information from patients; coordinating information and actions related to patient care and services; and scheduling appointments in accordance with national scheduling guidelines. OR

Education: Two years of education above high school

In addition to the experience or education above, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs:

1. Advanced knowledge of medical terminology specific to understand medical diagnosis and procedures sufficient to communicate clinical staff instructions to patients.
2. Skill in customer service with the ability to identify customer concerns, and refer to the appropriate staff, as necessary, to ensure a satisfactory resolution.
3. Ability to operate computerized programs and systems in order to enter, modify, and retrieve sensitive medical and patient identifying information (PII) into or from electronic health records, scheduling systems, and/or reports.
4. Ability to schedule medical appointments in a clinical setting.
5. Ability to work independently in the accomplishment of a wide variety of duties performing patient support work.
6. Ability to communicate effectively and professionally in person, electronically, and/or by telephone, with internal and external customers.

Note: You must provide detailed information of your experience performed. Information such as "I was a Medical Support Assistant" is insufficient to determine your qualifications. Experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month and year start/end dates AND hour worked per week.

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-05. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is GS-05.

Physical Requirements: The work is mainly sedentary but requires some bending, walking, standing and the carrying of such things as patient records, supplies and inter-office mail. See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Service for requirements.

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

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English.
• Subject to background/security investigation.
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).
• Complete all application requirements detailed in the "Required Documents" section of this announcement.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1 or 2-year trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:

• your performance and conduct;
• the needs and interests of the agency;
• whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
• whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Upon completion of your trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.