Advanced Medical Support Assistant-Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Service/Audiology Service
What you'd do
The incumbent serves as an Advanced Medical Support Assistant (AMSA) in Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Service (PM&RS) & Audiology Service at the WTVAHCS. The incumbent's work impacts the administrative aspect of patient care, to include access, scheduling/coordinating appointments using advanced clinic access principles, collecting and updating demographic and insurance information, consult scheduling, patient processing and customer service.
Major duties
Incumbent is responsible for assuring that various aspects of training, compliance, reporting, and quality assurance are met. These activities directly affect the revenue cycle, patient access to care, hospital performance goals and objectives, as well as VHA public image. The incumbent plays an integral role in identifying and developing ways to resolve problems with the administrative and clinical staff on access, customer service, patient flow, revenue, and data validation issues. Their work also impacts processes, action plans, monitoring and reporting. Failure to perform these duties properly could result in the Veteran not receiving the treatment to which they are entitled or priority access to care to which they are entitled. The lack of coordination provided by this employee could have a negative impact upon clinical and/or administrative functions. A large part of the duties of a Clinical Support Section employee is acting as a receptionist at the clinic, either through Microsoft Teams or telephonically, requiring excellent customer service skills. The work requires a high degree of judgment in responding to both employee and patient concerns and providing solutions to process problems as they affect day-to-day operations. The work is mostly sedentary and is performed in various outpatient clinics or office settings responsible for treating patients with a wide variety of medical problems. The incumbent will also be required to complete additional duties as assigned within the service line. The AMSA works collaboratively in an interdisciplinary coordinated care delivery mode and performs receptionist duties, customer service and other duties assigned for the proper and timely treatment of patients and maintains appointment schedules for one or more outpatient clinics. They must assist with clinic access contingency plans by adjusting appointment times, location, or dates as well as shift patients to other healthcare providers as conflict with staffing and/or coverage occurs. Incumbent is required to review frequent changes to VHA directives, regulations and local policies and maintain constant coordination to ensure compliance and standardization associated with Advanced Clinic Access principles. Required to conduct special audits, studies, or surveys to be utilized in the development of procedures, and to assist employees in collecting complete and appropriate data for reporting processes and for generating revenue. Incumbent must be able to interpret and communicate requirements of VHA Scheduling Directives and complete accurate scheduling responsibilities. Incumbent will schedule appointments accurately in a timely manner. All appointments will be made with the patient's input. This may require a high level of coordination to avoid patients having to make multiple trips to the medical center or clinic whenever possible. Additional duties or tasks may be assigned by the supervisor to ensure efficient daily operations. Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional Work Schedule: Monday to Friday 8:00am to 4:30pm Recruitment/Relocation Incentives (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: Ad-hoc Tele-work Available. AD-HOC (Employees who telework on an occasional, episodic, or short-term basis, and have completed required telework training and telework agreement.) (Portion of day acceptable) Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #:55958-F
What you need to qualify
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. No experience required. *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 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 creditable experience equivalent to the next lower grade. Candidates must demonstrate all of the KSAs below: (a) 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. (b) 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. (c) Advanced knowledge of medical terminology due to the technical nature of language utilized by clinicians. (d) 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. (e) Ability to independently set priorities and organize work to meet deadlines, ensuring compliance with established processes, policies, and regulations. (f) 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. Assignment: At the advanced level, the Medical Support Assistant (Advanced) (AMSA) performs difficult and responsible specialized and expert administrative patient support while working collaboratively in an interdisciplinary coordinated care delivery model. Work involves 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. Recommend 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 (utilization) to ensure that clinic schedules are closely monitored to effectively support the needs of the clinics, and makes adjustments as necessary. Preferred Experience: Experience in scheduling and coordinating appointments for patients in clinics such as PM&RS (Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Speech Therapy) or Audiology. Experience documenting information in the electronic health record (EHR). Experience coordinating care between multiple providers or services. Knowledge of PM&RS and Audiology related terminology, procedures, and clinical workflow. Capacity to manage multiple tasks simultaneously in a fast-paced setting. Experience working collaboratively as part of an interdisciplinary care team. 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-06. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is GS-06. Physical Requirements: Physical aspects associated with work required of this assignment are typical for the occupation and would generally not require a pre-placement examination.
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