Medical Support Assistant (Advanced)
What you'd do
The Advanced Medical Support Assistant serves in an intermittent role with the Cedar Rapids Community Resource & Referral Center (CRRC) within the Iowa City VA Healthcare System. The CRRC is part of the Homeless Program under the Social Work Service within the Patient Care Services Service Line. The incumbent's work significantly impacts the administrative and operational aspects of CRRC services, including access, scheduling, reception, Veteran support, and day-to-day facility coordination.
Major duties
Core functions for this position include: - Reception & Scheduling: Maintains appointment schedules, assists Veterans with scheduling needs, screens and receives phone calls courteously, and provides information following privacy rules and established processes. - Veteran Support: Assists walk-in Veterans, many with complex housing, social service, or mental health needs. Helps Veterans access showers, laundry, hygiene items, clothing, and food. Provides grounding, support, and immediate assistance when Veterans are in crisis, escalating to clinical staff appropriately. Environmental Safety & Operations: Conducts and documents routine safety checks, including emergency lighting tests, alarm tests, refrigerator temperature checks, and other required logs. Runs fire drills and tornado drills as directed. Submits and tracks work orders. Prepares incident reports and communicates with the building COR who liaises with the landlord. Serves as a key point of contact for facility related issues. - Resource Area Management: Sorts, organizes, and maintains the clothing closet. Manages the food pantry, ensuring items are rotated, stored correctly, and outdated food is removed. Cleans and maintains Veteran use laundry machines. - Collects, logs, sorts, and cleans donations. - Administrative Coordination: Conducts daily review of consults, EWL, Recall list, and Audio care communications. Supports Veterans, caregivers, staff, and community partners with administrative needs. Ensures incoming records and documents are routed for scanning into CPRS. Participates in daily huddles and team meetings. Reports clinic access barriers to supervisor. Serves as timekeeper and runs/monitors assigned reports, following up with staff on overdue items. - Leadership & Coverage: Provides guidance to other support staff in absence of a supervisor. May assume duties of Program Support Assistant or other MSAs during special projects or staffing shortages. Assists with special audits, quality assurance monitors, and administrative reports. - Crisis-Aware Customer Service: Intervenes to resolve difficult situations, de-escalates distressed or dysregulated Veterans, and prevents negative outcomes when possible. Serves as a liaison and technical advisor at multiple organizational levels. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00am - 4:30pm Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not authorized Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not authorized Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases. When setting pay, a higher step rate of the appropriate grade may be determined after consideration of higher or unique qualifications or special needs of the VA (Above Minimum Rate of the Grade). 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 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 #: 000000 Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized
What you need to qualify
Basic Requirements: a. Citizenship. Be a citizen of the United States (U.S.). Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens b. Experience. None. c. Education. High school diploma, General Education Development equivalency certificate, or proficiency certificate from a State or territorial-level Board or Department of Education. d. Licensure/Certification/Registration. None. f. 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. g. Physical Requirements. See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Service for requirements. h. English Language Proficiency. Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f). Grade Determinations: Medical Support Assistant (Advanced), GS-6 Experience. One year of experience equivalent to the GS-5 grade level Examples of qualifying experience, include but are not limited to, independently performing a full range of duties related to the delivery of healthcare services in an inpatient or outpatient setting. Advising clinical staff on current administrative processes. Performing administrative support duties including answering phones, greeting patients, relaying messages to appropriate medical staff inside or outside of the unit, scheduling appointments, including interpreting and verifying provider orders in accordance with VHA national scheduling guidelines. AND Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs). In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs: (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. 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-6. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is GS-6.
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