Summary This position is in the Rehabilitation & Extended Care Service Line at the St. Cloud VA Health Care System and is the first administrative point-of-contact for patients and family members. The Advanced Medical Support Assistant position involves technical work concerned with the day-to-day administrative functions within the Rehabilitation Department. The position provides administrative support to clinic staff members and patients. Responsibilities Specific Functions: The incumbent uses VistA, CPRS, VSE, CTM computer system daily, including the keyboard and printer. The incumbent answers questions and provides information and daily activities include the following: - Working directly with patients who have been instructed to request a new appointment to schedule and provider patient instructions on test preparation, diets and procedural requirements. - Seeking out available appointments with multiple staff members and services to coordinate Telehealth appointments. - Programs the VistA printer to generate notices to outpatients concerning failed and rescheduled appointments. Reviews output to ensure that appropriate information is generated and ensures that inappropriate letters are discarded. - Utilizes and follows up on AudioCare Reminder calls for all outpatient rehab clinics including Community Based Outpatient Clinics and VISN providers. - Produces and distributes daily schedules to professional staff. - Pre-registration as needed with checking patients in for appointments. - Demonstrates the ability to work in all rehabilitation clinical areas with minimal guidance. Receives, interviews, and routes individuals for either inpatient or outpatient care to the appropriate care team or setting. Maintains daily contact with professional services personnel giving outpatient/inpatient care to ensure the best possible liaison between patient and health care system personnel. Accepts telephone calls from Veterans, relatives, service officers, etc. regarding outpatient/inpatient treatment and transportation. Receives and responds to unclear inquiries concerning a variety of medical, personnel, and administrative matters. Determines general nature of inquiry and independently responds to all administrative questions. Recognizes and refers urgent inquiries to professional staff for immediate action. Reviews medical records of outpatients/inpatients to ensure that requested appointments are made for the professional staff and diagnostic services. Schedules and receives consults and orders for all outpatient Rehabilitation Clinics including Montevideo, Alexandra and Brainerd, and REC Yoga orders based on established scheduling policies and procedures from VHA directive. Utilizes Appointment Management Supervisor Menu to facilitate efficient scheduling of appointments including accurately and appropriately closing all rehab clinics for provider leave, meetings or continuing education, providing grid management to ensure all clinic modalities are available and switched when not being used to maximize clinic utilization and decrease missed opportunities, and gathering appropriate information for DSS for stop codes/credit stop codes to create clinics. Update, review, and utilize the Unable to Schedule list to accurately reflect patients waiting to schedule an appointment. Processes all health care providers orders accurately. Seeks clarification of orders when appropriate. Promptly and accurately initiates and checks on status of referrals, lab and x-ray procedures, completing required forms with appropriate patient identification. Makes numerous calls each day to coordinate information and actions relating to patient care and services. Relays information and requests from the patients to the treatment team and within the treatment team. Ensures that escort services and transportation are properly arranged. Pages and locates clinic staff for patient services and consultation. Accurately and timely performs clerical work in support of the care and treatment given to patients such as receiving patients or maintaining patient files. Performs clerical level work to procure supplies and services to meet the procurement requirements of the unit or department. Processes incoming and outgoing materials such as correspondence, reports, memoranda, and other forms of written communication. Performs the following types of duties: edit letters, composes letters and reports, reviews correspondence for accuracy and completeness, transcribes meeting minutes and replies to inquiries. Actively seeks and schedules Telehealth services for appropriate and active Telehealth services. Assists in mentoring students or training new or less experienced employees. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 7:30am-4pm Telework: Ad-Hoc Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Requirements Conditions of Employment 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. You may be required to serve a probationary period. Subject to background/security investigation. Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP). Participation in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination program is a requirement for all Veterans Health Administration Health Care Personnel (HCP) - See "Additional Information" below for details. Qualifications Basic Requirements: a. Citizenship. Citizen of the United States. (Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Chapter 3, Section A, paragraph 3.g.). b. 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. c. Certification. None required. d. Grandfathering Provision. 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). e. 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 credits and such education must have been deemed at least equivalent to that gained in conventional U.S. programs. f. Physical Requirements. See VA Directive and Handbook 5019.g .English Language Proficiency. MSAs must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Chapter 3, Section A, paragraph 3.j. Grade Determinations: GS-6 Medical Support Assistant (Advanced) Experience: One year of experience equivalent to the GS-5 grade level. AND Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs): Candidates must demonstrate all of the KSAs below: i. 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. ii. Ability to independently set priorities and organize work to meet deadlines, ensuring compliance with established processes, policies, and regulations. iii. 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. iv. 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. v. 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. vi. Advanced knowledge of medical terminology due to the technical nature of language utilized by clinicians. References: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/. Preferred Experience: Prefer rehab and extended care outpatient scheduling experience 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. Additional Information The VA Midwest Health Care Network advocates for a Whole Health System of care in each of the Medical Centers. This is an approach to healthcare that empowers and equips people to take charge of their health and well-being and live their lives to the fullest. As an employee operating in a Whole Health System of care, you will operate in a model with three core elements, seeking to create a personalized health plan for each Veteran. This is done in the context of healing relationships and healing environments and a connection back to the Veteran's community. This aligns with the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Mission Statement to Honor America's Veterans by providing exceptional health care that improves their health and well-being. During the application process you may have an option to opt-in to make your resume available to hiring managers in the agency who have similar positions. Opting in does not impact your application for this announcement, nor does it guarantee further consideration for additional positions. This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies. This position is in the Excepted Service and does not confer competitive status. VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply. The health-related positions in VA are covered by Title 38, and are not covered by the Schedule A excepted appointment authority. If you are unable to apply online or need an alternate method to submit documents, please reach out to the Agency Contact listed in this Job Opportunity Announcement. Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer. For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act.