Serves as a Supervisor for Medical Support Assistants for the VA Boston Boston Healthcare System in the Specialty Care Service at the West Roxbury, MA campus. The position is responsible for planning, directing, and controlling work for the lower graded Medical Support Assistants in their assigned outpatient clinical settings. This position is full time at 40 hours per week.
To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of the 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: MSAs must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with VA Handbook 5005, part II, chapter 3, section A, paragraph 3j. 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). Experience and Education: (1) Experience: At least one year or more of experience in 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 (2) Education: One year above high school OR (3) Experience/Education Combination: Equivalent combination of experience and education are qualifying for entry level for which both education and experience are acceptable. In addition to meeting the basic requirements above, applicants must also meet: Experience: One year of experience equivalent to the [GS-7] grade level leading or supervising MSAs or equivalent administrative patient support staff in a non-VA medical inpatient, outpatient, or interdisciplinary setting and meet the following GS 7 KSA's: GS 7 Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: Candidates must demonstrate [all of] the KSAs below Ability to provide the full range of administrative and supervisory duties [in a patient support setting,] which includes assignment of work, performance evaluations, selection of staff, and recommendation of awards and/or advancements]. Ability to collaborate, communicate, and demonstrate customer service and interpersonal skills with [internal and external customers] to ensure quality/continuity of care and ensure compliance with established policies and regulations. Ability to provide briefings, orientations, staff development, and [training related to administrative functions in a patient support setting]. Ability to delegate authority, evaluate and oversee people and programs, accomplish program goals, and adapt to changing priorities GS-8 Grade Level Requirements. Assignment: Supervisory MSAs at this level plan and direct programs at medical centers and/or satellite outpatient clinics. They have full responsibility for supervising at least one subordinate MSA team leader, supervisor, or equivalent administrative patient support staff in a non-VA medical inpatient, outpatient, or interdisciplinary setting. Assignments at this level include, but are not limited to: evaluating the work of subordinate staff; resolving complex problems to ensure patient services are met; evaluating new products, equipment, and systems to make recommendations for improved operations; identifying educational or training needs; making final decisions on hiring selections; evaluating performance, and taking disciplinary action when necessary. The employee has administrative and professional responsibility for planning and directing the subordinate lead, supervisor, and MSA's activities. Responsible for extracting and analyzing data to provide reports to senior management in support of tracking measures. 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. GS 8 Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: Candidates must demonstrate [all of] the KSAs below: Ability to provide the full range of administrative and supervisory duties [to at least one subordinate MSA supervisor or team leader in a patient support setting which includes assignment of work, performance evaluations, selection of staff, and recommendation of awards and/or advancements.] Ability to collaborate, communicate, and demonstrate customer service and interpersonal skills with internal and external customers to ensure quality/continuity of care and ensure compliance with established policies and regulations. Ability to provide briefings, orientations, staff development, and training [in a patient support setting]. Ability to manage fiscal matters, forecast resource and equipment needs, and identify budget needs. Advanced knowledge of managing or leading patient support staff in a clinic. This includes independently utilizing reference sources, decision making, and 13 empowering the team to collaborate and resolve problems within a complex systems environment.] Preferred Experience: Advanced Medical Support Assistant experience and background preferred. References: https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/ The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-8. Physical Requirements: The work requires some physical exertion such as prolonged periods of standing, bending, reaching, crouching, stooping, stretching, and lifting moderately heavy items such as papers, books, manuals, record boxes and boxes of computer paper. Computers are used and therefore keyboarding is required. The work includes walking from area to area when covering other employees. Applicant may at times be exposed to stressful situations with Veterans.
Major Duties include but are not limited to: Incumbent is responsible for planning, organizing, and directing the work of lower medical support assistants. The employee establishes work priorities, identifies developmental training needs of employees and provides or arranges for training when required. He/she works closely with their Supervisor to identify and develop training which meets the needs of the MSA and administrative/clinical data capture requirements. The incumbent's responsibility for training includes, but is not limited to, in-service education of on-the-job skills, classroom instruction closely associated with actual inpatient/outpatient hospital clinical practices, and attitudes and relationship of position to professional staff. Assignment of work based on requirements and resources available, to efficiently and economically accomplish the work to meet program goals and established objectives. Reviews work produced and analyzes weekly reports to evaluate production and takes appropriate action to resolve backlogs, scheduling errors, ICB Capture, EARR Review and Pre-Registration Data. The incumbent conducts regular staff meetings with the medical support assistants to update them on policy changes and new procedures. S/he attends required Section meetings and other meetings throughout the facility as deemed appropriate. The employee may serve on workgroups and/or committees as deemed appropriate. Incumbent may be called to assist in audits or studies relating to the clinical setting. The incumbent is a point of contact for resolving patient issues especially regarding appointment and scheduling concerns. Incumbent researches the issue and attempts to resolve it before it escalates to the Patient Representative, Clinical Service Chief, Chief of Staff or Center Director's Office. The incumbent maintains clerical guidelines and manuals as well as preparation of material to be used in training new employees. Training materials used shall be developed by their Supervisor and conform to the most up-to-date procedures. Incumbent will also be responsible for training auxiliary personnel such as temporary, work study, and volunteers used for intermittent heavy workload areas. The incumbent acts as liaison with the Medical Support Assistants, Medical staff, Nursing staff and other services offering expert advice on administrative details and procedures relative to areas and will evaluate problematic areas and present findings to their Supervisor and respective Service Line designees for corrective action. This necessitates the incumbent to be an authority on current VA regulations and published hospital guidelines that affect administrative functions. The vital importance of effective training in this section cannot be overemphasized. Incumbent will be constantly involved and have direct contact with staff and assist in orientation of Medical Support Assistants, Physicians, etc., and midlevel in administrative procedures. Incumbent works closely with providers and clinic staff to ensure all processes are compliant in accordance with VHA Directive 1230 - Outpatient Scheduling Processes and Procedures and VHA Directive 1231 - Outpatient Clinic Practice Management. The incumbent performs work involving collection, compilation, and/or tracking of data and statistical information in support of several VA, VISN, and local programs (i.e. Advanced Clinic Access Procedures, KIOSKs, Missed Opportunities, Consultation Management, Encounter Actions, Clinic Profile management and utilization and Patient Reminder Phone calls). Work Schedule: Full Time, Monday-Friday 7:30am-4:00pm Compressed/Flexible: Not available Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not Authorized 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 #: PDF20500 Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized PCS Appraised Value Offer (AVO): Not Authorized