Medical Support Assistant (Advanced)

Summary

The Advanced MSA provides specialized and expert administrative patient support while working collaboratively in an interdisciplinary coordinated care delivery model within the Transfer Office at Gulf Coast Veterans Healthcare System (GCVHCS), Biloxi, MS. The work involves specialized administrative judgment and the flexible use of a wide range of administrative flow processes relating to access to care across multiple facilities, specialties, and community resources.

Duties

Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional The primary duties of the Medical Support Assistant (Advanced) may include but are not limited to: Identifies patients receiving non-VA emergency and inpatient care and alerts the transfer team for teaching, utilization review, discharge planning, and transfer coordination. Collaborates with physicians, caregivers, Veterans, family, or other departmental team members, and payor to proactively develop and implement a safe and appropriate discharge or transfer plan. Communicates daily with transfer office RN, Veterans, and facilities regarding patient care needs. Maintains knowledge of bed management systems and appropriately assesses the facility's capacity for transfers in. Maintains a current list of resources for referrals and refers to the appropriate inpatient, outpatient and community resources. Manages critical communications with community providers and Veterans to validate admission and discharge status for Emergency admissions in the community. Ensures that quality of care is maintained or surpassed by collecting quality indicators and variance data and reporting the data to the appropriate department; reports and identifies data that indicates potential areas for improvement of care and services provided within the system. Determines the veteran's eligibility to receive medical services through OCC processes and reviews and updates procedure manuals to maintain knowledge of current procedures and processes. Assures authorization is obtained from appropriate service chief for procedures performed at non-VA facilities. The incumbent ensures that Veteran appointments are made with other VA facility, contract site, or community providers of Veteran's choice as appropriate. The use of automated tracking tools as well as computers to perform a wide variety of recordkeeping, correspondence, tracking operations is required. Educates providers and team members about patient's medical care by e-mails, fax, telephone, and scanning medical documentation into Veteran's medical records. Supports the maintenance of electronic databases to track OCC consults. Demonstrates a high level of flexibility, teamwork, and multi-faceted skills by cross-training to other areas within OCC to provide coverage as needed. Completes multiple assignments varying in degrees of difficulty to ensure patient needs are met, reducing internal transfers, and reducing barriers to unnecessary delays and patient care diversions. Ensures when records are receive that all necessary health/administrative information are integrated in to Computerized patient Record System (CPRS) by sending the documents to the appropriate department for scanning. Screens/receives phone calls in a courteous and timely manner, determine the nature of requests, and provide the information desired using privacy rules and established clinic processes Retains responsibility for maintaining working knowledge of performance and customer satisfaction data pertinent to the Transfer Office and will be held accountable for meeting goals for improvement. Work Schedule: Monday through Friday 7:00 am to 3:30 pm. Subject to change by supervisor to meet facility needs. 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: Not Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 02047F Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Requirements

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. Must pass pre-employment physical evaluation. 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.

Qualifications and evaluation

Area of consideration - Eligible applications will be reviewed and referred in the following order: 1st Area of Consideration - current permanent Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System employees; 2nd Area of Consideration - current permanent Veterans Healthcare Administration employees; 3rd Area of Consideration - current permanent VA Nationwide employees; 4th Area of Consideration - all other applicants. IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE MAY NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Your application, resume, C.V., and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect consideration for employment. Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. The Department of Veterans Affairs performs pre-employment reference checks as an assessment method used in the hiring process to verify information provided by a candidate (e.g., on resume or during interview or hiring process); gain additional knowledge regarding a candidate's abilities; and assist a hiring manager with making a final selection for a position. It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment. Veterans and Transitioning Service Members: Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members.

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/.

How to apply

All applicants are encouraged to apply online. To apply for this position, you must complete the full questionnaire and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section below. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on 08/26/2026 to receive consideration. To preview the questionnaire click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/13040455. To begin, click Apply Online to create a USAJOBS account or log in to your existing account. Follow the prompts to select your USA JOBS resume and/or other supporting documents and complete the occupational questionnaire. Click Submit My Answers to submit your application package. NOTE: It is your responsibility to ensure your responses and appropriate documentation is submitted prior to the closing date.

Required documents

To apply for this position, you must provide a complete Application Package which includes: Resume Resume Requirement: Your resume must include the following information: Job title, description of duties, beginning and ending date (month/year) of employment, and average hours worked per week. SF-50, Notification of Personnel Action (if applicable for Eligibility): Most recent SF-50 if you are a current or former Federal employee Examples of appropriate SF-50's include: Within grade increases at the highest grade held; or Promotions with an effective date more than one year old; or SF-50's at the highest grade held with an effective date more than one year old Special Note for Applications: To complete your application, please use the following link https://vacareers.va.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/Resume.docx to download the standard Clinical Resume Document. This one-page document does not need to be modified and must be uploaded into the two-page restricted 'Resume' document upload field. Your full resume/CV may be uploaded without page limitation into the 'Other' document upload field. The following documents are accepted, and may be required if applicable to your eligibility and/or qualifications for this position. Please ensure you have included all documents required for your application, such as a copy of your transcript (if using education to qualify), SF-50's (current/former Federal employees), etc. Cover Letter DD-214/ Statement of Service Disability Letter (VA) CV/Resume Performance Appraisal Resume Separation Notice (RIF) SF-15 SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action Transcript Selections from this announcement will be made without regard to Veterans' preference in accordance with OCHCO Bulletin dated 9/25/2025

Additional information

Receiving Service Credit for Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave: Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior work experience or military service experience. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed. 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.