Medical Support Assistant

Clarification from the agency

This vacancy announcement is open to current and permanent VHA Employees and the Public. NOTE: The 2-page Resume requirement does not apply to this position. For more information, refer to Required Documents below. VETERANS PREFERENCE IS WAIVED FOR THIS OCCUPATIONAL SERIES IAW Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer (OCHCO) BULLETIN "FY26 Staffing Shortage Determinations" dated: 9/25/2025.

VA Careers - Medical Support Assistant: https://youtube.com/embed/EE9c4XkaELo

Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional

The Medical Support Assistant (MSA) provides medical administrative support to inpatient and outpatient clinical areas. Duties include, but are not limited to:

• Receives and processes telephone calls from patients, family members, internal staff, and other customers; obtains necessary information, responds to requests, and appropriately routes calls or referrals.
• Coordinates administrative information between patients and professional staff to support patient care and unit operations.
• Updates and verifies patient demographic and other administrative information and maintains accurate patient records.
• Uses electronic health record and administrative systems, including VistA and CPRS, to enter, retrieve, verify, and process patient information.
• Schedules and coordinates patient appointments, including discharge and follow-up appointments, in accordance with applicable scheduling requirements.
• Processes scheduled and unscheduled patient admissions and assists with discharge, transfer, and other patient movement processes.
• Reviews and verifies orders and ensures required laboratory, radiology, and other requests are completed to support patient appointments and care.
• Coordinates transportation and provides or verifies documents necessary for admission, discharge, transfer, and other patient-care processes.
• Reviews demographic and financial information with patients and refers patients for eligibility, enrollment, or financial assessment when appropriate.
• Communicates discharge appointments and follow-up information to patients and assists them in understanding required next steps.
• Works collaboratively with clinical staff, bed management, environmental services, diagnostics, social work, case management, and other services to support patient care and efficient patient flow.
• Provides courteous and professional customer service to Veterans, family members, visitors, and staff while maintaining patient privacy and confidentiality.
• Performs other administrative duties necessary to support the operations of the assigned clinical area.

Grade Level: The GS-3 is the entry level and the GS-4 is a developmental level. Assignments at the lower grade levels are performed with greater guidance and supervision. Duties become progressively more complex and are performed with greater independence as the employee progresses to the GS-5 full-performance level.

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.

Work Schedule: Full-time, 3:30pm - 12:00am or Midnight - 8:00am with rotating weekends and holidays. Work schedule subject to change based on agency needs.
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 #: 62508F; 62509F; 62510F
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Physical Requirements: The work requires frequent standing bending, reaching and walking. The work requires light lifting and carrying under 15 lbs. Must have full manual dexterity and keyboarding skills. This may be considered demanding physical activity.

Conditions of employment

To be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. This position requires the application, assessment, and questionnaire to be fully completed. The assessment measures critical general competencies required to perform the job.

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• 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.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP)

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period 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 probationary period or trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Qualifications

Basic Requirements:

• United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.
• Experience: Six months experience in clerical, office or other 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 combination of experience and education for entry level.
• 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.

Grade Determinations: In addition to basic requirements listed above, the following education and experience criteria must be met when determining candidate grades. Candidates must demonstrate all Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSA's) according to grade level. Current VHA employees may qualify by the Grandfathering Provision as described in the VA Qualification Standard for this occupation.

GS-3: Experience or Education. None beyond the basic requirements.
Assignment. This is an entry level MSA position. MSAs at this level receive guidance from more experienced staff members and require frequent and direct supervision. MSAs apply general rules and policies relating to clinic functions, staff, and automated data processing methods in support of treatment to patients. They utilize a variety of patient data systems in scheduling patients for treatment and annotates patient records. They perform front desk duties, receive telephone calls and visitors to the MSA unit. They make and cancel appointments, review patient records for necessary information, and review patient demographics and insurance verification. They consult with clinic staff when processing physician scheduling and administrative orders.
Demonstrated KSA's.

1. Ability to meet, communicate, and interact with individuals in a courteous and helpful manner in order to give instructions and arrange appointments.
2. Ability to utilize computer systems to enter administrative data in patient systems.
3. Ability to learn and utilize basic medical terminology to record patient messages and physician requests pertaining to follow-up medical care.

GS-4: Experience. One year 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,
Education. Two years of education above high school.
Assignment. This is a developmental level MSA position. It is expected that MSAs at this level receive minor and less frequent guidance from higher experienced staff members for more difficult tasks. Assignments at this level include, but are not limited to: scheduling and rescheduling patients for treatment; interviewing patients for appointments; referring patients to other medical specialty clinics; providing information to patients necessary to resolve VA Handbook complaints; interacting with both internal and external customers; reviewing and documenting medical outpatient and inpatient electronic health records, as well as administrative records; verifying third party insurance and updating information in the Insurance Capture Buffer (ICB) system; obtaining medical information from patients; coordinating information and actions related to patient care and services; and scheduling appointments in accordance with VHA national scheduling guidelines. MSAs at this level refer all questions regarding medical attention to the appropriate health care team member.
Demonstrated KSA's.

1. Ability to meet, communicate, and interact with individuals from varying backgrounds and other health care team members in a courteous and helpful manner in order to facilitate medical care for patients
2. Ability to use, and navigate between, various types of office automation equipment and software (i.e. computer systems, web based scheduling programs; insurance collection system; scanning software, multiple line phone systems; electronic faxing programs) to support patient care
3. Knowledge of basic medical terminology to assist in the provision of care to patients
4. Skill in recording patient messages and understanding physician requests pertaining to follow-up medical care in internal or external clinics.

GS-5: Experience. One year of experience equivalent to the GS-4 grade level. OR,
Education. Four years of education above high school.
Assignment. This is the full performance level for MSAs. At this level, the MSA independently performs a full range of duties related to the delivery of healthcare services in an inpatient or outpatient setting. Advises clinical staff on current administrative processes. The MSA is responsible for answering phones, greeting patients, relaying messages to appropriate staff inside or outside of the unit, scheduling appointments, including interpreting and verifying provider orders in accordance with VHA national scheduling guidelines. Assignments at this level include, but are not limited to: scheduling, canceling, re-scheduling patient appointments and/or consults; entering no-show information; monitoring appointment requests from multiple electronic sources; participating in huddles with other MSAs and/or clinic staff to determine the daily needs of the clinic, monitoring both inpatient and outpatient appointments in areas of responsibility; verifying and updating demographics and insurance information when patients check-in for appointments. Coordinates administrative functions relating to emergency and non-emergency transfers to other VA facilities or private hospitals and determines appointment type based on the patient's eligibility status (i.e., TRICARE, sharing agreements, collaterals, research patient, VA employee, etc.).
Demonstrated KSA's.

1. Ability to operate computerized programs and systems to enter, modify, and retrieve sensitive medical and patient identifying information (PII) into or from electronic health records, scheduling systems, and/or reports.
2. Advanced knowledge of medical terminology specific to understand medical diagnosis and procedures sufficient to communicate clinical staff instructions to patients.
3. Ability to schedule medical appointments in a clinical setting.
4. Ability to work independently to accomplish a wide variety of duties performing patient support work.
5. Ability to communicate effectively and professionally in person, electronically, and/or by telephone, with internal and external customers.
6. Skill in customer service, ability to identify customer concerns and refer to the appropriate staff, as necessary, to ensure a satisfactory resolution.

Creditable Experience
(1) Knowledge of MSA Practices. To be creditable, experience must have demonstrated the KSAs associated with current MSA responsibilities or an equivalent administrative patient support role in a non-VA medical inpatient or outpatient setting. Experience satisfying this requirement may be paid/non-paid employment as an MSA or an equivalent position in a non-VA hospital or clinic setting.
(2) Quality of Experience. Qualifying experience must be at a level comparable to MSA experience or equivalent administrative clinical support role in a non-VA medical inpatient or outpatient setting at the next lower grade level. For all assignments above the full performance level, the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, administrative independence, complexity (difficulty), and range of varieties described at the specified grade level and performed at least 25% of the time.
(3) Part-Time Experience. Part-time experience as an MSA or equivalent administrative patient support in a non-VA medical inpatient or outpatient setting is creditable according to its relationship to the full-time workweek. For example, an MSA employed 20 hours a week, or on a 1/2-time basis, would receive one full-time workweek of credit for each two weeks of service.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

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.

To apply for this position, you must provide a complete Application Package which includes:

• Resume

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)
• Additional Document(s)
• Resume
• Separation Notice (RIF)
• SF-15
• SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action
• Transcript

Next steps