Lead Medical Support Assistant

Summary The Lead Medical Support Assistant is a staff position located under the Medical Administrative Service with the VA WNY Healthcare System. The incumbent is responsible for the coordination of Advanced MSA assignments and workflow in the Health Administrative Service. The Lead is responsible for daily workload assessments, assigning work, and assuring proper staffing coverage; evaluating training records; and determining training needs of MSAs to provide support across interdisciplinary settings. Duties The Lead assists the unit with complex and non-standard procedures, including clinical flow processes related to access to care across multiple clinics, specialties, and/or community resources. The Lead MSA is also responsible for ensuring accurate and timely scheduling of clinic appointments; monitoring productivity of the schedulers, providing guidance to staff members, to include changes in policies and procedures; creating and maintaining employee work schedules; and acting as a liaison among Advanced MSA staff, patients, providers from a variety of specialties and other interdisciplinary staff to resolve day-to-day conflicts. May be required to present at various meetings on behalf of the section or may be required to hold meetings to benefit the workload in the section. In addition to the above the Lead MSA will also function as a working scheduler and will be expected to cover any absent staff within the section. The Lead MSA may be asked to produce reports related to unscheduled surgeries, backlog, productivity, etc within the section.

Lists the major duties and responsibilities of the position:

• Incumbent is responsible for orientation and training of new schedulers including training on the applicable software applications, databases, and functions.
• The incumbent provides initial and continuing education to schedulers, providing training in the utilization of VISTA, VSE, VVC, and other software systems as well as how to run workload reports from VSSC and VISTA.
• The work is administrative in nature and requires advanced knowledge of applicable systems as well as the ability to identify learning/training needs, provide training in a variety of manners, work directly with users, and trouble-shoot basic operating problems.
• In this role, the incumbent is responsible for the assignation of scheduling workload, ensuring that workload is balanced amongst the schedulers. In addition to this, they are required to redistribute workload to ensure that scheduling backlog is kept to a minimum. They are the initial point of contact between providers and other schedulers, helping to troubleshoot any issues.
• Incumbent serves as a point of contact for questions regarding the scheduling of all clinical appointments.
• Additionally, the Lead is responsible for pulling workload, productivity, and report card date for each of the AMSA in the section.
• May be required to perform other duties as assigned

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

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Work Schedule: Monday to Friday 8am - 4:30pm.

Telework: Not Available

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Functional Statement #:15141F

Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Qualifications

Basic Requirements: To qualify for appointment to this position, all applicants must possess the following:

• United States Citizenship: Be a citizen of the United States (U.S.). Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens according to 38 U.S.C. § 7407(a)
• Experience. None.
• Education. High school diploma, General Education Development equivalency certificate, or proficiency certificate from a State or territorial-level Board or Department of Education.
• Licensure/Certification/Registration. None.
• 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.
• English Language Proficiency. Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f).

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).

Experience.

Creditable Experience. To be creditable, the experience must have required the use of knowledge, skills, and abilities (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 or non-paid employment as an MSA or an equivalent position in a non-VA hospital or clinic setting.

Part-Time Experience. Part-time experience is creditable according to its relationship to a full-time workweek. For example, an individual employed 20 hours per week, or on a half-time basis, would receive credit for 1 full-time workweek for each 2 weeks of service.

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 of the position being filled. For all assignments above the full performance level (FPL), the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, administrative independence, complexity, 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.

Grade Determinations: In addition to the basic requirements for employment, candidates must meet the following grade-determining criteria for placement at grade levels specified.

Lead Medical Support Assistant, GS-07.

Experience. One year of creditable experience equivalent to the next lower grade.

Assignment. For all Lead assignments the Lead MSA must spend at least 25% or more of their time performing lead duties. The Lead MSA is responsible for the coordination of Advanced MSA assignments and workflow found in an interdisciplinary unit. The Lead MSA is responsible for daily workload assessments, assigning work, and assuring proper staffing coverage; evaluating training records; and determining training needs of MSAs to provide support across interdisciplinary settings. The Lead assists the unit with complex and non-standard procedures, including clinical flow processes related to access to care across multiple clinics, specialties, and/or community resources. Assignments at this level include but are not limited to ensuring accurate and timely scheduling of appointments; providing guidance to staff members, to include changes in policies and procedures; creating and maintaining employee work schedules; and acting as a liaison among Advanced MSA staff, patients, and other interdisciplinary staff to resolve day-to-day conflicts.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs). In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs:

(a) Advanced knowledge of medical terminology and a wide range of clinical flow processes relating to access to care across multiple clinics, specialties, and/or community.

(b) Skill in communicating with individuals to obtain the desired effect and coordinating with a variety of interdisciplinary care team staff.

(c) Ability to utilize numerous advanced patient systems in support of multiple clinics in an interdisciplinary setting.

(d) Ability to organize work, set priorities, and delegate tasks/responsibilities in order to meet deadlines.

(e) Ability to provide staff development and training.

(f) Ability to manage staffing requirements, manage workflow priorities, and adjust the flow of work to meet team and patient needs.This includes the ability to follow-up on pending issues and demonstrate an understanding of the impact of incomplete work across multiple clinics.

Preferred Experience:

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

The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy at grade 7.

Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Service for requirements.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/.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.
• 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.How you will be evaluated Area of consideration. Eligible applications will be reviewed and referred to hiring manager/s in the following order:

Area of consideration current permanent Facility VA WNY Healthcare System employees

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.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 11/09/2026 to receive consideration. To preview the questionnaire click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/13109649.

• 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. Other information

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.