The Health Benefit Assistant works as an advisor for the Enrollment Services Section of Health Administration Services (HAS) at the Wilmington VA Medical Center, Community Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOC), and Vet Center.

Duties

Major duties of this position include, but are not limited to: Serves as the Veteran's initial contact with the Medical Center Interviews and registers applicants to determine eligibility and legal entitlement of applicants for health care, including assignment into the appropriate enrollment priority group Verifies eligibility using various methods such as military discharge documents, Hospital Inquiry, (HINQ), Veterans Benefits Management System, (VBMS), Veterans Information Solutions, (VIS) Initiates administrative process for establishing care and notifies appropriate healthcare personnel accordingly. Possess knowledge and technical proficiency in Beneficiary Travel program administration using eligibility criteria and regulatory authorities to appropriate administer program benefits to eligible Veterans Advises applicant of the health care benefits they are legally entitled to in person or over the phone Performs data entry and adheres to consistency reviews and national, VISN and local policies and procedure governing data integrity Coordinates administrative details and operational activities related to Veteran deaths Meets and greets customers to determine the specific need Responds to technical question regarding patients' administrative rights and situational eligibility for healthcare and provide patients with administrative advice and guidance Handles questions and/or concerns ensuring that quality service is rendered in a timely, complete, and empathetic manner Reviews and processes external documentation and waiver requests submitted for transportation reimbursement to determine eligibility for government payment Researches and respond to complex questions involving regulations and/or beneficiary entitlements and communicated results to patients, families, agency employees, and Veterans' organizations Handles questions and/or concerns ensuring that quality service is rendered in a timely, complete and empathetic manner Generates, process and tracks Veteran photo identification cards utilizing the VIC (Veteran Identifications Card) nation electronic system. Incumbent will correspond with national contacts to resolve processing and conflicts that require action the Heath Eligibility Center Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00am-4:30pm Compressed/Flexible: Not Available Telework: Not Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Health Benefit Assistant/PD01660A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not Required

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 08/04/2023. Time-In-Grade Requirement: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-05 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-04. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade. Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-04 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Utilizing a variety of computer software programs and data base systems for data entry; processing medical records, patient registration, and benefit eligibility within the medical administration; assisting with the coordination of travel arrangements and/or processing travel claims. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have have 4 years above high school education. OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education in excess of the first 60 semester hours (i.e., beyond the second year) to be creditable toward meeting the specialized experience requirement.. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: ClericalCommunicationCustomer Service (Clerical/Technical)Manages and Organizes InformationTechnical Competence 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. Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment. Physical Requirements: Incumbent will be exposed to stressful working situations that require a professional attitude and collective reasoning. The incumbent is subject to a high volume of work, the need for accuracy, frequency of interruptions and ever-changing demands due to the programs changes. The work involves mostly administrative processing which requires standing, walking, sitting, stooping, bending, lifting light objects, answering telephone and data entry. Duties will be predominantly performed in the Central Business Office area with intermittent trip to various locations throughout the Medical Center, both in and near patient care areas where there may be risk of exposure to disease. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.

Education

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.

Contacts

• Address Wilmington VA Medical Center 1601 Kirkwood Highway Wilmington, DE 19805 US
• Name: Gerald Coleman
• Phone: 205-929-7957
• Email: [email protected]