The Health Technician (Telehealth Clinical) Advanced provides high level support, training, and advanced management of telehealth operations and is typically stationed at a clinical care delivery site (VA Medical Center, CBOC, VA Outreach Clinic, etc.), with duties that may require travel. Primary responsibilities of the incumbent include: delivering established telehealth competency based training for clinicians and telehealth staff members.

Duties

Duties may include (but are not limited to): Coordinate, install, maintaining and manage the inventory of telehealth technologies including hardware and software with assistance of Biomed and IT; Provide established standardized competency based training, guidance and information on the use of advanced telehealth technologies to patients, staff, and providers; Provide established standardized competency based training for telehealth technology, facilitate interactive simulations for clinical staff participating in telehealth programs; Participate in performance improvement activities aimed at improving the efficiency of the patient telehealth processes; Pevelop reporting procedures, sampling techniques and measurements at various points in the telehealth processes to identify/analyze inherent weaknesses in work and procedures; Coordinate clinic set up and monitoring of workload capture and issues for assigned patient and provider clinics including telehealth resource based scheduling; Support designated complex telehealth programs that require advanced technical skillsets'. Support designated complex telehealth programs that require advanced technical skillsets'. Prepare the clinical environment, which may include preparing medical and telecommunications equipment to be used for clinical examination and treatment; Serve as a telepresenter, within scope of practice, during clinical video telehealth (CVT) and VA Video Connect (VVC) encounters including tasks such as establishing and maintaining video conferencing connections, making introductions between patient site and provider site, following instructions of a clinician to facilitate an effective clinical encounter; Serve as an imager and manager of clinical data for store and forward telehealth (SFT) clinical encounters including tasks such as capturing images, collecting data and transmitting them electronically for clinical review in accordance with VHA national guidelines; Take measures to ensure patient care is delivered safely by following appropriate procedures for the cleaning of clinical equipment and the care environment while following all patient safety guidelines, protocols, and procedures; Complete standardized clinical questionnaires and templates within scope of training and applicable guidelines; Ensure that patient privacy is protected by complying with all information security and patient privacy regulations; Receive and scheduling requests for simple and complex intra-facility, and inter-facility telehealth appointments using an electronic resource-based scheduling system; Work Schedule: Monday- Friday 8:00am-4:30pm Telework: Not Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 580-01037-F Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met. 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: A candidate will not be appointed under authority of 38 U.S.C. chapters 73 or 74, to serve in a direct patient-care capacity in VHA who is not proficient in written and spoken English. Certification: None. 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 and Education: Experience. One year of experience in a health care field that demonstrates the applicant's ability to perform the work or provides an understanding of the work such as but not limited to a medical or clinical assistant (or technician) or health technician. OR Education. Four academic years above high school leading to a bachelor's degree with courses related to the occupation. OR Experience/Education Combination. Equivalent combination of experience and education are qualifying for entry level for which both education and experience are acceptable. Examples are listed below: (a) Six months of experience in the health care field and two years of education above high school that included at least six semester hours in health care related courses such as, biological science, surgical technician courses, nursing assistant or other courses related to the position; or an associate's degree in a health care related field. (b) Six months of experience in the health care field and successful completion of a course for health care technicians, hospital corpsmen, or medical service specialists given by the U.S. Armed Forces. Health Technician (Telehealth Clinical) (Advanced) Experience. One year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level (GS-06). Examples of creditable experience at the GS-06 grade level include, but are not limited to, screening patients for Telehealth modality and referring patients that do not meet established criteria to appropriate care. Communicates effectively with administrative and professional staff, and obtains assistance for issues that may arise or backlogs that cannot be resolved in a timely manner. Performs imaging duties in accordance with VHA National Telehealth guidelines such as: capture and transmission of clinical images and/or data, obtains consent as necessary, generates consults according to established procedures for each telehealth specialty, transmits images or clinical data to the electronic medical record, provides patient education regarding general anatomy, disease processes and prevention as appropriate, and takes appropriate action based on the providers' findings and recommendations. Facilitates real-time Telehealth encounters by providing hands on assistance and reporting clinical observations under the direction of a Licensed Independent Practitioner or Clinical Specialist. Schedules, confirms and coordinates Telehealth services between internal and external VA and non-VA sites. Analyzes own workflow to determine potential problem areas and recommends corrective action to improve coordination between various units/facilities. Maintains regular contact with the Facility Telehealth Coordinator to work out process issues, equipment needs, problems, data collection and any other logistical issues. Conducts routine inventories and consistently tracks location/status of Telehealth technology located at assigned site. Communicates with National Telehealth Technology Help Desk to facilitate troubleshooting, repair, and coordination of replacement equipment as necessary. Grade Determinations: Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs. (a) Ability to use independent technical judgment to analyze, evaluate and resolve problems. (b) Knowledge of quality control and assurance procedures and principles of performance improvement. (c) Ability to function effectively between competing priorities. (d) Knowledge of proper maintenance and troubleshooting of telehealth equipment. (e) Ability to work with a team to provide technical guidance, plan, organize and coordinate activities of a health technician in order to effectively complete job duties of assignment such as distributing workload, monitoring the status and progress of work, monitoring accuracy of work. (f) Ability to assist in Health Technician (Telehealth Clinical) development, outcome management and strategic planning. (g) Ability to perform successful knowledge transfer regarding the use of telehealth technologies. Assignment: At the Advanced Health Technician (Telehealth Clinical) level, the incumbent will monitor and capture workload credit, develop reporting procedures and participate in performance improvement activities aimed at improving patient care access and Telehealth processes. This would include; sampling techniques, taking measurements at various points in the telehealth process; and develop and provide reporting procedures that identifies and analyzes inherent weaknesses in work and telehealth procedures. The incumbent will coordinate and work with Biomed and IT staff for the installation and upgrade of hardware and software for all telehealth technologies; will be responsible for advanced telehealth technical support to patients, staff and providers; provides technical consultation and support for staff and patients via phone, web chat, social media and face to face sessions; provides instruction, training and resources on the use of advanced telehealth technologies to patients, staff and providers alike for the delivery of care using telehealth technologies. For all assignments above the full performance level, the higher level duties must consist of significant scope, complexity (difficulty) and range of variety and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time. Preferred Experience: One year of telehealth experience. References: VA Handbook 5005/149, Part II Appendix G50. The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-7. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is in the range of GS-7. Physical Requirements: Physical requirements include but not limited to moderate lifting, 15-44lbs, moderate carrying, 15-44lbs, reaching above shoulders, walking and standing.

Education

IMPORTANT: 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 Michael E DeBakey VA Medical Center 2002 Holcombe Boulevard Houston, TX 77030 US
• Name: Myia Williams
• Email: [email protected]