The incumbent serves as a Patient Advocate within a VA Medical Facility. This position covers a variety of difficult and/or complex patient concerns, issues, and contacts for the Facility with the goal of providing resolution. The Patient Advocate works exclusively in the Patient Advocate Tracking System. Although Patient Advocates do not document in the electronic medical record, it is expected that they are well versed in reviewing the record to quickly resolve concerns, whenever possible.

Duties

In this position, you will serve as Patient Representative. Typical work assignments include: The Patient Representative is specifically designated at each VHA facility to manage the complaint and service recovery process, including complaint resolution, data capture and analysis of issues/complaints and communicate this information to facility, and service, leadership to help drive system improvements. The incumbent serves as the liaison between the medical center, patients and staff, and the community regarding the patient experience, patient rights and advocacy. Other duties include but are not limited to:

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 09/13/2023. 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-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-09. 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 GS-11: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-09 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: experience in patient advocacy or similar conflict resolution, advocacy work and analytical work that involves gathering information, identifying trends, analyzing issued and developing recommendations to resolve problems; collecting data and applying qualitative and quantitative techniques, utilizing various tools and/or tracking system to track and analyze data, experience applying investigative, negotiating fact-finding and analytical techniques, OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree, or 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.M., if related (TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED) OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have a combination of specialized experience and education. The total percentages must equal at least 100 percent to qualify an applicant for that grade level. The total percentages must equal at least 100 percent to qualify an applicant for that grade level. Only graduate level education in excess of the amount required for the next lower grade level may be combined with experience. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Analysis and Problem SolvingCommunicationConflict ManagementCritical ThinkingCustomer ServiceManages and Organizes Information Preferred Experience: Knowledge, skills and abilities required to successfully perform the duties of this position as a Patient representative/Advocate. Qualifying specialized experience is defined as experience providing customer service to patients and staff with resolving problems or complaints; identifying problem areas and suggesting solutions or alternatives; explaining policies and procedures; keeping accurate records and preparing reports and/or written correspondence; collaborating with facility staff to improve the patient experience. Must have good Analysis and Problem Solving, Communication, Database Administration, Interpersonal Effectiveness, Manages and Organizes Information. 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: The physical demands of the opposition includes walking, standing, bending with occasional carrying of light items such as medical records, bulletin board material and occasionally assisting with a wheelchair. In some instances, relationships with patient can become intense and the employee is frequently placed in a position of stress. The position demands emotional stability as the patient advocate is deeply involved with many seriously ill or dying patients and their caregivers. 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 Central Alabama VA Medical Center-Montgomery 215 Perry Hill Road Montgomery, AL 36109 US
• Name: Matthew Lozzi
• Phone: 785-350-3111 X51060
• Email: [email protected]