The position is located with the Consolidated Patient Account Center (CPAC), organizationally aligned under the Chief Finance Officer in the Veteran Services Department. The CPAC is a regionally consolidated business entity established to increase revenue operations throughout the VHA network using an industry best model built on regional management of key aspects of the revenue cycle.

Duties

The Veteran Services Program Support Assistant (PSA) serves as the primary CPAC contact for the Veteran, Veteran representative, or advocate regarding all aspects of VA 1st party copayment debt within the VA system. The PSA explains VA financial programs, VA regulatory requirements, and available debt management options. This process includes conducting interviews to ascertain current financial concerns and limitations and identifying issues and barriers of understanding in navigating VA financial policy. The PSA gathers relevant documents and data from multiple VHA and VBA systems (when necessary) and completes adjustments to Veteran copayment accounts as needed to resolve Veteran requests for debt relief and assistance. The PSA provides assistance and guidance to Veteran customers with the following internal and external agencies: VA Debt Management Center (DMC), Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Treasury Offset Program (TOP), the Treasury Cross Servicing Program (CS), Congressional and White House communication teams, and multiple Veteran Services Organizations (VSO). The PSA performs account reconciliation of first party bills needing remedy action such as 1st party copayment refunds for retroactive exemptions as well as credit balance refunds (pre-payments), 1st party bill balance adjustments due to receipt of corresponding 3rd party payments (claims-matching)audit reviews and bill reconciliation actions related to retroactive copayment exemption decisions from VBA (DMC validity and rated eligibility), and the detailed auditing and reporting of Veteran patient copayment accounts requests received from Veteran, stakeholder, and/or other external entities. Promotion Potential: The selectee may be promoted to the full performance level without further competition when all regulatory, qualification, and performance requirements are met. Selection at a lower grade level does not guarantee promotion to the full performance level. VA offers a comprehensive total rewards package: HR Specialist Total Rewards Work Schedule: Monday through Friday, 8:00am to 4:30pm. Compressed/Flexible: May be available Telework: VA supports the use of telework as a way to help attract and retain talented individuals in public service, increase worker productivity, and better prepare the agency to operate during emergencies. This position may be authorized for telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Program Support Assistant/PD53003A and PD73256A 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, 09/20/2023. 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. For a GS-06 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-05. 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: GS-05 Specialized Experience: Do you possess at least one (1) full year of specialized experience, which equips you with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the Program Support Assistant, GS-5 position, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled. To be creditable, this specialized experience must have been equivalent to the GS-4 level in Federal service to qualify at the GS-5.Examples of specialized experience include: 1) Gathers relevant documents and data from multiple systems (when necessary) and completes adjustments to customer co-payment accounts as needed to resolve customer requests for debt relief and assistance. 2) Provides timely, accurate and complete responses to customer inquiries from the Health Resource Center using a variety of communication methods including telephone and written correspondence. 3) Conducts follow-up contact with customers through telephonic, electronic or written media to ensure all services provided were proficiently provided and appropriate. 4) Receives, reviews, and routes correspondence and/or prepares responses to customer requests as appropriate. 5) Provides customer service which meets the needs of customers while supporting the mission within the specified guidelines. Note: Evidence of specialized experience must be supported by detailed documentation of duties performed in positions held on your resume. You must provide work experience information such as hours per week, salary, and starting/ending dates of employment (month and year format) to establish you have one (1) full year of Specialized Experience at or comparable to the required grade level. OR Applicants may substitute education for the experience required for the GS-05 level. (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED) Do you possess four years of education above the high school level in any field for which high school graduation or the equivalent is the normal prerequisite? This education must have been obtained in an accredited business, secretarial or technical school, junior college, college or university. One year of full-time academic study is defined as 30 semester hours, 45 quarter hours, or the equivalent in a college or university, or at least 20 hours of classroom instruction per week for approximately 36 weeks in a business, secretarial, or technical school. OR, Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at the GS-05 level. (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED) To calculate, first identify the percentage of required education you have earned (when substituting, you cannot use the first 60 semester hours that you earned). Then identify the percentage of required experience you possess. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify at the GS-05. For example, an applicant who has 9 semester hours of graduate level education (i.e. 50% of graduate education required) and 6 months of creditable specialized experience (i.e. 50% of the required experience) would equal 100% of the required experience for the position. GS-6 Specialized Experience: Do you possess at least one (1) full year of specialized experience, which equips you with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the Program Support Assistant, GS-6 position, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled. To be creditable, this specialized experience must have been equivalent to the GS-5 level in Federal service to qualify at the GS-6.Examples of specialized experience include: 1) Gathers relevant documents and data from multiple systems (when necessary) and completes adjustments to customer co-payment accounts as needed to resolve customer requests for debt relief and assistance. 2) Provides timely, accurate and complete responses to customer inquiries from the Health Resource Center using a variety of communication methods including telephone and written correspondence. 3) Conducts follow-up contact with customers through telephonic, electronic or written media to ensure all services provided were proficiently provided and appropriate. 4) Receives, reviews, and routes correspondence and/or prepares responses to customer requests as appropriate. 5) Provides customer service which meets the needs of customers while supporting the mission within the specified guidelines. 6) Explains financial programs, regulatory requirements and available debt management options. 7) Conducts interviews to ascertain current financial concerns and limitations and identifying issues and barriers of understanding in navigating financial policy. Note: Evidence of specialized experience must be supported by detailed documentation of duties performed in positions held on your resume. You must provide work experience information such as hours per week, salary, and starting/ending dates of employment (month and year format) to establish you have one (1) full year of Specialized Experience at or comparable to the required grade level. Education: Education is not creditable above GS-5 grade level. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Analysis and Problem SolvingAnalytical ReasoningCommunicationConflict Management 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 work is primarily sedentary with long periods of sitting at a desk, working with computers daily. Some work may require walking in offices and similar areas for meetings. 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

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 VA MACPAC Asheville 730 128 Bingham Rd. Suite #500 Asheville, NC 28806 US
• Name: VHA National Recruitment Center
• Phone: (844)456-5208
• Email: [email protected]