The VA Northeast Ohio Healthcare System is recruiting for a Patient Services Assistant. The Patient Services Assistant will function in Travel in the Patient Care Administrative Service.

Duties

Independently manage the Beneficiary Travel Program Provides travel reimbursement and/or transportation at Government expense to beneficiaries and their attendants traveling to and from VA facilities and other places for the purpose of examination, treatment or care. Correctly determining eligibility for the program, and processing requests. Assists as backup to the Veterans Transportation Service (VTS) coordinator in accordance with the VTS program. Assess veterans' eligibility for VTS as well as coordinating transportation arrangements for the program. Verifies purpose of travel, makes determinations on special requests and modes of transportation and contacts clinical staff for additional information, if necessary. Determines veteran eligibility status for Beneficiary Travel reimbursement and completing travel payment vouchers. Ensures all beneficiary travel reimbursement claims are entered into BTSSS, or corresponding system used for entering beneficiary travel reimbursement claims. Enter travel claims received from veterans and review the accuracy of requests and eligibility determination. Manages organizing and scanning documents associated with travel reimbursement claims into CPRS VISTA Imaging software. Reviews medical records; forwards for supervisory approval and submits all documents for payment utilizing appropriate control points for reference. Coordinates forwarding all claims certified for payment to Fiscal Service for processing. Writes or selects appropriate letters explaining disposition of travel reimbursement claims. Explains the regulatory guidelines to beneficiaries submitting any travel reimbursement claims to the VAMC for consideration of payment. Communicate with Mobility Manager regarding technical problems of claims, and will be responsible for balancing, reconciling, and adjusting invoices for payment. 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#: Patient Services Assistant (Travel)/PD01901A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: 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, 09/30/2023. 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-6 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-5. 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. Applicants must be eligible under the VA Interchange Agreement, having served continuously for at least one year in the other merit system under this interchange agreement. For more information regarding the VA Interchange Agreement please visit: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/hiring-authorities/competitive-hiring/. All Title 38 Veterans Canteen Service (VCS) employees must have served in their Excepted Service position for at least 90 days in order to be eligible for a position within the Competitive Service. Applicants who were previously selected under a Competitive Delegating Examining Unit (DEU) announcement must have served in their position for at least 90 days prior to being eligible for other positions within the Competitive Service. In addition to the qualification above you must also have: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-05 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include but are not limited to knowledge of the priorities, commitments and goals for the Travel Unit, comprehensive knowledge of various services available at the facility; a thorough knowledge of the laws and regulations pertaining to eligibility and entitlement for benefits; the ability to work under considerable pressure and plan workload without halting or interrupting the operation as a whole by showing initiative in completing priority tasks; the ability to work rapidly with a high degree of accuracy; dependable and able to use good judgment, and effectively and properly analyzes and evaluates all situations to ensure that the Veteran's welfare is protected; skilled in establishing and maintaining effective working relationship with patients, relatives, and hospital staff; possesses good communication skills, and exhibits high skills in oral communication techniques with particular emphasis placed on interviewing. 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 sedentary. Typically, the employee sits comfortably to do the work. However, there may be some walking; standing; bending; carrying of light items such as papers, books, small parts; or driving an automobile, etc. No special physical demands are required to perform the work. 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

There is no educational substitution at this grade level.

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 Northeast Ohio Healthcare System 10701 East Boulevard Cleveland, OH 44106 US
• Name: Teela Grant
• Phone: 216-791-2300
• Email: [email protected]