This position serves as the Facility Lead Patient Advocate. This position is a key point of contact for patients and staff and to work in collaboration with facility Patient Advocates on complex issues or complaints where use of tact, diplomacy, sound judgment, compassion, flexibility, and a good sense of humor are extremely important.

Duties

Patient Advocacy within VA exists to ensure patient concerns are heard and addressed to improve the overall experience and quality of care for patients. Effective, high-functioning Patient Advocacy is integral to fulfilling the goal of providing Veterans with world-class health care. Major duties and responsibilities include: Team Lead, Data Management and Process Improvement Leads the team and provides the day-to-day work direction, review, and distribution, balance, and adjustment of workload Monitors and reports on the progress of the team's work and provides updates to the supervisor Coaches and develops the team using appropriate tools and techniques to address a variety of issues and situations Oversees general administrative issues regarding subordinates' leave, scheduling, appointments, etc. Provides the team formal and informal training information related to patient advocacy service, customer service, techniques, and resources needed to educate themselves Provides higher-level data management and analysis function for the Patient Advocate team Develops and maintains organizational dashboards and data sets Regularly produces cumulative reports which includes a categorization of patient inquiries to track and trend the patterns to identify opportunities for improvement Complaint Resolution Leads and oversees the facility Veteran Centered Complaint Resolution (VCCR) process, including complaint resolution, data capture, and analysis of issues/complaints to make system improvements Works in collaboration with Patient Advocates, Service-Level Advocates (SLAs), and front-line staff to resolve complex issues that occur at the point of service or due to further investigation of the problem(s) Addresses complaints and proactively explores all avenues to identify the nature and scope of the problems and initiates appropriate action to expedite resolutions Patient Advocate Representation and Relationship Management Serves as the liaison between the facility, patients, staff, and the community, ensuring Patients understand their rights, in addition to, their responsibilities Determines causes of patient dissatisfaction, misinformation, or complaints and documents patient encounters and contacts appropriate services to establish resolutions Leads and ensures that rounds throughout the facility are conducted on a routine basis to solicit patient feedback and build strong relationships with SLAs and service leadership. Leads staff in responding to patients' inquiries through multiple VA approved forms of contact (e.g., Inquiry Routing and Information System (IRIS), My HealtheVet, Secure Messaging, E-mail, Phone, Walk-in, Town Halls, etc.), where patients pose questions, complaints, compliments, and suggestions. Work Schedule: Monday- Friday 8:00am-4:30pm Telework: Not available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Lead Patient Representative/PD99734S Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): 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, 10/26/2023. Time-In-Grade Requirement GS-12: 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-12 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-11. 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. Award 50's do not provide sufficient information and will not be accepted for the purpose of verifying 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 as described below: Specialized Experience GS-12: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade (GS-11) in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would include, but are not limited to: Working directly with health care teams and management as a patient advocate to facilitate resolution to problems; ensuring patient advocacy goals, policy and requirements are met; collecting, analyzing, and evaluating relevant data; identifying existing or potential problem areas and suggesting solutions or alternatives; serving as a liaison between a medical facility, patients, and staff to ensure Patient Rights and Responsibilities, advocacy, and services are available. NOTE: Experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month and year start/end dates AND hours worked per week. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Customer Service Communication Skills Conflict Management Critical Thinking Analysis and Problem Solving 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 and Work Environment: The work includes walking, standing, bending, carrying of light items, and occasionally assisting with a wheelchair. In some instances, relationships with patients and caregivers can become intense and the incumbent is constantly exposed to high levels of stress and anxiety. This position demands emotional stability, as the incumbent is deeply involved with many challenging, seriously ill, and/or dying patients and their caregivers. The work environment involves the normal risks typical of an office with the additional risk of dealing with patients who may be hostile and/or are not in touch with reality. Visits are routine to the units/clinics, as well as administrative offices in the Facility. This position may encounter patients with medically emergent needs/situations and illnesses/conditions that are considered infectious. 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 Atlanta VA Medical Center 1670 Clairmont Road Decatur, GA 30033 US
• Name: VHA National Recruitment Center
• Phone: (844)456-5208
• Email: [email protected]