The Supervisory Patient Representative establishes the overall objectives of the Patient Advocacy Program and determines the allocation of staff and resources to ensure that any complaints, difficulties, or delays in the delivery of timely health care brought to the attention of the program are resolved expeditiously.

Duties

Major duties include but are not limited to: Assists patients by providing a channel through which they can seek solutions to problems, concerns and urgent needs, and in understanding their rights and responsibilities. Serves as an "advocate" for patients throughout the facility. Receives and listens to complaints and grievances from patients or from individuals on behalf of patients. Develops and provides in-service education, as necessary, to bring awareness to the hospital staff of the patient's perception of their facility experience, thereby contributing to improved staff understanding of attitudes. Assist with public relations involving patients to increase community and patient awareness of military health care resources. Authorized to directly contact any member of the hospital staff concerning any matter or problem relating to patient care which has not been resolved by other services and to seek a resolution, whenever possible, within the full resources of the medical center and VA system. When a problem area or complaint is identified, it is expected to explore all avenues, crossing all lines of authority and responsibility within the medical center, in order to properly identify the nature and scope of the problem and to initiate appropriate action to expedite a resolution. Assists patients, their families and representatives and facility staff members in recognizing and removing institutional barriers to the provision of optimum health care to Veterans, identifies existing and potential problem areas, and suggests solutions or alternatives to existing procedures which contribute to these problems. Provides input to, or serves as a member of, various committees which review patient care and issues for Quality Improvement and Risk Management/Quality Assurance. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 7:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. 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 adhoc telework. Adhoc telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Supervisory Patient Representative/PD111150 Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 10/24/2023. 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-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. 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: 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 typically include, but are not limited to: Interpreting the Medical Center's mission, policies, procedures, and available resource/services to the patient and presents the patient's problems, opinions and needs to appropriate staff and management; Maintaining liaison with congressional offices, responding directly to their staff assistants when appropriate on matters involving a patient's dissatisfaction; Acting to resolve problems, expedite services or implement necessary corrective measures within established facility policies and, where appropriate, through committee participation; and Producing cumulative reports which include categorization of patient inquiries to track/ trend patterns and identify opportunities for improvement of care. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Customer Service Communications Conflict Management Performance Measurement 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 includes walking, standing, sitting, bending, and carrying of light items such as medical records and occasionally helping with the a wheelchair. 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 Birmingham VA Medical Center 700 South 19th Street Birmingham, AL 35233 US
• Name: VHA National Recruitment Center
• Phone: (844)456-5208
• Email: [email protected]