Patient Advocacy within VA exists to ensure patient concerns are heard and addressed to improve the overall experience and quality of care for patients. The VA utilizes Patient Advocates and staff members across diverse services/departments who are dedicated to specifically working with patients and their caregivers to resolve complaints that arise at the point of service.

Duties

The Patient Representative is responsible for the coordination and implementation of the Patient Advocate programs. The Patient Representative assists the Chief, Patient Centered Care and Cultural Transformation to enhance the Veterans' health care experience. This position is linked to top management when developing and implementing solutions to concerns addressed by the Customer Service Department and may cross broad organizational lines. Duties may include, but are not limited to: Serves as the liaison between the medical center, patients and staff, and the community regarding the patient experience, patient rights and advocacy. Assure the timely resolution of patient and family complaints, identify and participate in the identification and correction of system issues, educate staff regarding patient centered strategies and collect and analyze data in order to identify trends and patterns that create difficulty for patients or families using the Patient Advocate Tracking System (PATS). Maintain a clear communication between the Veteran population, staff and facility leadership. Responsible for supporting proactive training initiatives including Patient Centered Care Training, New Employee Orientation and New Patient Orientation. Reports and documents patient status and changes, and documents using monthly summaries or quarterly summaries pertaining to both resolved and unresolved patient and/or family concerns. Communicates pertinent information to appropriate parties concisely, accurately and in a timely fashion. Reports significant and relevant information and issues to leadership. Reviews data, performs comprehensive analysis and recommends remedial actions. Assists patients in understanding their rights in addition to their responsibilities. interprets the Medical Center's mission, policies, and procedures, assesses available resources/services/options available to the patient and then represents the patient's problems, opinions and need to appropriate staff and management. Explains entitlements to patients and their families. Overall responsibility for the resolution of patient problems. Receives and listens to complaints and grievances from patients or from individuals on behalf of patients that are unresolved at the service level. 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. Work Schedule: Full Time, Monday-Friday, 8:00am-4:30pm 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. Position Description/PD#: Patient Representative/PD99864S Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 11/02/2023. 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-09 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-07 and 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: GS-09: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-07 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 and skill in Patient Centered Care techniques and practices; applying analytical and evaluative methods and techniques to issues or studies concerning the efficiency and effectiveness of Patient Centered Care program operations; pertinent laws, regulations, policies and precedents which affect all Health System programs and related support resources; Knowledge of agency program goals and objectives; track and analyze data, specifically trends in Patient Experience programs, and prepares and delivers weekly (Daily Management System) and quarterly (Executive Boards) reports to the Executive Leadership; Knowledge of the key issues, program goals, and objectives, work processes, and administrative operations of the organization; adapting analytical techniques and evaluation criteria to the measurement and improvement of program effectiveness and/or organizational productivity; Skill in conducting detailed analyses of complex functions and work processes including examination of production standards; and Interpersonal skills in presenting recommendations and negotiating solutions to disputed recommendations. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have Master's or equivalent graduate degree or 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.B or J.D., if related NOTE: Transcripts must be submitted with application. Education cannot be credited without documentation OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education beyond graduate level education (more than the first year or 18 semester hours) and specialized experience to meet total experience requirements. NOTE: If using education combined with specialized experience to qualify, a copy of your transcript is required. GS-11: Specialized Experience: 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: Knowledge and skill in Patient Centered Care techniques and practices; applying analytical and evaluative methods and techniques to issues or studies concerning the efficiency and effectiveness of Patient Centered Care program operations; pertinent laws, regulations, policies and precedents which affect all Health System programs and related support resources; Knowledge of agency program goals and objectives; track and analyze data, specifically trends in Patient Experience programs, and prepares and delivers weekly (Daily Management System) and quarterly (Executive Boards) reports to the Executive Leadership; Knowledge of the key issues, program goals, and objectives, work processes, and administrative operations of the organization; adapting analytical techniques and evaluation criteria to the measurement and improvement of program effectiveness and/or organizational productivity; Skill in conducting detailed analyses of complex functions and work processes including examination of production standards; and Interpersonal skills in presenting recommendations and negotiating solutions to disputed recommendations. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have Ph.D or equivalent graduate degree or 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.B or J.D., if related NOTE: Transcripts must be submitted with application. Education cannot be credited without documentation OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education beyond graduate level education (more than the first year or 18 semester hours) and specialized experience to meet total experience requirements. NOTE: If using education combined with specialized experience to qualify, a copy of your transcript is required. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Conflict ManagementCustomer ServiceInfluencing/NegotiatingInterpersonal SkillsListeningTeamwork 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, 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 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 VA SALT LAKE CITY HCS 500 Foothill Drive Salt Lake City, UT 84148 US
• Name: Victoria Becoat
• Phone: 970-263-5042
• Email: [email protected]