The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) supports the provision of patient care using telehealth technologies which increase a Veteran's access to care and support a Veteran's self-management. These technologies may include, but are not limited to, Clinical Video Telehealth (CVT), Store and Forward Telehealth (SFT), Video Conferencing, VA Video Connect (VVC), Home Telehealth (HT), and other telehealth applications.

Duties

The incumbent performs a full range of duties and is responsible for day-to-day operation of telehealth services at the assigned location and between the assigned location and remote sites of care as well as participating in the programmatic development and advanced support of the facility-wide telehealth program. The incumbent is expected to be able to exercise independent judgement and will often provide guidance to less experienced staff members and will require minimal direct supervision. This advanced position functions above the full performance level and therefore requires the performance of higher-level duties which must consist of significant scope, complexity (difficulty) and range of variety and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time. The higher-level duties associated with this advanced-level position may include, but are not limited to: - coordinating, installing, maintaining and managing the inventory of telehealth technologies including hardware and software with assistance of Biomed and IT; - providing established standardized competency based training, guidance and information on the use of advanced telehealth technologies to patients, staff, and providers; - participating in performance improvement activities aimed at improving the efficiency of the patient telehealth processes; - developing reporting procedures, sampling techniques and measurements at various points in the telehealth processes to identify/analyze inherent weaknesses in work and procedures; - coordinating clinic set up and monitoring of workload capture and issues for assigned patient and provider clinics including telehealth resource based scheduling; Full performance level assignments associated with this position include: - preparing the clinical environment, which may include preparing medical and telecommunications equipment to be used for clinical examination and treatment; - serving as a telepresenter, within scope of practice, during clinical video telehealth (CVT) and VA Video Connect (VVC) encounters including tasks such as establishing and maintaining video conferencing connections, making introductions between patient site and provider site, following instructions of a clinician to facilitate an effective clinical encounter; - taking measures to ensure patient care is delivered safely by following appropriate procedures for the cleaning of clinical equipment and the care environment while following all patient safety guidelines, protocols, and procedures; - ensuring that patient privacy is protected by complying with all information security and patient privacy regulations; - referring patients to providers for screening for Telehealth; - monitoring and maintaining schedules of rooms, patients, technologies, clinical providers and presenters as needed to ensure efficient telehealth operations; - providing patient education via approved materials; - coordinating and. or directly configuring, installing, troubleshooting, inventory management, cleaning, and performing minor routine maintenance of assigned telehealth technology; - ensuring information and resources are maintained for local and remote telehealth providers so they can effectively execute contingency and emergency plans; - completing other duties as assigned. Work Schedule: M-F 7:30-4pm Telework schedules: may be authorized FLSA: non Exempt BU Status: BU Financial Disclosure Report: NOT required Pay: Competitive salary, annual performance bonus, regular salary increases. Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5 years' vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA. Insurance: Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement). Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019. The position involves work that is mainly sedentary but requires some bending, walking, standing and lifting/carrying (under 15lb) of supplies, patient records, staff and patient mail. Some assignments may involve more frequent walking, but these assignments may involve more frequent walking, but these assignments require no unusual physical demands to perform work. Work Environment: Work is performed primarily in a patient care setting; adequately lighted, temperature controlled, and ventilated. Office temperatures fluctuate periodically; involves everyday risks or discomforts which require normal safety precautions typical of such places as clinics, offices, meeting and training rooms or libraries; exposure to noise and dust on occasion. The incumbent may be exposed to infected patients and contaminated materials and may be required to don protective clothing in isolation situations or operative/invasive procedures.

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 11/15/2023. Basic Requirements: United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy. Experience. One year of experience in a health care field that demonstrates the applicant's ability to perform the work or provides an understanding of the work such as but not limited to a medical or clinical assistant (or technician) or health technician. OR Education. Four academic years above high school leading to a bachelor's degree with courses related to the occupation. OR Experience/Education Combination. Equivalent combination of experience and education are qualifying for entry level for which both education and experience are acceptable. Examples are listed below: (a) Six months of experience in the health care field and two years of education above high school that included at least six semester hours in health care related courses such as, biological science, surgical technician courses, nursing assistant or other courses related to the position; or an associate's degree in a health care related field; or (b) Six months of experience in the health care field and successful completion of a course for health care technicians, hospital corpsmen, or medical service specialists given by the U.S. Armed Forces. PREFERRED EXPERIENCE: Excellent communication skills and ability to work with interdisciplinary team. Flexibility, dependability, and adaptability are extremely important. Current BLS Certification issues by the American Heart Association Grade Determinations: In addition to the basic requirements for employment, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates. References: VA Handbook 5005/96, Part II, Appendix G50, HEALTH TECHNICIAN (TELEHEALTH CLINICAL), Qualification Standards. This can be found in the local Human Resources Office. Health Technician (Telehealth Clinical), GS-7 (Advanced) (1) Experience. One year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level. (2) Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs. -Ability to use independent technical judgment to analyze, evaluate and resolve problems. - Knowledge of quality control and assurance procedures and principles of performance improvement. - Ability to function effectively between competing priorities. - Knowledge of proper maintenance and troubleshooting of telehealth equipment. - Ability to work with a team to provide technical guidance, plan, organize and coordinate activities of a health technician in order to effectively complete job duties of assignment such as distributing workload, monitoring the status and progress of work, monitoring accuracy of work. -Ability to assist in Health Technician (Telehealth Clinical) development, outcome management and strategic planning. -Ability to perform successful knowledge transfer regarding the use of telehealth technologies. Assignment. At the Advanced Health Technician (Telehealth Clinical) level, the incumbent will monitor and capture workload credit, develop reporting procedures and participate in performance improvement activities aimed at improving patient care access and Telehealth processes. This would include; sampling techniques, taking measurements at various points in the telehealth process; and develop and provide reporting procedures that identifies and analyzes inherent weaknesses in work and telehealth procedures. The incumbent will coordinate and work with Biomed and IT staff for the installation and upgrade of hardware and software for all telehealth technologies; will be responsible for advanced telehealth technical support to patients, staff and providers; provides technical consultation and support for staff and patients via phone, web chat, social media and face to face sessions; provides instruction, training and resources on the use of advanced telehealth technologies to patients, staff and providers alike for the delivery of care using telehealth technologies. For all assignments above the full performance level, the higher level duties must consist of significant scope, complexity (difficulty) and range of variety and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time.

Education

IMPORTANT: 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 Huntington VA Medical Center 1540 Spring Valley Drive Huntington, WV 25704 US
• Name: Ronald Richardson
• Email: [email protected]