The position is aligned under the MGVAMC Fiscal Service and incumbent reports directly to the Veterans Transportation Program Mobility Manager. This position is a Travel Assistant (Beneficiary Travel Clerk), at the facility level, and acts as primary contact to Veterans for transportation needs.

Duties

The incumbent will independently manage the BT Program. The BT department administers beneficiary travel program benefits to beneficiaries and their attendants who meet eligibility criteria. The BT program provides transportation at Government expense to beneficiaries and their attendants traveling to and from VA facilities and other places for examination, treatment or care for the staff and clinical personnel, acting as professionals and team members. Incumbent is the first contact with the Veterans and makes the first impression. He or she serves as a critical link to patient's access to care and clinic efficiency. Incumbent utilizes various software applications to accurately determine and/or verify Veteran eligibility and amount owed for travel reimbursement according to national and local rules, regulations and Standard Operating Procedures (SOP). This will include correctly determining eligibility for the program, and processing requests. It will also include correctly determining which of several Fund Control Points (FCP), to utilize, entering authorizations, maintaining manual and electronic accounting records, performing regular reconciliations and adjusting account balances. He/she will contact the approving official to authorize obligations and requests for additions, deductions, and/or movement of funds. The incumbent will assist veterans with waiver applications when Veteran has experienced a major change in income for the current year or is requesting deductible be waived due to financial hardship. Incumbent reviews clinical requests for transportation at VA expense utilizing the Computerized Patient Record system (CPRS), and determines best mode of transportation i.e., VTS, common carrier or special mode based on cost effectiveness and patient medical needs. Arranges complex transport, i.e. ambulance and air ambulance for patients adhering to provider specifications of mode of transport, ensuring that mode is correctly denoted according to the patient's medical condition. Coordinates patient transfer with other VAs ensuring the patient arrives at a specified time for admission. Properly annotates travel arrangement in patient record, and, when needed, sends veteran travel itinerary. Accurately arranges and coordinates air ambulance travel for eligible veterans for organ/tissue transplants or other inter-facility transfers, prepare authorizations for travel by taxi and/or other hired vehicles. Makes travel arrangements from basic information from the traveler to resolve problems. Work Schedule: 8:00 am - 4:30 pm, Monday - Friday 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. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Transportation Assistant/PD70537A Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement, 12/04/2023. 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-06 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-05. 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-5 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Ability to apply extensive transportation regulations, methods and practices to perform a wide variety of interrelated or nonstandard transportation support assignments and resolve a wide range of problems. Knowledge of how to organize and maintain documentation and records supporting beneficiary travel reimbursements and vendor payments. Knowledge of validation, control and maintaining accounting records for many travel accounts and make frequent dollar amount adjustments of those accounts. NOTE: 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 their resume. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Customer ServicePlanning and EvaluatingTechnical Competence 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: Work involves various physical demands requiring the employee to be versatile in the many functions performed. These include sedentary work performed at a desk with intermittent standing, walking, bending, and lifting of lightweight records or supplies. The duties and responsibilities of the position require some mobility between various clinic areas in separate building location sites, but generally the job is sedentary with some standing, stooping, reaching and lifting to 20 pounds. The employee is required to work with computer equipment at least 75% of the time which impacts on hand and wrist motions. 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.

Contacts

• Address Jonathan M Wainwright Memorial VA Medical Center 77 Wainwright Drive Walla Walla, WA 99362 US
• Name: Athena Houck
• Phone: 361-277-9613
• Email: [email protected]