Patient Advocacy within VA exists to ensure patient concerns are heard and addressed to improve the overall experience and quality of care for patients. Patient Advocacy utilizes Patient Advocates, as well as, 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

Major duties include but are not limited to: The Patient Advocate is tasked with managing the facility VCCR process, including complaint resolution, data capture and analysis of issues/complaints to make system improvements. All inquiries (compliments or complaints) no matter how a facility receives them (e.g., in person, email, voicemail, congressional, mail, survey, MyHealtheVet, etc.) must be documented in the Patient Advocate Tracking System (PATS), routed to the point of service, resolved, coded and closed. Patient Advocates assist SLAs and front-line staff in resolving issues that occur at the point of service, while also addressing more complex complaints that were not able to be resolved at the point of service. Serves as the liaison between the Facility, patients, staff, and the community, ensuring Patient Rights and Responsibilities, advocacy, and services are available. Assists patients in understanding their rights, in addition to, their responsibilities. Provides a channel through which patients can seek solutions to problems, concerns, and unmet needs, recognizing that complaints are a gap between service expectations and the actual experience of the patient. Patient Advocates work directly with health care teams, Service Chiefs, and management to facilitate resolution to problems beyond the capability of front-line staff and participate in resolution of system problems by presenting the patient's perspective of the problem and the desired resolution. Interprets the Facility's mission, policies, procedures, and available resources/services to the patient and presents the patient's concern, opinions, and needs to appropriate staff and management. Represents the Facility Director in safeguarding and ensuring ethical, statutory, and constitutional rights of patients are met. Assists patients, their families and representatives, and facility staff members in recognizing and removing institutional barriers to the provision of optimum health care to patients. Serves as a staff member directly supporting facility Executive Leadership responsible for planning, organization, development, direction and evaluation of VA Medical Facility administration. Ensures VHA Patient Advocacy goals, policy and requirements are met by collecting, analyzing, and evaluating relevant data, and preparing meaningful reports based on that data. The Patient Advocate works to identify the elements of clinical or administrative practices which contribute to or create an atmosphere for patient dissatisfaction and recommends appropriating official changes which will reduce or eliminate substantiated complaints. The Patient Advocate serves on committees whereby patient complaints are identified, resolved, classified, and the data is utilized to improve overall services to patients. The incumbent presents patient issues and data at various facility meetings and committees. Incumbent provides trends of patient inquiries at service and facility levels. 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: Monday - Friday 7:30a.m.- 4:00p.m. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Patient Representative/PD99864A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not approved 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, 12/06/2023. 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. 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: To qualify for this position at the GS-09 level, you must meet one of the following: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Routinely displays courteous and respectful behavior; Provides advice that is timely, responsive and accurate; Protects printed and electronic files containing sensitive data; Complaint resolution with service recovery, receiving compliments, working with SLAs to help resolve issues and concerns and communicating with patients about their experiences of care; Knowledgeable of hospital systems; Knowledge of Federal Laws, VA eligibility regulations and directives governing medical benefits for Veterans. 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 . OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education directly related to the work of the position as outlined above that meets the requirements of the position. Only education in excess of the first year (18 semester hours) may be used to qualify applicants for the GS-09 level. (i.e., 1.5 years, or 27 semester hours, of progressive graduate education leading towards a master's degree would meet 50% of the qualification requirement.) NOTE: If using education combined with specialized experience to qualify, a copy of your transcript is required.. To qualify for this position at the GS-11 level, you must meet one of the following: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Comprehensive knowledge of the principles and practices, federal laws, regulations, policies and procedures governing eligibility, benefits, care, access, services, clinical appeals, and privacy and skill in applying this extensive knowledge to the most difficult and complex problems which patients. This involves knowledge of complex policies of various agencies and organizations. Plays a critical role in the development and coordination of methods, approaches, and systems to ensure both clinical and administrative activities are in compliance with agency, accrediting, regulatory requirements, and medical ethics, especially as they pertain to patient rights. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have successfully completed a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree, or 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree, or an LL.M. if related that demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of this position. 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 equivalent combination of successfully completed education and specialized experience directly related to the work of the position as outlined above that meets the requirements of the position. Only education in excess of a master's or equivalent graduate education may be used to qualify applicants for the GS-11 level. 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: Analysis and Problem SolvingCommunicationConflict ManagementCritical ThinkingCustomer ServiceManages 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: 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 Chalmers P Wylie Veterans Outpatient Clinic 420 North James Road Columbus, OH 43219 US
• Name: Marc Nicholas
• Email: [email protected]