The Albany VA Healthcare System is recruiting for a Medical Administrative Specialist (Administrative Officer of the Day -AOD). The Medical Administrative Specialist will function in the Business Office.

Duties

The duties of the Medical Administrative Specialist include, but are not limited to: Delegated full authority of the Manager, Veterans Service Center, for administrative activities occurring on tour. Interprets VA rules and regulations relating to determining legal entitlement for benefits regarding hospital admissions, nursing home, dental, fee basis, and outpatient care; prosthetic appliances; patient transfer; and beneficiary travel. Authorized as certifying officer for documents pertaining to the administration of laws concerning VA. Coordinates the resolution of medical-legal problems concerning the Medical Center. Ensures that appropriate legal, regulatory and policy requirements are met. Processes administrative issues surrounding beneficiary death, seriously ill cases, elopements, suicides, assaults, deaths on arrival (DOA's),homicides, code blue, cost recovery matters and facility or community disasters, etc. Assumes control of communications and notifications in the event of local and civil disasters. in accordance with medical facility disaster plan. During other than normal tours, provides administrative authority, guidance and advice to the Hospitalist and all clinical staff concerning administrative matters necessary for operation of the Medical Center. Provides orientation and situational technical advice to physicians regarding VA policies and procedures. Assists Medical Center staff with medically related legal problems, including involuntary commitments, orders of protective custody and management of unruly or severely disturbed patients. Performs for administrative matters, working as a team to carry out top management responsibilities during other than working hours. Promotes harmonious working relationship among patients, public and staff. Directly intervenes when problems regarding patient activity occurs, advising clinical staff of appropriate administrative action. Observes, evaluates and coordinates administrative activities with Information Systems. Facilities Management, Laboratory, Radiology, Nursing, among others. Coordinates non-routine contacts received at the Medical Center after regular operating hours. Receives and responds to non-routine patient condition inquiries and other administrative inquiries from concerned Veterans, families, visitors, law enforcement officials, representatives from private hospitals, Veterans Service Organizations representatives, VA Central Office, Congressional Offices, military personnel, private physicians, media and the general public. The AOD oversees determination of applicants' eligibility; income and insurance verification information for appropriate non-service connected applicants; counseling non-service connected veterans to determine ability to defray cost of medical care elsewhere. Determines extent of release of medical or social data from patients' records. Safeguards and ensures rights of patient. Maintains good public and media relations. Establishes and maintains liaison with Public Affairs Officer, whenever applicable. Releases appropriate information to news media and public in accordance with VA regulations, VA Medical Center policy and Privacy Act and Freedom of Information Act requirements. Administratively approves and coordinates tests and procedures which cannot be done at this Medical Center. Locates available source and authorizes VA payment of services at community hospitals or resolves in accordance with established sharing arrangements. Coordinates patient referrals and transfers to and from the Medical Center. Prepares daily Gains and Losses Sheet and other related statistical reports. Maintains current be inventory; obtains bed availability for treatment needs. Provides daily report/log of all activities occurring during tour of duty. Briefs incoming shift of pending events. Delegated authority to act on behalf of the Director to initiate actions dealing with any disaster situation, in accordance with hospital-wide disaster plan. Responds to emergencies, determines priorities and nature of action to be taken; authorizes services, supplies and personnel; notifies authorities as situation dictates. Observes for safety, potential problems and takes corrective actions. 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.

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 12/12/2023. 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-07 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-05. For a GS-09 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-07. 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: Specialized Experience: GS-07 Medical Administrative Specialist GS-07Specialized Experience: You must possess one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-05 level in the Federal service. Specialized experience is defined as experience which equipped you with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities required to perform successfully the duties of the Medical Administration Specialist, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position. Examples of specialized experience include: explaining or providing guidance on laws, regulations, policies, standards, or procedures to management, and personnel; recommending improvements or solutions to problems, or determines appropriate actions; entering data or other information into computer; analyzing or interpreting data or other information. OR, GS-07 Education: You must possess one year of graduate-level education or Superior Academic Achievement (SAA). One year of full-time graduate education is considered to be the number of credit hours that the school attended has determined to represent one year of full-time study. If that number cannot be obtained from the school, 18 semester hours should be considered an academic year of graduate study. SAA is based on class standing (upper third), GPA of 3.0 or above based on four years of education, or honor society membership. OR, GS-07 Combination of Experience and Education: You must possess a combination of experience and education to qualify at the GS-7 level. This will be computed by first determining your total qualifying experience as a percentage of the experience required for the grade level; then determining your education as a percentage of the education required for the grade level; and then adding the two percentages. The total percentages must equal at least 100 percent to qualify. For example if you possess nine semester hours of graduate education (50% of the education requirement) and six months of qualifying experience (50% of specialized experience requirement) you meet 100% of the requirement and be qualified. GS-09 Medical Administrative Specialist GS-09 Specialized Experience: You must possess one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-07 level in the Federal service. Specialized experience is defined as experience which equipped you with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities required to perform successfully the duties of the Medical Administration Specialist, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position. Examples of specialized experience include: assisting in processing administrative issues; acquires and maintains a working knowledge of relevant laws, regulations, policies, standards, or procedures; promoting and maintaining good working relationships with key individuals or groups; monitoring, maintaining, and updating data, records, or other information; reviewing reports, documents, records, data, or other materials to verify completeness, correctness, consistency, and compliance; notifying individuals of decisions, problems, or further actions needed. OR, GS-09 Education: You must possess a Master's or equivalent graduate degree or two full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree, or an LL.B or J.D., if related. OR, GS-09 Combination of Experience and Education: You must possess a combination of education and experience to qualify at the GS-09 level. Only graduate education in excess of the amount required for the GS-07 level (1 year) may be used to qualify. For example, the position to be filled is a Medical Administration Specialist. You have six months of specialized experience equivalent to GS-07 and one year of graduate level education. You meet 50 percent of the required experience, but none of the required education, since you do not have any graduate education beyond the GS-07. Therefore, you meet only 50 percent of the total requirement and are not qualified for the position. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: CommunicationsComplianceComputer SkillsSecuritySystems Thinking 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 is primarily sedentary, although some light physical effort may be required. There may be some walking; standing; bending; carrying of light items including training paperwork or manuals, or small equipment, such as laptop computers, mobile LCD projectors; or driving an automobile. Incumbent may be susceptible to eyestrain from working long hours on the computer. 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 Samuel S Stratton VA Medical Center - Albany 113 Holland Ave Albany, NY 12208 US
• Name: Christina Morel
• Phone: 845-831-2000 X215041
• Email: [email protected]