This position serves as a Patient/Veteran Experience Officer (PXO), organizationally reporting to the Assistant Director. This position is located within a Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Western North Carolina VA Health Care System (WNCVAHCS) at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The mission of the VHA is to honor America's Veterans by providing exceptional health care that improves their health and well-being.

Duties

The primary purpose of the Health Systems Specialist is to serve as a Patient Experience Officer, Western North Carolina VA Health Care System, and is responsible for all functions related to Patient Experience matters including patient experience efforts, policies and activities which may be developed at the National, VISN and HCS levels. The incumbent will be responsible for Patient Experience, Employee Engagement, and patient-centered models of care initiatives, including development and implementation as well as ensuring the employee understanding and ownership of the patient experience focused culture. The duties and responsibilities include but are not limited to the following: The incumbent will be the facility's key person to lead efforts of building, sustaining, and implementing Patient Experience and Employee Engagement practices and environments to promote the culture of positive patient experiences using a patient-centered approach. The incumbent will also consider those who support patients such as staff, family, caregivers, visitors and the community. Responsible for bringing systems and process together to function seamlessly, promoting a culture that considers the needs of many key stakeholders, identifying opportunities to improve experiences, prioritizing and designing action plans for leadership endorsement. The incumbent will respond to current Patient Experience affairs and proactively plan for a sustainable culture that is patient centric and enhances the patient experience. The incumbent's primary role is to enhance the patient experiences through proactive approaches based on satisfaction and experience data; resolutions to complaints; identification and correction of system issues impacting experience and satisfaction; education of staff regarding efforts and strategies; and application of data analysis to identify trends and patterns that may negatively impact experiences. Responsible for translating policies, theories and strategies into action within the complex interrelationships that exist related to the Patient Experience Model and customer service programs. Responsible for leading and implementation of the Patient Experience initiatives, including but not limited, initiatives for clinicians, management, and support personnel at the local facility to foster the culture centered around the patient. Responsible for maintaining clear communication at the local facility on patient experience efforts, both to communicate relevant Patient experience information and lessons learned which have potential spread impact and to gain insight of opportunities for the local facility to improve or sustain positive practices. Lead, coordinate, and monitor the continuous improvement of patient experience Work with senior executives to establish strong commitment and support for improving patient experience Educate managers and line employees in the philosophy and techniques of patient experience improvement and service recovery Promote an organization-wide approach to patient-centeredness and engagement Engage the workforce to sustain patient experience initiatives Serve as a change agent and work closely with hospital leaders in identifying priority areas, developing goals, planning improvement, and measuring effective Serve as the subject matter expert on established and evolving best practices related to patient engagement and patient experience Develop and articulate an organizational patient experience strategy Facilitate development of detailed work plans related to patient experience Collaborate with departments and units to operationalize the patient experience strategy Set objectives and benchmark performance Benchmarking customer satisfaction at regular intervals throughout the medical center to include primary care, inpatient, community care, emergency management, GEC, and a variety of Specialty services, against national, VISN, and similar community and VA programs. Performs other duties as assigned Work Schedule: M-F 7:30AM - 4:00PM 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#: Program Specialist/PD038330 Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 01/08/2024. 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-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-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 of planning, coordination, and execution of business functions, resource allocation, and production. Organizes work, sets priorities, and determines resource requirements; determines short- or long-term goals and strategies to achieve them; coordinates with other organizations or parts of the organization to accomplish goals; monitors progress and evaluates outcomes. Knowledge of the methods, techniques, and tools used to analyze program, organizational, and mission performance; includes methods that deliver key performance information. Serves as a patient "advocate" providing education regarding Veteran benefits, entitlement, and eligibility on health care. Collects, analyzes, and evaluate data generated and produce meaningful reports. Provides a channel to patients and seek solutions to problems, concerns, and unmet needs. Collaborates with health care providers, support staff in preventing and resolving patient complaints. Prepares, monitors, evaluated and analyze data, identifies discrepancies, make corrections, recommends a course of action. Anticipates needed changes and improvements in Veteran care. ~OR~ Education: Applicants may also qualify for this position using their education. Applicants are required to 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 LL.M., if related. ~ OR~ Combination: Combinations of successfully completed post-high school education and experience may be used to meet total qualification requirements for the grade levels specified in the table, and may be computed by first determining the applicant's total qualifying experience as a percentage of the experience required for the grade level; then determining the applicant's 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 an applicant for that grade level. Only graduate education in excess of the amount required for the next lower grade level may be used to qualify applicants for positions at grades GS-9 and GS-11. (When crediting education that requires specific course work, prorate the number of hours of related courses required as a proportion of the total education to be used.) You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Administration and ManagementManages Human ResourcesOrganizational Performance AnalysisPlanning 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: The regular and recurring work of this position is sedentary in nature and involves sitting at a desk, conferences, meetings, etc., and visits to facility work sites. Occasional use of automobile and public conveyances may be required. No special physical exertion is required. Work Environment: Work is typically performed in an adequately lighted and climate-controlled office within the VA Medical Center with veterans, family members and staff. Visits are necessary to in-patient units, clinics and other areas of the Medical Center. 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: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

Contacts

• Address Charles George VA Medical Center 1100 Tunnel Road Asheville, NC 28805 US
• Name: John Westling
• Phone: 828-333-3451
• Email: [email protected]