The incumbent serves as a Supervisory Patient Advocate within the Anchorage VA Health Care System in Anchorage, Alaska. On behalf of the VA Medical Facility Director, this position functions as the key driver and champion for developing, maintaining, and enhancing the local Patient Advocacy program. This includes leading a variety of highly visible and complex patient concerns, issues and contacts for the facility to document and provide resolution.

Duties

Supervisory Responsibilities (25%) The incumbent oversees and provides supervisory and program direction for the Patient Advocacy program. Supervisory responsibilities include planning the work (workload management), setting and adjusting the priorities to prepare the schedules for completion of work. Assigning the work based on priorities and capabilities of the employee. Advising and providing counsel to employees regarding policies, procedures, and directives of management responsibilities. Selecting or recommending selection of candidates for vacancies, promotions, details, and reassignments in consideration of skills and qualifications, mission requirements, and Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) and diversity objectives. Developing, modifying, and/or interpreting performance standards. Explaining performance expectations to employees and providing regular feedback on strengths and weaknesses. Holding employees accountable for satisfactory completion of work assignments. Other supervisory duties in accordance with Position Description 463-0410-O. Program Management (40%) Serves as the subject matter expert for the management and coordination of the complaint management process. Provides oversight for all Veterans Experience and Patient Advocate activities including intake, service recovery, de-escalation, service line engagements, complaint resolution and closure, patient satisfaction, documentation, and communication. Initiates interdisciplinary projects to improve organizational performance and process/procedures. Provides and promotes exceptional customer satisfaction throughout the facility. Provides effective management, detailed analysis, and oversight of the effectiveness of the Patient Advocacy and Veteran Experience programs. Establishes criteria and designs systems/processes for continuous internal reviews and feedback mechanisms. Monitors and analyzes changes in mission, goals, new policies, and technological advances to assess the impact of the changes and to develop new strategies to address these changes. Other program management duties in accordance with Position Description 463-0410-O. Cultural Transformation and Relationship Management (35%) Ensures rounds throughout the facility are conducted on a routine basis to obtain patient feedback, increase the visibility of he Patient Advocate role, and promote the availability of services provided. Works directly with Service Chiefs and management to build strong, working relationships. Utilizes these relationships to resolve problems beyond the capability of front-line staff. Participates in resolving system-level issues by presenting the patient's perspective of the problem and the desired resolution. The incumbent must have tact, good judgement, empathy, flexibility, and the ability to work with diverse group of leaders, program managers, and other support staff members. Manages the Patient Advocate Tracking System (PATS) at the medical facility. Ensures proper documentation of each case in PATS, including full narrative of issues, actions taken, final decisions, outcomes, and appropriate attachments. Other cultural transformation and relationship management duties in accordance with Position Description 463-0410-O. Promotion Potential: The full-performance level of this position is GS-12. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday; 7:30am-4:00pm Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Supervisory Patient Representative (Veteran Experience Officer)/PD50410O 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, 07/25/2024. 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-12 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-11. 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. 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-11 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: serving as a key point of contact for patients and staff; working in collaboration with facility Patient Advocates on complex issues or complaints that cross service lines; documenting and leading others in documenting and resolving complaints for continuous improvements throughout the medical facility; leading and reviewing subordinates' workload and overseeing final work product for accuracy and completeness; coaching and developing the team using appropriate tools and techniques to address a variety of issues and situations; overseeing general administrative issues regarding subordinates' leave, scheduling, appointments, etc.; providing the team formal and informal training information related to patient advocacy service, customer service, and techniques. NOTE: Experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month & year starting and ending dates AND hours worked per week. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: CommunicationConflict ManagementCritical ThinkingManages Human ResourcesTeaching Others 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

There is no educational substitution at this grade level.

Contacts

• Address Anchorage VA Medical Center 1201 North Muldoon Road Anchorage, AK 99504 US
• Name: Tami Sweet
• Phone: 916-213-9783
• Email: [email protected]