The Lead Health Technician (Telehealth Clinical) position is located at Lebanon VA Medical Center and will be required to occasionally travel to VA Community Clinics under Lebanon VAMC.

Duties

The Lead Health Technician (Telehealth Clinical) provides an array of complex and specialized duties related to leadership, staff education, technology management, as well as project and program management for all dimensions of virtual care and telehealth initiatives. In addition to lead duties, the incumbent maintains responsibility for day-to-day operation of telehealth services at the assigned location and between the assigned location and remote sites of care as well as participating in the programmatic development and advanced support of the facility-wide telehealth program. The incumbent is expected to be able to exercise independent judgement and is responsible to regularly provide oversight and guidance to other staff members. Major duties include, but are not limited to: Prepares the clinical environment, which may include preparing medical and telecommunications equipment to be used for clinical examination and treatment Serves as a telepresenter, within scope of practice, during clinical video telehealth (CVT) and WC encounters including tasks such as establishing and maintaining video conferencing connections, making introductions between patient site and provider site, following instructions of a clinician to facilitate an effective clinical encounter Serves as an imager and data manager for store and forward telehealth (SFT) clinical encounters including tasks such as capturing images, collecting data and transmitting them electronically for clinical review in accordance with VHA national guidelines Takes measures to ensure patient care is delivered safely by following appropriate procedures for the cleaning of clinical equipment and the care environment while following all patient safety guidelines, protocols, and procedures Completes standardized clinical questionnaires and templates within scope of training and applicable guidelines Ensures that patient privacy is protected by complying with all information security and patient privacy regulations Receives and schedules requests for simple and complex intra-facility, and inter­facility telehealth appointments using an electronic resource-based scheduling system Screens patients for Telehealth modality and referring patients that do not meet established criteria to appropriate care Monitors and maintains schedules of rooms, patients, technologies, clinical providers and presenters as needed to ensure efficient telehealth operations Provides established patient education via approved materials Supports the Veteran in completing patient satisfaction surveys Communicates effectively with clinical and administrative staff at the assigned local site and those located at remote sites of care Supports, coordinates and/ or directly configures, installs, troubleshoots, cleans, and performs minor routine maintenance of assigned telehealth technology Ensures assigned telehealth technologies are managed, inventoried, secured, ready for use, and accounted for by preparing and tracking maintenance work orders, information systems, inventory records, and communicating with National Telehealth Technology Help Desk to facilitate troubleshooting, repair, and coordination of replacement equipment as necessary Lead duties include, but are not limited to: Leads a team of telehealth staff by providing guidance and technical direction relating to the telehealth program Works with the supervisor to develop assignments for team members in order to meet routine and unusual deadlines and priorities Distributes and balances workload and tasks among employees in accordance with established workflow and/or job specialization and required rotations Serves as the work leader, monitors the status and progress of team members' work and makes day-to-day adjustments in accordance with established priorities Gives on-the-job training to new employees (local and at the CBOC sites) Monitors and reports on the status and progress of work to ensure that the supervisor's instructions on work priorities, methods, deadlines and quality have been met Provides information to the supervisor concerning promotions, reassignment, recognition of outstanding performance, and personnel needs Reports to the supervisor on training needs of employees and conduct or performance issues Resolves simple, informal complaints of employees and referring others, such as formal grievances and appeals, to the supervisor or an appropriate management official Uses a needs assessment, service agreements and other tools, collaborating with stakeholders to develop new programs and processes to ensure telehealth programs are meeting the strategic plans of the healthcare system Performs other duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 7:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Telework: Not Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

Basic Requirements: Citizenship. Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy. Experience and Education. Experience. One year of experience in a health care field that demonstrates the applicant's ability to perform the work or provides an understanding of the work such as but not limited to a medical or clinical assistant (or technician) or health technician. OR, Education. Four academic years above high school leading to a bachelor's degree with courses related to the occupation. OR, Experience/Education Combination. Equivalent combination of experience and education are qualifying for entry level for which both education and experience are acceptable. Examples are listed below: Six months of experience in the health care field and two years of education above high school that included at least six semester hours in health care related courses such as, biological science, surgical technician courses, nursing assistant or other courses related to the position; or an associate's degree in a health care related field; or Six months of experience in the health care field and successful completion of a course for health care technicians, hospital corpsmen, or medical service specialists given by the U.S. Armed Forces. English Language Proficiency. A candidate will not be appointed under authority of 38 U.S.C. chapters 73 or 74, to serve in a direct patient-care capacity in VHA who is not proficient in written and spoken English. Grade Determinations: In addition to the basic requirements for employment, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates. Lead Health Technician (Telehealth Clinical), GS-8 Experience. One year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level. Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs. Ability to work with a team to provide technical guidance, plan, organize and coordinate activities of a Health Technician (Telehealth Clinical) in order to effectively complete job duties of assignment such as distributing workload, monitoring the status and progress of work, monitoring accuracy of work. Skill in leadership and interpersonal relations and conflict resolution to deal with employees, team leaders, providers, and managers. Ability to communicate effectively in order to meet program objectives. This may include preparing reports in various formats and presenting data to various organizational levels. Knowledge of quality control and assurance procedures and principles of performance improvement. Skill in the assessment and resolution of complex workload capture issues using multiple data sources. Ability to develop and compose complex written instructions. Knowledge of analytical and evaluative processes to independently resolve complex issues. May qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision as described in the VA Qualification Standard for this occupation (only applicable to current VHA employees who are in this occupation and meet the criteria). Preferred Experience: At least one year of Telehealth TCT experience. References: Health Technician (Telehealth Clinical) Qualification Standard, GS-0640 The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-08. Physical Requirements: The work requires some physical exertion such as prolonged periods of standing, bending, reaching, crouching, stooping, stretching, and lifting moderately heavy items such as manuals, record boxes, equipment or assisting patients. The work requires above average agility and dexterity. The incumbent may be required to travel between VA and/or Non-VA clinical care sites and possession of a valid driver's license may be required.

Education

IMPORTANT: 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 Lebanon VA Medical Center 1700 South Lincoln Avenue Lebanon, PA 17042 US
• Name: Melanie Johnson
• Phone: (412) 822-2048
• Email: [email protected]