This position serve as a Patient Advocate within a VA Medical Facility (e.g., VAMC, CBOC, OPC, etc.). On behalf of the VA Medical Facility Director, this position covers a variety of difficult and/or complex patient concerns, issues, and contacts for the Facility with the goal of providing resolution.

Duties

As a Patient Representative, you will: Work exclusively in the Patient Advocate Tracking System (PATS). Patient Advocates are primarily responsible for 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. Collaborate with other facility staff in the creation, development, and implementation of initiatives and actions that improve the patient experience throughout the organization. Patient engagement and education, facility rounding, resolution of more complex complaints, trend analysis and process improvement. 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. Serves as the liaison between the Facility, patients, staff, and the community, ensuring Patient Rights and Responsibilities, advocacy, and services are available. 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. 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. Safeguards privacy data/sensitive policy-making data against unauthorized disclosure. 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 through Friday, 7:30am-4:pm Telework: Eligible - Ad-hoc basis Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Patient Representative (Facility Patient Advocate)/PD99864S Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Authorized 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, 08/26/2024. 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-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. GS-09: You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-07 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience includes, but is not limited to: Knowledge of regulation and directives, facility policies, procedures, and organizational structure, and services available. Effectively review and interpret information. Knowledge of program goals and objectives, work process, and administrative operations. Evaluate and recommend solutions to measure, evaluate, and improve the effectiveness and efficiency of operations. Communicating effectively, orally and in writing, with a wide range of internal and external customers. Analyze policies, identify existing problems, and potential problem areas, and suggest solutions or alternative to existing procedures. Track trends and analyze data from the program. (Experience must be demonstrated in the resume to be creditable). 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 masters 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. GS-11: You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: 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. Specialized experience includes, but is not limited to: Knowledge of complex policies of various agencies and organizations. Skills in development and coordination of methods, approaches, systems, and administrative activities in compliance with agency, accrediting, and regulatory requirement. Knowledge of various Public Laws as well as the Privacy Act, Freedom of Information Act, Advance Directives Act, and other are required. Knowledge of medical terminology. Knowledge of major issues, program goals and objectives, work process, and administrative operations. Evaluate and recommend solutions to measure, evaluate, and improve the effectiveness and efficiency of operations. Communicating effectively, orally and in writing, with a wide range of internal and external customers. Analyze and evaluate skills and techniques to plan and conduct comprehensive studies. Evaluate results and make recommendations of new or modified workflows, processes, policies, procedures, and guidelines. Analyze policies, identify existing problems, and potential problem areas, and suggest solutions or alternative to existing procedures. Track trends and analyze data from the program. (Experience must be demonstrated in the resume to be creditable). OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have 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: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. 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 you are constantly exposed to high levels of stress and anxiety. This position demands emotional stability, as you are 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: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

Contacts

• Address Spark M Matsunaga Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center 459 Patterson Road Honolulu, HI 96819 US
• Name: Frances Medina
• Phone: 000-000-0000
• Email: [email protected]