The Dayton VA Medical Center is seeking a Patient Advocate. The Patient Advocate within VA exists to ensure concerns are heard and addressed to improve the overall experience and quality of care for patients.

Duties

Major Duties include but are not limited to: Complaint resolution(35%) The Patient Advocate is tasked with managing the facility VCCR process, including complaint resolution , data capture and analysis of issues/complaints to make the system improvements. All inquiries (compliments or complaints) no matter how a facility receives them must be documented in the Patient Advocate Tracking System (PATS), routed to the point of service, resolved, coded, and closed. The Patient Advocate assist's SLAs and front-line staff in resolving issues that occur at the point of service, while also addressing more complex complaints that were not able to be resolved at the point of service. Due circumstances or sensitivity, may be asked to independently resolve the most difficult and complex complaints, expedite services, and implement necessary corrective measures within established facility policies. Diplomacy, good judgement, compassion, flexibility, and a good sense of humor are required to work with the diversity of patients, family, and staff and the complexity and sensitivity of issues which have the potential of controversy and legal action. Patient Representation (25%) Serves as the liaison between the Facility, patients, staff, and the community, ensuring Patient Rights and Responsibilities, advocacy and services are available. Assists patients in understanding their rights, in addition to, their responsibilities. Provides a channel through which patients can seek solutions to problems, concerns, and unmet needs, recognizing that complaints are a gap between service expectations and the actual experience of the patient. Patient Advocates work directly with health care teams, Service Chiefs, and management to facilitate resolution to problems beyond the capacity of front-line staff and participate in resolution of system problems by presenting the patients perspective of the problem and the desired resolution. Interprets the Facility's mission, policies, procedures, and available resources/services to the patient and presents the patient's concern, opinions, and needs to appropriate staff and management. Represents the Facility Director in safeguarding and ensuring ethical, statutory, and Constitutional rights of patients are met. Assist 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 assists patients in understanding the Clinical Appeals Process and how to proceed with a clinical appeal request and reconsideration. Data Analysis/System Improvement (20%) Serves as staff member directly supporting facility Executive Leadership responsible for planning, organization, development, and evaluation of VA Medical Facility administration. Ensures VHA Patient Advocacy goals, policy, and requirements are met by collecting, analyzing and evaluating relevant data, and preparing meaningful reports based upon that data. 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 substantial complaints. Serves on committees whereby patient complaints are identified, resolved, classified and the data is utilized to improve overall services to patients The incumbent presents patient issues and data at various facility meetings and committees. Incumbent provides trends of patient inquiries at service and facility levels. Relationship Management (20%) The Patient Advocate maintains a strong and consistent focus on Complaint Resolution which must always be accompanied by attempts at Service Recovery. Service Recovery focuses on extending efforts to make up for a situation or experience that did not meet the expectations of the patient. IT is an expectation that rounds throughout the facility are conducted on a routine basis to solicit patient feedback and build strong relationships with SLAs and service leadership. Rounding also increase the visibility of the Patient Advocate role and promotes the availability of service which can be provided. Patient Advocate must maintain the attitude of taking a negative experience and turning it into a positive, memorable experience for patients and employees. 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: 07:30am - 04:00pm Monday - Friday Compressed/Flexible: Not Eligible Telework: Ad-hoc only Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Patient Representative/PD99864A

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 09/05/2024. 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: Customer Service Conflict Management Problem Solving Veteran and Customer Focus Communications 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 Dayton VA Medical Center 4100 West Third Street Dayton, OH 45428 US
• Name: Kristoffer St. Martin
• Phone: (937)604-4582
• Email: [email protected]