Patient Relations Assistant is assigned to the Patient Advocates Office. Assists and coordinates work in support of the patient advocate program. Assisting veterans, families and representatives, recognizing and recommending solutions regarding patient concerns. Identify existing and potential opportunities for improvement and suggest solutions. Serves as initial point of contact for questions from patients concerning services and is often the first point of contact for the Executive Office.

Duties

Initial point of contact for questions from patients concerning services and is often the first point of contact for the Executive Office. Uses judgmental decision making and may provide advisory and technical assistance to patients, administrative staff, and professional staff regarding medical care, or refer the patient for complicated concerns. Receives and handles concerns ensuring that quality service is rendered in a timely, competent, and caring manner. Researches problems and/or reviews issues and requests related to information regarding provisions for medical care, eligibility, etc., clarify issues, and evaluate the need for additional information. Provides administrative functions for the facility compiling ADP security requirements, handling written correspondence and telephone inquiries, training, contracting various ancillary services to ascertain status of interpretation and professional staff for consultation regarding final disposition of patient treatment plans. Assists in preparing inquiries, such as Congressional inquiries. Assists in tracking and preparing monthly reports on all patient centered and customer service activities and enters daily into the Patient Advocate Tracking System (PATS). Maintains files in the office and tracks correspondence coming into the medical center. 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: Wednesday-Sunday, 0700-1530 Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Patient Relations Assistant/PD50504A and PD50503A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 01/09/2025. For GS-04 grade level: 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-4 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-3. 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. Generalized Experience: You must have one year of experience in progressively responsible clerical, office, or other work that indicates ability to acquire the particular knowledge and skills needed to perform the duties of the position to be filled. OR, Applicants may substitute education for the experience required for the GS-04 level. (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED): Education must be 2 years above the high school level in any field for which high school graduation or the equivalent is the normal prerequisite. This education must have been obtained in an accredited business, secretarial or technical school, junior college, college, or university for which high school graduation or the equivalent is the normal prerequisite. One year of full-time academic study is defined as 30 semester hours, 45 quarter hours, or the equivalent in a college or university, or at least 20 hours of classroom instruction per week for approximately 36 weeks in a business, secretarial, or technical school. OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. This education must have been obtained in an accredited business, secretarial or technical school, junior college, college or university for which high school graduation or the equivalent is the normal prerequisite. (i.e. 6 months of general experience and 1 year of education above the high school level). For GS-05 grade level: 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-5 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-4. 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. Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-4 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to assisting all Veterans, patients, visitors, and internal customers in outpatient clinics, inpatient wards, and administrative offices with forward greeting; wayfinding; wheelchair, gurney, specimen, and morgue transports; shuttling patients and visitors between facility buildings and parking lots in people mover/ golf cart; identifying emergent situation and responding appropriately; dispatching requests from internal and external customers and Extensive knowledge and skill in Patient Centered Care; Safe Patient Handling; Patient Safety; Customer Service; Communication; Problem Solving; Conflict Resolution; Prevention & Management of Disruptive Behavior; and extensive knowledge of VA and CDCE Services, policies, and procedures. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have 4 years above high school. (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED) OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have a combination of specialized experience and education beyond 60 semester hours (i.e., beyond the second year) is creditable toward meeting the specialized experience requirement. One full academic year of study (30 semester hours) beyond the second year is equivalent to 6 months of specialized experience. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: ClericalCommunicationsCustomer Service (Clerical/Technical)Decision MakingInterpersonal SkillsOral Communication 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 is sedentary. Typically, the employee sits comfortably to do the work. However, there may be some walking; standing; bending; carrying of light items such as papers, books, small parts; or driving an automobile, etc. No special physical demands are required to perform the work. 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 Memphis VA Medical Center 1030 Jefferson Avenue Memphis, TN 38104 US
• Name: Ariana Moulds
• Phone: 713-304-3732
• Email: [email protected]