Clarification from the agency

THIS VACANCY IS OPEN TO CURRENT PERMANENT EMPLOYEES OF THE U.S. FEDERAL GOVERNMENT (including the VA) ONLY.

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Duties and responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Makes assignments by defining the overall goals and priorities of work and helps the employee with unusual situations that do not have clear precedents.
• Plans and provides QC of work operations for subordinate Medical Record Technicians.
• Organizes work, ensures an even flow and distribution of work, and ensures schedules, deadlines and requirements are met per VHA directive and VACRS policy.
• Coordinates with representatives of other units to solve problems related to Tumor Registry functions.
• Informs subordinates of matters relevant to them and has the authority to prepare and follow-up on personnel actions.
• Maintains a reliable accounting system for all department overtime and staff workload and provides quarterly reports to the Hematology Oncology Section Chief.
• Prepares staff work schedule. Maintains, implements, and modifies, as necessary to meet the needs of the department.
• Reviews work for data quality, technical soundness, and conformity to policy and requirements per VHA directive and VACRS policy.
• Incumbent uses ability and experience in referencing and solving non-routine problems, deferring obscure problems to supervisor/Supervisory Medical Record Technician or tumor registry program assistants for decisions.
• The employee refers situations to which existing guidelines are not applicable to the supervisor/Supervisory Medical Record Technician or the tumor registry program assistants when an appropriate choice or action is not clear-cut.
• Responsible for subordinate annual competency program.
• Coordinates with Quality Improvement staff to disseminate pertinent findings to the Cancer Committee.
• Works independently and as a member of the Multi-disciplinary Cancer Committee.
• Major components of the position are case ascertainment, data management, data retrieval and analysis, cancer program activities.
• Locates, pulls hard copy medical records and makes copies of electronic medical record documents as needed for Tumor Registry abstracting, review and study activities.
• Supports all tumor registry operations to ensure the objectives of the Tumor Registry and the Cancer Program are met.
• Serves as a consultant for the Cancer Program. Advice and information pertaining to tumor registries may involve the establishment and maintenance of tumor registries or questions concerning abstracting, coding, and/or staging, etc.
• Expert understanding of use of standard setter manuals, links, and websites that contain guidance, rules and templates used for the diagnosis and treatment of reportable condition; including but not restricted to CoC, AJCC, SEER, NAACCR, NOPO and CDC.

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• You may be required to serve a probationary period
• Subject to a background/security investigation
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 06/03/2022.

Basic Requirements (All applicants must meet the following basic requirements):

• Citizenship: Citizen of the United States. (Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with chapter 3, section A, paragraph 3g, this part.)

• Experience and Education (Must posses ONE of the following):
  • Experience: One (1) year of experience that indicates knowledge of medical terminology and general understanding of the health record. Six (6) months of the required one year of experience must have provided the knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) needed to perform MRT work.

• Education: Two (2) years above high school with a minimum of 12 semester hours directly related to MRT work (e.g., courses in medical terminology, anatomy & physiology, and introduction to health records).

• Experience/Education Combination: Equivalent combinations of experience and education are qualifying. The following educational/training substitutions are appropriate for combining education and experience: Six (6) months of experience that indicates knowledge of medical terminology and general understanding of the health record and one year above high school with a minimum of 6 semester hours of health information technology courses. OR Successful completion of a course for medical technicians, hospital corpsmen, medical service specialists, or hospital training obtained in a training program given by the Armed Forces or the U.S. Maritime Service under close medical and professional supervision may be substituted on a month-for month basis for up to six months of experience provided the training program included courses in anatomy, physiology, and medical record techniques and procedures. Also requires six additional months of experience that indicates knowledge of medical terminology and general understanding of the health record.

• Grandfathering Provision: All persons employed in VHA as a MRT HIT, on the effective date of this qualification standard, are considered to have met all qualification requirements for the grade held, including positive education and licensure/certification/registration that are part of the basic requirements of the occupation. For employees who do not meet all the basic requirements in this standard, but who met the qualifications applicable to the position at the time they were appointed to it, the following provisions apply:

1. Such employees in an occupation that does not require a licensure/certification/registration, may be reassigned, promoted, or demoted within the occupation, but will not be promoted beyond the journey level or placed in supervisory or managerial positions.
2. Employees appointed on a temporary basis prior to the effective date of the qualification standard may not have their temporary appointment extended, or be reappointed on a temporary or permanent basis, until they fully meet the basic requirements of the standard.
3. Employees initially grandfathered into this occupation, who subsequently obtain additional education and/or licensure/certification/registration that meet all the basic requirements of this qualification standard, must maintain the required credentials, as a condition of employment in the occupation.

• English Language Proficiency: Medical Records Technicians must be proficient in spoken and written English as required by 38 U.S.C. 7402(d) and 7407(d).

• In addition to meeting time-in-grade requirements for GS-09, candidates must have at least one (1) year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade level (GS-08) in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of this experience include: Searching the medical record to identify and abstract/code all information; Organizing and maintaining a cancer registry data system. Reviewing lifetime follow-up on patients including cancer status and vital status. Coordinating and attending multidisciplinary tumor boards to ensure that appropriate documentation is maintained. Abstract by collecting, summarizing and coding detailed demographic and clinical information.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE MAY NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Your application, résumé, C.V., and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect consideration for employment.

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.

RESUME REMINDER- Your resume must include the following information for each job listed:
Job title Duties: be as detailed as possible
Month & year start/end dates: (e.g. June 2017 to April 2021)
Full-time or part-time status: (include hours worked per week)
Series and Grade: for all Federal positions you have held.
Please be aware that your answers will be verified against information provided on your resume. Be sure that your resume clearly supports your responses to all of the questions by addressing your work experience in detail.

Recommended: Even though we do not require a specific resume format, your resume must be clear so that we are able to fully evaluate your qualifications. To ensure you receive appropriate consideration, please list the duties you performed under each individual job title. If we are unable to match your experiences with the positions held, you may lose consideration for this vacancy.
***We cannot make assumptions regarding your qualifications.***

It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment.

Veterans and Transitioning Service Members: Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members.