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Patient Representative

Department of Veterans Affairs
Veterans Health Administration
CW Bill Young Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center

Summary

The Patient Representative is primarily responsible for complaint resolution with service recovery, receiving compliments, working with Service Level Advocates to help resolve issues and concerns and communicating with patients about their experiences of care. Works exclusively in the Patient Advocate Tracking System (PATS-R).Collaborating with other facility staff in the creation, development, and implementation of initiatives and actions that improve the patient experience throughout the VAMC.

Overview

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Accepting applications
Open & closing dates
05/20/2026 to 05/27/2026
Salary
$61,722 - $97,087 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 9 - 11
Location
1 vacancy in the following location:
Bay Pines, FL
1 vacancy
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
Yes—Ad Hoc Only
Travel Required
Not required
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
11
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Not Required
Drug test
No
Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk
Trust determination process
Financial disclosure
No
Bargaining unit status
Yes
Announcement number
CBTC-12957366-26-MEM
Control number
869872800

This job is open to

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Clarification from the agency

Area of Consideration (AOC) - Current Permanent Bay Pines (Station 516) employees including satellite stations and CTAP eligible.

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Duties

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Primary Duties include but are not limited to:

  • Collaborates with facility staff in the creation, development, and implementation of initiatives and actions that improve the patient experience.
  • Serves as the liaison between the facility, patients, staff, and the community to ensure Patient Rights and Responsibilities and advocacy services are available.
  • Assists patients in understanding their rights, in addition to, their responsibilities.
  • Explains a variety of government laws, directives, and policies to individuals of varying levels of educational and cultural backgrounds.
  • Communicates patients' concerns, opinions, and needs to appropriate staff and management.
  • Communicates trends to facility leadership to help drive system improvements.
  • Presents patient issue data and patient inquiry trends at meetings and/or to committees.
  • Explores all avenues, crossing all lines of authority and responsibility within a medical facility, in order to properly identify the nature and scope of the problem and to initiate appropriate action to expedite a resolution.
  • Facilitates resolution to problems beyond the capability of front-line staff.
  • Resolves difficult and complex patient complaints.
  • Identifies the elements of clinical or administrative practices that contribute to or create an atmosphere for patient dissatisfaction.
  • Participates in resolution of system problems by presenting the patient's perspective of the problem and the desired resolution.
  • Identifies training needs for front-line staff in resolving issues on first contact.
  • Reviews and interprets information contained in medical and administrative records.
  • Collects, analyzes, and evaluates patient complaint data.
  • Identifies existing or potential problem areas and suggests solutions or alternatives to existing procedures which contribute to these problems.
  • Recommends changes which will reduce or eliminate substantiated complaints.
  • Reviews appropriate documentation and records, and discusses with personnel or witnesses regarding any practice that appears to violate the patient's rights or which cause unnecessary discomfort or embarrassment.
  • Prepares reports to identify process improvement opportunities.
  • Produces cumulative reports to track patient inquiries and trend the patterns to identify area of improvement needed.
  • Manages a patient centered complaint resolution process to include complaint resolution, data capture and analysis of issues/complaints to make system improvements.


Preferred Experience: Specialized experience includes 6 months in dedicated role of providing service recovery to patients; assisting patients and staff with resolving problems or complaints; assisting with identifying problem areas and suggesting solutions or alternatives; explaining policies and procedures; keeping accurate records and preparing reports and/or written correspondence.


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 thru Friday 8:00am to 4:30pm
Telework: Ad-Hoc Only
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Patient Representative/PD99864S
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized
PCS Appraised Value Offer (AVO): Not Authorized

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
  • To be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. In addition to the application and questionnaire, this position requires an online assessment. The online assessment measures critical general competencies required to perform the job.
  • Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
  • Physical Requirements: The work required does not inherently include any physical requirements essential for successful job performance that could not otherwise be performed with accommodation or workplace adjustment. A pre-placement physical examination is not required.
  • Subject to background/security investigation
  • Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued dentification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
  • Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP)
As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period or 2-year trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:
  • your performance and conduct;
  • the needs and interests of the agency;
  • whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
  • whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.
Upon completion of your probationary period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 05/27/2026.

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.
  • Examples of appropriate SF-50's include:
    • Within grade increases at the highest grade held; or
    • Promotions with an effective date more than one year old; or
    • SF-50's at the highest grade held with an effective date more than one year old.
You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below:

GS-09 Level

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.

Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to:
  1. providing customer service to patients
  2. assisting patients and staff with resolving problems or complaints
  3. assisting with identifying problem areas and suggesting solutions or alternatives
  4. explaining policies and procedures
  5. keeping accurate records and preparing reports and/or written correspondence

OR,
Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have a master's 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. You must have an an appropriate combination of specialized experience and education.
NOTE: Experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month and year start/end dates AND hours worked per week.


GS-11 Level

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.

Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to:
  1. providing customer service to patients and staff with resolving problems or complaints;
  2. identifying problem areas and suggesting solutions or alternatives;
  3. explaining policies and procedures;
  4. keeping accurate records and preparing reports and/or written correspondence;
  5. collaborating with facility staff to improve the patient experience.
OR,

Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have 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 must have an an appropriate combination of specialized experience and education.

NOTE: Experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month and year start/end dates AND hours worked per week.


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/.

Additional information

Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer. For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act.

Reasonable Accommodation (RA) Requests: If you believe you have a disability (i.e., physical or mental), covered by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended that would interfere with completing the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you will be granted the opportunity to request a RA in your online application. Requests for RA for the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments and appropriate supporting documentation for RA must be received prior to starting the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments. Decisions on requests for RA are made on a case-by-case basis. If you meet the minimum qualifications of the position, after notification of the adjudication of your request, you will receive an email invitation to complete the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, based on your adjudication decision. You must complete all assessments within 48 hours of receiving the URL to access the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments if you received the link after the close of the announcement. To determine if you need a RA, please review the Procedures for Requesting a Reasonable Accommodation for Online Assessments.

Receiving Service Credit for Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave: Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. VA may offer newly-appointed Federal employee's credit for their job-related non-federal experience or active duty uniformed military service. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed.

This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.

The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced VA competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified you must submit appropriate documentation (a copy of the agency notice, your most recent performance rating, and your most recent SF-50 noting current position, grade level, and duty location) and be found well-qualified for this vacancy. To be well-qualified: applicants must possess experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors, and who are proficient in most of the required competencies of the job. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/.

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

How you will be evaluated

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

Your qualifications will be evaluated based on your application materials (e.g., resume, supporting documents), your responses on the application questionnaire, and your responses to all assessments required for this position. You will be assessed on the following Competencies for this position:

  • Attention to Detail
  • Customer Service
  • Decision Making
  • Flexibility
  • Integrity/Honesty
  • Interpersonal Skills
  • Learning
  • Reading Comprehension
  • Reasoning
  • Self-Management
  • Stress Tolerance
  • Teamwork


Your experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month and year start/end dates AND hours worked per week. 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. IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Overstating your qualifications and/or experience in your application materials or application questionnaire may result in your removal from consideration. Cheating on the online assessment may also result in your removal from consideration.

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.

During the application process you may have an option to opt-in to make your resume available to hiring managers in the agency who have similar positions. Opting in does not impact your application for this announcement, nor does it guarantee further consideration for additional positions.

Special Employment Consideration: VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply, including those eligible for hiring under 5 CFR 213.3102(u), Schedule A, Appointment of persons with disabilities [i.e., intellectual disabilities, severe physical disabilities, or psychiatric disabilities], and/or Disabled veterans with a compensable service-connected disability of 30% or more. Contact the Agency Contact for information on how to apply under this appointment authority via the Selective Placement Coordinator.

Veterans Health Administration

OUR MISSION: To fulfill President Lincoln's promise "To care for those who have served in our nation's military and for their families, caregivers, and survivors" - by serving and honoring the men and women who are America's Veterans. How would you like to become a part of a team providing compassionate whole health care to Veterans?

Agency contact information

Michael Markham
Phone
254-778-4811 X150406
Email
Michael.Markham@va.gov
Address
CW Bill Young Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center
10000 Bay Pines Boulevard
Bay Pines, FL 33744
US

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