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Program Support Assistant (Office of Patient Advocacy)

Department of Veterans Affairs
Veterans Health Administration
This job announcement has closed

Summary

The incumbent serves as a Program Support Assistant in the Cincinnati VA Medical Center, Patient Advocacy Office aligned under Associate Director. The incumbent will support the Office of Patient Advocacy and patient experience efforts for Veterans who are receiving care and support at the Cincinnati VA Medical Center. The incumbent will manage and execute phone calls and face to face interactions from Veterans seeking assistance from the Patient Advocate Office.

Overview

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Reviewing applications
Open & closing dates
01/27/2023 to 02/15/2023
Salary
$43,771 to - $56,899 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 6
Location
1 vacancy in the following location:
Cincinnati, OH
1 vacancy
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
No
Travel Required
Not required
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Term - Not to Exceed 3 years
Work schedule
Full-time
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
None
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Other
Drug test
No
Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk
Trust determination process
Announcement number
CBSR-11819392-23-AF
Control number
702823100

This job is open to

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Clarification from the agency

ALL US CITIZENS. DIRECT HIRE AUTHORITY: This position is being filled using Direct-Hire Authority (COVID-19 - VA 005) in-accordance with 5 U.S.C. 3304(a)(3) and 5 CFR 337.205(b)(1)-(4).

Duties

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The major duties of the Program Support Assistant position include:

Program Support:

The Program Support Assistant utilizes PATS-R to assist the patient advocates in handling Veteran complaints that come through a variety of avenues. The Program Support Assistant aligns the PATSR, Report of Contact (RoC), to the appropriate Patient Advocate who forwards the inquiry on to the service line for service recovery. Many times, the Program Support Assistant is the one to reach out to the service line for additional input that it added to the PATSR RoC. The incumbent retrieves data from Veteran Signals (VSignals) and enters all VSignals comments into a useable data excel software in order to then manually transferred into the PATSR system. The information assists in identifying opportunities for departmental growth and satisfaction related to improved customer experience.

Program Support Assistant conducts monthly service line email group reviews which results in identifying Service Line Advocates (SLA) and Service Line Users (SLU) that are not granted credentials (license/provisions) within the PATSR system. Each quarter an audit is performed that requires the service line to commit to the following: 1) SLA/SLU's have a process for addressing PATSR concerns that come from the Office of Patient Advocacy; 2) SLA/SLU email owner has certificated email group; and, 3) confirm that all SLA/SLU's are appropriate individuals for addressing PATSR concerns. The importance of these reviews/audits is critical to the National OPA timelines in which customer concerns are to be addressed.

The incumbent will use the VA Medical Center's established initial intake responsibilities-to include receipt of information from veterans and appropriate investigatory and resolution alpha numeric assignment to patient advocates.

Customer Service:

The incumbent will also help assess Veteran's needs; identifies problems; help resolve problems; identifies solutions, and tracks concerns raised by Veterans.

Incumbent serves as the initial intake when Veteran's present (virtually or in person) with an inquiry related to their (Veteran) treatment/care experience. The dialogue is accurately captured within the data system of PATSR where all Report of Contact's are maintained. This new system, Patient Advocate Tracking System, Replacement (PATSR) is the sole database for entering and tracking customer inquiries (concerns, compliments and recommendations). This involves incumbent having to engaged with customers in order to capture all details surrounding their inquiry.

Outreach:

Incumbent also serves as a Program Support Assistant conducting internal outreach for the Cincinnati VA Medical Center. The incumbent will periodically manage a call list of Veterans to reach out to and follow up with to educate and support the efforts to maintain Veterans active enrollment in VA health care at the Cincinnati VA Medical Center.

Work Schedule: Monday through Friday, 7:30am to 4:00pm
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Program Support Assistant (Office of Patient Advocacy)/PD914700
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized.
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized.
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • You must be a U.S. citizen to apply for this job
  • Subject to a background/suitability investigation
  • Designated and/or random drug testing may be required
  • May serve a probationary period
  • Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
  • A complete application package; Resume, Transcripts, etc.
  • 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.

GS-6 grade level: One year of specialized experience (equivalent to the GS-5 grade level in the federal service); experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA's) and other characteristics to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled, in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience includes:

  • Serves as the initial point of contact, manages and executes phone calls and face to face interactions with Veterans through various forms of communication.
  • Provides clerical and administrative support.
  • Conducts monthly/quarterly audits of service lines and mail groups.
  • Conducts internal outreach for the VA Medical Center, which may include managing a call list.



There is no educational substitution for the GS-6 level.

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.

Additional information

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 well-qualified, applicants must possess experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors if applicable, and must be proficient in most of the requirements of the job. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website which can be found at https://www.opm.gov/.

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.

If you are unable to apply online or need to fax a document you do not have in electronic form, view the following link for information regarding an Alternate Application.

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 WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Applicants will be referred in the order in which they were received.

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