Patient Representative

Patient Representative

Department: Department of Veterans Affairs

Location(s): Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Salary Range: $61111 - $96116 Per Year

Job Summary: This position, located at the Oklahoma VA Health Care System, covers a variety of difficult and/or complex patient concerns, issues, and contacts for the Facility with the goal of providing a resolution. Patient Advocates are primarily responsible for complaint resolution with service recovery, receiving compliments, and communicating with patients about their experiences of care.

Major Duties:

• Major duties of this position includes but are not limited to.... Manages the facility VCCR process, including complaint resolution, data capture and analysis of issues/complaints to make system improvements Assists 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 Explores all avenues, crossing all lines of authority and responsibility within the medical facility, in order to properly identify the nature and scope of the problem and to initiate appropriate action to expediate a resolution May be asked to independently resolve the most difficult and complex complaints, expedite services, and implement necessary corrective measures within established facility polices Serves as the liaison between the Facility, patients, staff, and community, ensuring Patient Rights and Responsibilities, advocacy, and services are available; assists patients in understanding their rights, in addition to their responsibilities Works directly with health care teams, Service Chief, and management to facilitate resolution to problems, concerns, and unmet needs, recognizing that complaints are a gap between service expectations and the actual experience of the patient Interprets the Facility's mission, policies, procedures, and available resources/services to the patient and presents the patient's concerns. opinions, and needs to appropriate staff and management Serves on committees whereby patient complaints are identified, resolved, classified, and the data is utilized to improve overall services to patients Maintains a strong and consistent focus on complaint resolution which must always be accompanied by attempts at Service Recovery Works closely in identifying, training, and consulting with SLAs, and front-line staff, in resolving issues on first contact within their service area and use of PATS Responds to patient inquiries through multiple VA approved forms of contact (e.g., Inquiry Routing and Information System (IRIS), MyHealtheVet, Secure Messaging, email, walk-in, town halls, etc.), where patients pose questions, complaints, compliments, and suggestions Safeguards privacy data/sensitive policy-making data against unauthorized disclosure; notifies the supervisor and privacy officer upon disclosure or suspected disclosure of sensitive data by others 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-Friday, 7:30am-4:00pm or 8:00am-4:30pm Telework: This position may be authorized for telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Patient Representative/PD99864A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Qualifications: To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 11/21/2025. 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 level. For a GS-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-09 level. 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. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: Specialized Experience GS-09: 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...thorough knowledge of Federal Laws, VA eligibility regulations and directives governing medical benefits for Veterans and changes which affect these benefits; comprehensive knowledge of the principles and practices, federal laws, regulations, policies and procedures governing eligibility, benefits, care, access, services, clinical appeals, and privacy and skill in applying this extensive knowledge to the most difficult and complex problems; knowledge of medical terminology and VA nomenclature used with a variety of administrative, diagnostic, and treatment procedures provided to all categories of patients; knowledge of various Public Laws as well as the Privacy Act, Freedom of Information Act, Advance Directives Act; skilled in communicating effectively, orally, and in writing with a wide range of internal and external customers of the VA Medical Facility; skilled in conducting interviews in the routine daily encounters with patients, family members, staff members, and external organization that intercede on behalf of patients; and the ability to effectively review and interpret information contained in medical and administrative records...OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have 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 combination of specialized experience and education beyond the graduate degree level. 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/. Specialized Experience GS-11: 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...knowledgeable of hospital systems to effectively address services which are responsible for patient concerns; thorough knowledge of Federal Laws, VA eligibility regulations and directives governing medical benefits for Veterans and changes which affect these benefits, facility policies, procedures, and organizational structure, services available and capabilities of clinics; comprehensive knowledge of the principles and practices, federal laws, regulations, policies and procedures governing eligibility, benefits, care, access, services, clinical appeals, and privacy and skill in applying this extensive knowledge to the most difficult and complex problems; knowledge of medical terminology and VA nomenclature used with a variety of administrative, diagnostic, and treatment procedures provided to all categories of patients; thorough knowledge of various Public Laws as well as the Privacy Act, Freedom of Information Act, and Advance Directives Act and others are required; comprehensive knowledge of major issues, program goals and objectives, work processes, and administrative operations of the medical facility to evaluate and recommend solutions to measure, evaluate, and improve the effectiveness and efficiency of key medical center operations that have or may have a significant impact of the patient experience; comprehensive knowledge of programs, services and support resources available to patients and their caregivers; high degree of skill in oral and written communication as well as interpersonal relations; possess skills in motivational interviewing; knowledge of the process of inquiry; and knowledge of active listening principles and record keeping techniques; analytical and evaluative skills and techniques to plan and conduct comprehensive studies and evaluations that result in the development and recommendation of new or modified workflows, processes, policies, procedures, and guidelines in key areas impacting overall patient experience is required; and the ability to effectively review and interpret information contained in medical and administrative records...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 must have an combination of specialized experience and education beyond the graduate degree level. Preferred Experience: Hands-on Service Level Advocate experience within PATS-R with demonstrated service recovery, as well as knowledge of Department of Veterans Affairs missions, goals, objectives, regulations, directives, procedures, and policies. Qualifying specialized experience includes providing customer service 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

How to Apply: Please read the entire announcement and all the instructions before you begin an application. To apply for this position, you must complete the initial online application, to include the initial online questionnaire and submission of the required documentation specified in the How to Apply and Required Documents section. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on the closing date of the announcement to receive consideration. To preview the application questionnaire, click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12830092. The application process is as follows: To begin, click Apply Online to create a USA JOBS account or log in to your existing account. Follow the prompts to select your USA JOBS resume and/or other supporting documents. Answer the questions presented in the application and attach all necessary supporting documentation. Click the Submit Application button prior to 11:59 PM (ET) on the announcement closing date, 11/21/2025. If you are required to complete any USA Hire Assessments, you will be notified after submitting your application. The notification will be provided in your application submission screen and via email. The notification will include your unique assessment access link to the USA Hire system and the completion deadline. Additionally, in USAJOBS you can click "Track this application" to return to your assessment completion notice. Access USA Hire using your unique assessment link. Access is granted through your USAJOBS login credentials. Review all instructions prior to beginning your assessments. You will have the opportunity to request a testing accommodation before beginning the assessments should you have a disability covered under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended. Set aside at least 3 hours to take the USA Hire Assessments; however, most applicants complete the assessments in less time. If you need to stop the assessments and continue later, you can re-use your unique assessment link. NOTE: Your responses to the USA Hire Assessments will be reused for one year (in most cases) from the date you complete an assessment. If future applications you submit require completion of the same assessments, your responses will be automatically reused. Visit the USA Hire Applicant Resource Center for practice assessments and assessment preparation resources at https://support-usahire.opm.gov/hc/en-us. To update your application, including supporting documentation: During the announcement open period, return to your USAJOBS account, find your application record, and click Edit my application. This option will no longer be available once the announcement has closed. To view the announcement status or your application status: https://help.usajobs.gov/how-to. Your application status page is where you can view your application status, USA Hire assessment completion status, and review your notifications sent by the hiring agency regarding your application. Beginning September 27, 2025, Federal agencies will only accept resumes up to two pages in length to comply with the Merit Hiring Plan. Resumes longer than two pages will result in ineligibility for further consideration for the position. USAJOBS will not allow you to upload or build resumes longer than two pages, and you will need to update the resumes in your profile before applying for a job. Resumes should include information relevant to the knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies of the position to which you are applying. VA is unable to make assumptions about qualifications if not clearly listed. Resumes must be legible so they can be reviewed for eligibility, minimum qualifications and other position requirements listed in the job announcement. Your resume must be 5MB or less. We recommend saving and uploading your resume as a PDF to maintain formatting and number of pages. We also accept GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, TXT, PDF, ODT or Word (DOC or DOCX). We do not accept PDF portfolio files. We recommend using a sans-serif font size like Lato, if available. Other widely available options are Calibri, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, Open San Source Sans Pro, Roboto or Noro Sans. Make your page margins 0.5 inches. Consider using 14-point size font for titles and 10-point for the main text in your resume. The resume builder can help you create a resume using these recommendations and uses the information in your USAJOBS profile to help you get started. Helpful Hints for Creating a Two-Page Resume: Prioritize most relevant and recent experience Use concise, results focused language Align language from the job announcement Focus on demonstrating skills and competencies Remove outdated or unrelated experience Use the USAJOBS resume builder Additional guidance on this new requirement and resume building tools can be found at: https://help.usajobs.gov/faq/application/documents/resume/page-limit.

Application Deadline: 2025-11-21