Summary The primary purpose of this position is to improve the veteran and non-VA care provider experience with Community Care. This position is located within the Community Care and provides administrative and technical support within the Community Care Program. The workload is unpredictable, and the employee must be flexible and adaptive to remain responsive to multiple demands made by internal and external sources. Responsibilities Duties of this Health Technician position include but are not limited to: Perform the following administrative tasks for assigned sections within Community Care: purchasing, mail receipt and distribution, codependence preparation, safety coordination, information technology requests, and tracking of compliance by the section with numerous administrative requirements. Monitors all aspects of the section's operating programs and makes recommendations to improve or modify methods for disseminating information to intended audiences. Research and respond to all Community Care related correspondence including but not limited to Congressional inquiries, vendor, and veteran billing issues and complaints. Serve as a liaison between the section and numerous internal and external customers including Veterans, patient family members, other medical center departments, trainees, researchers, other VA Medical Centers, and other healthcare facilities. Provides information and assistance for routine contacts and inquiries. Monitors patient access performance metrics and works with Care Coordination team to ensure timely scheduling of community care referrals. Oversees completion of patient care encounters, clinical reports, progress notes, and other patient care documentation according to prescribed timeframes. Conduct reviews to determine the economy, efficiency, and effectiveness of Community Care program operations to determine whether the entity has complied with laws and regulations applicable to the program. Provide consultative services to program offices and facilitate performance improvement as well as internal controls. Serve as the intermediary for issues related to the Community Care payment processes and billing issues. Reviews proposed directives to ensure proper arrangement, format, consistency with existing directives, as well as the proper distribution. They review existing directives to detect and eliminate conflict, overlap, duplication, and ensure only current material is retained. Develops ways to improve directives and process by simplifying, consolidating, or eliminating the unnecessary ones. Discusses any recommendations or proposed changes with the service leadership to gain concurrence. Receives visitors and telephone calls to the work area regarding Community Care needs, patient appointments, and preparation instructions for procedures. Receives and assists visitors in the work area with information regarding the sections and/or resolution of problems. Distributes information, solves problems personally whenever possible, refers other contacts to appropriate personnel, and monitors all subsequent contacts for appropriate and timely action. Obtains material needed for appropriate action by professional staff prior to referral whenever possible. This may require coordination among several separate entities or individuals and requires good rapport with many different departments in the medical center. Integrates several types of software to generate specific working documents and forms such as spreadsheets, databases, graphics, presentations, research manuscripts, and other related products. Manages Community Care consults in accordance with OCC Field Handbook guidelines, VISN and local metrics. Monitors the management of records in the service by organization and distributing workload data to staff asking for follow up with all team members to ensure content, practice and knowledge of process, records, and directives. Reviews the distributed data to ensure correct, appropriate completion and documentation in the correct record. Collects, compiles, and tracks data and information in support of the sections' operations. Receives and processes data and information in accordance with established formats and procedures. Completes and enters pertinent information into various tracking systems. Work Schedule: Monday through Friday from 0800-4:30 pm, subject to change based on the needs of the facility. Telework: Not Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Health Technician/PD03930A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized Requirements Conditions of Employment You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job All applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA. Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959 You may be required to serve a probationary/trial period 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) Qualifications To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 08/04/2025. Individual Occupational Requirement: Positions in this series range widely in type and include support duties to medical or health personnel such as audiologists, speech pathologists, medical officers, and optometrists. Therefore, technician experience is experience that required application of the knowledge, methods, and techniques of the position to be filled. In addition to the Individual Occupational Requirement, you must meet the following to qualify at the GS-06 level: Specialized Experience GS-06 - One year of specialized experience (equivalent to the GS-05 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: experience in using spreadsheets and databases to keep up with work assignments; Participated in quality management activities such as checking others work and conducting training activities; able to communicate with both internal and external customers; subject matter expert for community care; experience in customer service, scheduling patients, and processing authorizations. This experience must be supported by your resume to be creditable. OR Substitute education for experience - To qualify, applicant must have successfully completed a half year (9 credits) of graduate education or completed an internship directly related to the position. If education is used to meet specialized experience requirements, then such education must include courses directly related to the work of the position. (Transcripts required) OR Combination of experience and education - Equivalent combination of education (beyond the undergraduate education, if related) and specialized experience as described above. This education and experience must have provided the knowledge, skills, and abilities to do the work of the position. (Transcripts required) 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 generally sedentary although there may be some walking, bending, or standing for short periods of time or carrying light items such as files, papers, books, audiovisual equipment, robes, linen, etc. The work may require heavy lifting of equipment or patients. The work requires no special physical demands. It may involve some walking, standing, bending, or carrying of light items. Work Environment: The work is performed in a professional office, clinical setting and remotely as indicated. The work involves the common risks or discomforts, requiring normal safety precautions typical of offices, meeting rooms, libraries, and the like. The work area is adequately lighted, heated, and ventilated. The work is performed in an office or similar setting requiring normal safety precautions against everyday risks or discomforts. 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 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. 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 (TJO). Please visit the Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP), va.gov/EMPLOYEE/docs/The-Fair-Chance-to-Compete-Act.pdf for more information. Additional Information Receiving Service Credit or 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. Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior work experience or military service experience. 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 an alternate method to submit documents, please reach out to the Agency Contact listed in this Job Opportunity Announcement. 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.