The incumbent serves as a Lead Patient Advocate within the Phoenix Veterans Affairs Medical Health Care System. This position leads a variety of highly visible and complex patient concerns, issues, and contacts for the Facility to document and provide resolution. The Lead PA will serve as a key point of contact for patients and staff and works in collaboration with facility Patient Advocates on complex issues or complaints that cross service lines.
To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 08/25/2025. 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-12 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-11. 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: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-11 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Leads the team and provides the day-to-day work direction, review, and distribution, balance, and adjustment of workload; Provides the team formal and informal training information related to patient advocacy service, customer service, techniques, and resources; Resolves the most difficult and complex complaints independently, expedites services and implements necessary corrective measures within established facility policies; and Advises patients, their families and representatives, and facility staff members on recognizing and removing institutional barriers to the provision of optimum health care to patients. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Communication Manages and Organizes Information Problem Solving Veteran and Customer Focus 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 includes walking, standing, bending, carrying of light items, and occasionally assisting with a wheelchair. In some instances, relationships with patients and caregivers can become intense and the incumbent is constantly exposed to high levels of stress and anxiety. This position demands emotional stability, as the incumbent is deeply involved with many challenging, seriously ill, and/or dying patients and their caregivers. 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/.
Major duties include, but are not limited to: Reviews the work of staff that works exclusively using the Patient Advocate Tracking System (PATS). Collaborates with other facility staff to create, develop, and implement initiatives and actions that improve the Veteran experience throughout the organization. Ensures that Patient Advocates work efficiently, leads and reviews Patient Advocates' workload and oversees final work product for accuracy and completeness. Provides guidance and advice to address problems and questions and provides insights to the team to aid in the education process. Provides higher-level data management and analysis function for the Patient Advocate team. Serves as a Lead Patient Advocate responsible for leading and overseeing the facility Veteran Centered Complaint Resolution (VCCR) process, including complaint resolution, data capture, and analysis of issues/complaints to make system improvements. Work Schedule: Monday- Friday 7:30 am to 4:00 pm Compressed/Flexible: Not Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Lead Patient Representative/PD99734S Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required