Patient Representative

Summary

Patient Representative (Advocate) reports to the Assistant Director's Office. Ensures patient concerns are heard and addressed to improve the overall experience and quality of care for patients. Covers a variety of difficult and or complex patient concerns, issues and contacts for the Facility with the goal of providing resolutions. Assists Senior Level Advocates and front line staff in resolving issues occurring at the point of service. Provides coverage for fellow patient advocates.

Duties

Include but not limited to: Serves as liaison with congressional offices, responding directly to their staff assistants on matters involving patient concerns or dissatisfaction. Present patient issues and data at various facility meetings and committee, providing trends of patient inquiries with recommendations for corrective action. Identify elements of clinical or administrative practices contributing to or creating an atmosphere for patient dissatisfaction and makes recommendations to correct issues. Responsible for complaint resolution with service recovery, receiving compliments, working with Senior Level Advocates to help resolve issues and concerns and communicating with patients about their experiences of care. Collaborate with other facility staff in the creation, development, and implementation of initiatives and actions that improve the patient experience throughout the organization. Manages the comprehensive Veteran Centered Complaint Resolution (VCCR) and service recovery processes, final resolutions, data capture, trend analysis of issues and complaints, and communication of trends to facility leadership for system improvements. Serves as the liaison between the Facility, patients, staff, and the community, ensuring Patient Rights and Responsibilities, advocacy, and services are available. Serves as a staff member directly supporting facility Executive Leadership responsible for planning, organization, development, direction and evaluation of VA Medical Facility administration. Maintains a strong and consistent focus on Complaint Resolution which must always be accompanied by attempts at Service Recovery. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Patient Representative/PD99864S Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized. Requirements

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. 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. 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 as you are constantly exposed to high levels of stress and anxiety. This position demands emotional stability as you are deeply involved with many challenging, seriously ill, and/or dying patients and their caregivers. 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 identification 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, 10/02/2026. 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-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. For appropriate SF-50(s) to submit please see Required Documents section for examples of SF-50(s) to include. Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former VA employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying. Preferred Experience: Proactively identifies existing or potential problem areas and suggest solutions or alternatives to existing procedures which contribute to these problems. The ability to comprehend and explain numerous government laws, directives, and policies is required to provide information to individuals representing various levels of educational and cultural backgrounds. Works to identify the elements of clinical or administrative practices which contribute to or create an atmosphere for patient dissatisfaction and makes recommendations to correct issues. Facilitate resolution to problems beyond the capability of front-line staff and participate in resolution of system problems by presenting the patient's perspective of the problem and the desired resolution. Minimum Qualification Requirement: 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: Identifies existing or potential problem areas and suggest solutions or alternatives to existing procedures. Provides service recovery and resolution through assisting Veterans and care givers in understanding their benefits, rights, and responsibilities. Resolves the most difficult and complex complaints, expedite services and implement necessary corrective measures within facility policies. Collect, analyze and evaluate data to prepare reports based on data. Enhances assigned facility Veteran Experience through best practices and the implementation of VHA Patient Experience initiatives. 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 three full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.M. Or, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of GS-09 level specialized experience and education beyond a master's degree may be used to qualify. 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/. How You Will Be Evaluated

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