Patient Relations Assistant

The incumbent serves as a Program Support Assistant Guest Relations for Patient Advocacy with primary duties and responsibilities supporting the Veteran Experience Officer. The position is in Patient Advocate Section under the Veteran Experience Officer. The incumbent is physically located at or near a main entrance of the campus and/or supporting the Information Desk. This position has the direct support for Guest Relations Information, Escort Services and wheelchair management.

Qualifications:

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 05/04/2026.

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-05 position, you may be advanced without time restrictions to positions up to GS-05, if the position to be filled is no more than two grades above the lowest grade the employee held within the preceding 52 weeks under his/her latest non-temporary competitive appointment. 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-04 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: answering phones and log calls; provides directions and assistance to patients and guests; provides friendly, excellent customer service; greeting patients and offering assistance for appointments; locates appointments in computer system; reports safety concerns. OR,
• Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have successfully completed four (4) years above high school. 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 first 60 semester hours is creditable toward meeting the specialized experience requirement.

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/.

***PREFERRED EXPERIENCE: The best qualified applicant will have previous Customer Service experience in a federal agency. The highly qualified applicant will have previous Patient Relations Assistant experience in a federal agency and fully meet the specialized experience skills as stated above. Will have documented experience related to customer service, quality improvement process, and problem solving.****

Responsibilities:

Duties include but are not limited to:

• Provides Veterans, their families, and visitors with staff who can quickly respond to inquiries, identify problems, and aid to improve the experience of those visiting the campus.
• Responds to customer immediate needs including navigation, direction, and information assistance.
• Serves as the initial, as well as the final point of contact for guests entering and leaving the facility; is a key influence toward patient/public perception.
• Receives, greets and direct callers over the telephone and in person with precise clear instructions.
• Provides information about the organization, its functions, and activities.
• Provides assistance requested to ease the experience of the customer.
• Directs Veterans, visitors and callers to appropriate staff member and/or department based on specific request or by determining the nature of the need and initiates service recovery when needed.
• Takes accurate messages and ensures their delivery to support a responsive culture to the customer.
• Provides personal wayfinding assistance and often takes Veterans and visitors to locations when they have difficulties with instructions provided.
• Provides excellent customer service via the telephone and face-to-face simultaneously; ensures customers are greeted with respect and dignity.
• Addresses customers by answering questions concerning the location of outpatient clinics, inpatient area pharmacy, radiology and lab services and other areas of the medical center.
• Meets the demands of a busy facility providing simply understandable instructions and or directions.
• Responsible for communicating effectively with individuals from varied backgrounds as well as those with mental and/or physical health problems.
• Operates computer and photocopy machine to make copies of forms, letters, etc. from the original, assembles and staples copied materials, and distributes completed photocopy work.
• Responsible for all administrative functions of the program; will be actively involved in identifying problem areas and in the development of methods to improve the functions of the program.
• May work with Volunteers who support guest relations.
• Responsible for delivering ongoing customer service training to VA staff via face-to-face or computer-based mediums.
• Back-up for other Patient Advocate activities; will have frequent verbal interaction with customers to include determining and documenting their level of satisfaction with their experience

Work Schedule: Rotating Shifts to include weekends
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Patient Relations Assistant/PD02986A
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Salary : $43,384