Patient Relations Assistant

Clarification from the agency

ALL US CITIZENS. DIRECT HIRE AUTHORITY: This position is being filled using Direct-Hire Authority (5 CFR 337.201) for this occupation.

May perform the following duties and responsibilities:

• Assist patients in getting into and/or out of their vehicles, loading and unloading patient wheelchairs as necessary.
• Assist with opening and/or closing of patient wheelchairs as well as making other equipment available to the patient, such as walkers and other ambulating devices.
• Serve as a Transporter who is easily recognized, provides information and/or guidance, helps ensure safety with assistance when needed, displays brand consistency, and alleviates patient complaints.
• Support the medical floor/units in transporting labs, urgent STAT labs to help facilitate care in Code Blues, and Rapid responses team.
• Assist with office emergencies to resolve situations requiring expertise in determining methods to use and approaches to be taken based on the patient circumstances.
• Collaborate with the Patient Experience Team to resolve problems or expedite service
  within established Health Care System policies, procedures, and clinical practice guidelines.
• Assist patient with understanding the patient's bill of rights.
• Serve as a Transporter who is easily recognized, provides information and/or guidance, helps ensure safety with assistance when needed, displays brand consistency, and alleviates patient complaints.
• Assist Nursing Service and Pharmacy Service regarding the transportation of discharging
  patients by picking up non-narcotic medications from the pharmacy, picking up any assistive
  equipment that patient needs at discharge (i.e., wheelchair, walker, etc.) and transporting.
• Assist the public relations program in increasing community and/or Veteran awareness of the Health Care System and will help patients register for My Healthy Vet.
• Recognize and/or institutes appropriate action in emergency situations such as performing
  CPR, Heimlich maneuver for choking, seizure precautions, safety during seizures, emergency first aid and Implement facility fall prevention guidelines.
• Serve as a Greeter, working with mentoring other volunteer Greeters, to
  provide a consistent, exceptional experience that builds the trust and confidence of Veterans
  and their families.
• Other duties as assigned.

Work Schedule: Variable
Position Description Title/PD#: Patient Relations Assistant/PD14899A and PD14098A
Physical Requirements: The regular and recurring work of the position involves extensive walking, standing, and
bending, and lifting, up to 50 pounds. The position requires regular pushing of patient and visitor wheelchairs. Occasional use of automobile and public conveyances may be required. Takes proper precautions to ensure personal and environmental safety by using proper body mechanics.
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.

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. citizen to apply for this job
• Subject to a background/suitability investigation
• Designated and/or random drug testing may be required
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• A complete application package; including Resume, Transcripts, etc. is required
• 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.

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.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary 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.

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 must have served 52 weeks at the GS-04. 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.

You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below:

GS-04 General Experience: You must have one year of general experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-03 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: administration, customer service, safeguard patient information, knowledge or patient rights, benefits regulation, registrations. OR

• Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have at least 2 years above high school. OR
• Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have a combination of general experience and education beyond high school.

GS-05 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: administration, customer service, safeguard patient information, knowledge or patient rights, benefits regulation, registrations, medical transporter, CPR, Heimlich maneuver for choking, seizure precautions, safety during seizures, safety and emergency first aid. (Must be in Resume)OR

• Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have at least 4 years above high school. OR
• Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have a combination of specialized experience and education beyond high school.

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.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

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:

• Accountability
• 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.

Documents Accepted:

• DD-214/ Statement of Service
• Disability Letter (VA)
• Education. 2 years above high school
• Education. 4 years above high school
• Resume
• Separation Notice (RIF)
• SF-15
• SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action
• Transcript

Documents Required:

• Resume

Please review the above list(s) to ensure you have included all necessary documents required for your application.Not every applicant will require the same documents, therefore it is the applicants responsibility to ensure that their application package includes all necessary documents to determine qualifications and eligibility for appointment, such as a copy of your SF-50, transcript, ICTAP/CTAP documentation (for displaced Federal employees).You will not be contacted for additional information. Applicants will be deemed ineligible if supporting documentation is not submitted.

Veterans' Preference: Since the Direct-Hire Recruitment Authority is being used, traditional Veterans' Preference rules do not apply. Qualified veterans will, however, be given full consideration for this position.

Applications are accepted online. Applying online will allow you to review and track the status of your application.

Next steps