Summary

The Health Technician (Telehealth Clinical) - Advanced provides high level support - training - and advanced management of telehealth operations and is typically stationed at a clinical care delivery site (VA Medical Center - CBOC - VA Outreach Clinic - etc.) - with duties that may require travel. Supports clinical telehealth encounters and supporting clinical data for telehealth store and forward applications - providing technical and administrative support of telehealth operations

Qualifications

Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met.

Basic Requirements:

• United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy
• English Language Proficiency
• A candidate will not be appointed under authority of 38 U.S.C. chapters 73 or 74 - to serve in a direct patient-care capacity in VHA who is not proficient in written and spoken English
• Certification
• None Experience and Education
• (1) Experience
• One year of experience in a health care field that demonstrates the applicant's ability to perform the work or provides an understanding of the work such as but not limited to a medical or clinical assistant (or technician) or health technician
• OR (2) Education
• Four academic years above high school leading to a bachelor's degree with courses related to the occupation
• OR (3) Experience/Education Combination
• Equivalent combination of experience and education are qualifying for entry level for which both education and experience are acceptable
• Examples are listed below:(a) Six months of experience in the health care field and two years of education above high school that included at least six semester hours in health care related courses such as - biological science - surgical technician courses - nursing assistant or other courses related to the position
• or an associate's degree in a health care related field
• OR (b) Six months of experience in the health care field and successful completion of a course for health care technicians - hospital corpsmen - or medical service specialists given by the U.S. Armed Forces
• May qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision as described in the VA Qualification Standard for this occupation (only applicable to current VHA employees who are in this occupation and meet the criteria)
• Grade Determinations: GS-07 Experience
• One year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level Demonstrated Knowledge - Skills - and Abilities
• In addition to the experience above - the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs: Ability to use independent technical judgment to analyze - evaluate and resolve problems Knowledge of quality control and assurance procedures and principles of performance improvement Ability to function effectively between competing priorities Knowledge of proper maintenance and troubleshooting of telehealth equipment Ability to work with a team to provide technical guidance - plan - organize and coordinate activities of a health technician in order to effectively complete job duties of assignment such as distributing workload - monitoring the status and progress of work - monitoring accuracy of work Ability to assist in Health Technician (Telehealth Clinical) development - outcome management and strategic planning Ability to perform successful knowledge transfer regarding the use of telehealth technologies
• Reference: For more information on this qualification standard - please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/
• Physical Requirements: The work requires some physical exertion such as prolonged periods of standing - bending - reaching - crouching - stooping - stretching - and lifting moderately heavy items such as manuals - record boxes - equipment or assisting patients
• The work requires above average agility and dexterity
• The incumbent may be required to travel between VA and/or Non-VA clinical care sites and possession of a valid driver's license may be required.

Duties

• Major duties will include - but not limited to: Coordinating - installing - maintaining and managing the inventory of telehealth technologies including hardware and software with assistance of Biomed and IT
• Providing established standardized competency based training - guidance and information on the use of advanced telehealth technologies to patients - staff - and providers
• Providing established standardized competency based training for telehealth technology - facilitating interactive simulations for clinical staff participating in telehealth programs
• Participating in performance improvement activities aimed at improving the efficiency of the patient telehealth processes
• Developing reporting procedures - sampling techniques and measurements at various points in the telehealth processes to identify/analyze inherent weaknesses in work and procedures
• Coordinating clinic set up and monitoring of workload capture and issues for assigned patient and provider clinics including telehealth resource based scheduling
• Supporting designated complex telehealth programs that require advanced technical skillsets
• Preparing the clinical environment - which may include preparing medical and telecommunications equipment to be used for clinical examination and treatment
• Serving as a telepresenter - within scope of practice - during clinical video telehealth (CVT) and VA Video Connect (VVC) encounters including tasks such as establishing and maintaining video conferencing connections - making introductions between patient site and provider site - following instructions of a clinician to facilitate an effective clinical encounter
• Serving as an imager and manager of clinical data for store and forward telehealth (SFT) clinical encounters including tasks such as capturing images - collecting data and transmitting them electronically for clinical review in accordance with VHA national guidelines
• Taking measures to ensure patient care is delivered safely by following appropriate procedures for the cleaning of clinical equipment and the care environment while following all patient safety guidelines - protocols - and procedures
• Completing standardized clinical questionnaires and templates within scope of training and applicable guidelines
• Ensuring that patient privacy is protected by complying with all information security and patient privacy regulations
• Receiving and scheduling requests for simple and complex intra-facility - and interfacility telehealth appointments using an electronic resource-based scheduling system
• Referring patients to providers for screening for Telehealth
• Monitoring and maintaining schedules of rooms - patients - technologies - clinical providers and presenters as needed to ensure efficient telehealth operations
• Providing patient education via approved materials
• Supporting the Veteran in completing patient satisfaction surveys
• Communicating effectively with clinical and administrative staff at the assigned local site and those located at remote sites of care
• Coordinating and
• or directly configuring - installing - troubleshooting - inventory management - cleaning - and performing minor routine maintenance of assigned telehealth technology
• Ensuring assigned telehealth technologies are secured - ready for use - and accounted for by preparing and tracking maintenance work orders - information systems - inventory records - and communicating with National Telehealth Technology Help Desk to facilitate troubleshooting - repair - and coordination of replacement equipment as necessary
• Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional Work Schedule: Full-time - Monday-Friday
• 7:30am-4:00pm Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not Authorized Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases Paid Time Off: 37-50 days of annual paid time offer per year (13-26 days of annual leave - 13 days of sick leave - 11 paid Federal holidays per year)
• Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual - based on prior [work experience] or military service experience
• Parental Leave: After 12 months of employment - up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave in connection with the birth - adoption - or foster care placement of a child
• Child Care Subsidy: After 60 days of employment - full time employees with a total family income below $144 -000 may be eligible for a childcare subsidy up to 25% of total eligible childcare costs for eligible children up to the monthly maximum of $416.66
• Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA Insurance: Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement) Telework: Not Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position
• Functional Statement #: 000000 Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized