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The Lead Health Technician (Telehealth Clinical) provides direct leadership to a team of Telehealth Clinical Technicians as well as leading initiatives designed to improve the delivery of care to Veterans using telehealth. The incumbent 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.) Basic Requirements: Citizenship. Citizen of the United States. After a determination is made that it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens, non-citizen personnel may be appointed on a temporary basis under authority of 38 U.S.C. 7405, without regard to the citizenship requirements of 38 U.S.C. 7402 or any other law prohibiting the employment of or payment of compensation to a person who is not a citizen of the United States. Candidates must meet all other requirements for the grade and position concerned. 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. Certification. None Grandfathering Provision. All Health Technicians (Telehealth Clinical) employed in VHA in this occupation on the effective date of this qualification standard are considered to have met all qualification requirements for the title, series, and grade held. For employees who do not meet all the basic requirements required in this standard, but who met the qualifications applicable to the position at the time they were appointed to it. (1) Such employees may be reassigned, promoted up to and including the full performance (journeyman) level, or changed to lower grade within the occupation, but may not be promoted beyond the journeyman level or placed in supervisory or managerial positions. (2) Employees who are appointed on a temporary basis prior to the effective date of the qualification standard may not have their temporary appointment extended or be reappointed, on a temporary or permanent basis, until they fully meet the basic requirements of the standard. (3) If an employee who was retained (grandfathered) under this provision leaves that occupation, the employee loses protected status and must meet the full VA qualification standard requirements in effect at the time of re-entry to the occupation. 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. See chapter 2, section D, paragraph 5a, this part. GRADE DETERMINATIONS. In addition to the basic requirements for employment, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates. Lead Health Technician (Telehealth Clinical), GS-8 (1) Experience. One year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level (GS-7) (2) Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs. (a) Ability to work with a team to provide technical guidance, plan, organize and coordinate activities of a Health Technician (Telehealth Clinical) in order to effectively complete job duties of assignment such as distributing workload, monitoring the status and progress of work, monitoring accuracy of work. (b) Skill in leadership and interpersonal relations and conflict resolution to deal with employees, team leaders, providers, and managers. (c) Ability to communicate effectively in order to meet program objectives. This may include preparing reports in various formats and presenting data to various organizational levels. (d) Knowledge of quality control and assurance procedures and principles of performance improvement. (e) Skill in the assessment and resolution of complex workload capture issues using multiple data sources. (f) Ability to develop and compose complex written instructions. (g) Knowledge of analytical and evaluative processes to independently resolve complex issues. (3) Assignment. The Lead Health Technician (Telehealth Clinical) provides an array of complex and specialized duties related to leadership, staff education, technology management, as well as project and program management related duties for all dimensions of virtual care and telehealth initiatives. Duties include: serves as an official team lead for telehealth staff; monitors and reports on the status of work to ensure that the supervisor's instructions on work priorities, methods, deadlines and quality have been met; works with the supervisor to develop assignments for team members and distributes workload and tasks among employees in accordance with established workflows and specialized requirements, and provides information to the supervisor regarding all conduct and performance related achievements or concerns. The Lead Telehealth Clinical Technician is responsible for independently reviewing performance metrics to ensure telehealth operations are timely, effective and efficient. This includes the assessment and analysis of the impact, demand and utilization of telehealth services, the coordination of establishing telehealth clinics according to the Decision Support System and VHA guidelines, the monitoring of workload credit for interfacility workload credit and specialized encounters; responsible for the development or revision of diverse and complex standard operating procedures, and assisting stakeholders to develop new telehealth programs based on patient needs; serves in an official capacity as a telehealth preceptor and provides standardized training related to patient care, telehealth technology and quality assurance. This includes the facilitation of interactive simulations and referential documents, the assessment of competency of all clinical staff participating in telehealth programs and maintaining compliance with national VA standards established by the Office of Connected Care regarding training and operations. For all assignments above the full performance level, the higher level duties must consist of significant scope, complexity (difficulty) and range of variety and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time. Preferred Experience: Knowledge of Medical Terminology; Understanding of Basic Clinical Operations; Experience working in a Virtual Care/Tele-health setting preferred. The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-8. 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. References: Refer to VA Handbook 5005/96, Part II, Appendix G50 ["The higher-level duties associated with this lead-level position may include, but are not limited to: Leading a team of telehealth staff by providing guidance and technical direction relating to the telehealth program. Working with the supervisor to develop assignments for team members to meet routine and unusual deadlines and priorities. Distributing and balancing workload and tasks among employees in accordance with established workflow and/or job specialization and required rotations. Serving as the work leader, monitors the status and progress of team members' work and makes day-to-day adjustments in accordance with established priorities. Giving on-the-job training to new employees (local and at the CBOC sites). Instructing employees in specific tasks and job techniques, making available written instructions and reference materials for use by team members in the accomplishment of tasks or projects. Monitoring and reporting on the status and progress of work to ensure that the supervisor's instructions on work priorities, methods, deadlines, and quality have been met. Providing information to the supervisor concerning promotions, reassignment, recognition of outstanding performance, and personnel needs. Reporting to the supervisor on training needs of employees and conduct or performance issues. Resolving simple, informal complaints of employees and referring others, such as formal grievances and appeals to the supervisor or an appropriate management official. Using a needs assessment, service agreements and other tools, collaborating with stakeholders to develop new programs and processes to ensure telehealth programs are meeting the strategic plans of the healthcare system. Providing standardized developed competency-based training for telehealth technology, facilitating interactive simulations for clinical staff participating in telehealth programs. Performs other duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Monday to Friday 8:00am to 4:30pm Telework: Not Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 000000 Financial Disclosure Report: Not required"]

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