Health Technician (Telehealth Clinical)

Description:

This position falls under the Ralph H. Johnson Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Charleston South Carolina and the duty location is located at the Myrtle Beach, SC, Outpatient Clinic. The Health Care Technician (HCT) Telehealth Clinical Technician (TCT) serves in a generalist role to support and manage telehealth operations and is typically stationed at a clinical care delivery site

Requirements:

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. Health Technicians (Ophthalmology) must be proficient in spoken and written English as required by 38 U.S.C. 7402(d) and 38 U.S.C. 7407(d).
• Experience and Education
  • 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
  • Education: Four academic years above high school leading to a bachelor's degree with courses related to the occupation. OR
  • Experience/Education Combination: Equivalent combination of experience and education are qualifying for entry level for which both education and experience are acceptable.

(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.

Grade Determinations : In addition to the basic requirements for employment above, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates.
GS-7 Grade Requirements:

• Experience: One year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level, GS-6. Examples of GS-6 Experience: Technicians perform duties such as screening patients for Telehealth modality and referring patients that do not meet established criteria to appropriate care; communicating effectively with administrative and professional staff, and obtaining assistance for issues that may arise or backlogs that cannot be resolved in a timely manner. Responsible for performing imaging duties in accordance with VHA national telehealth guidelines such as: capture and transmission of clinical images and/or data, obtains consent as necessary, generates consults according to established procedures for each telehealth specialty, transmits images or clinical data to the electronic medical record, provides patient education regarding general anatomy, disease processes and prevention as appropriate, and takes appropriate action based on the providers' findings and recommendations. Responsible for facilitation of real-time Telehealth encounters by providing hands on assistance and reporting clinical observations under the direction of a licensed independent Practitioner or clinical specialist; schedules, confirms and coordinates Telehealth. Responsible for conducting routine inventories and consistently tracking location/status of Telehealth technology located at assigned site; and communicates with National Telehealth Technology Help Desk to facilitate troubleshooting, repair, and coordination of replacement equipment as necessary.

• Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSA): In addition to the experience above, t he candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs . Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSA). In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs: 1. Ability to use independent technical judgment to analyze, evaluate and resolve problems.2. Knowledge of quality control and assurance procedures and principles of performance improvement.3. Ability to function effectively between competing priorities.4. Knowledge of proper maintenance and troubleshooting of telehealth equipment.5. 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 work6. Ability to assist in Health Technician (Telehealth Clinical) development, outcome management and strategic planning.7. Ability to perform successful knowledge transfer regarding the use of telehealth technologies.

Preferred Experience: Telehealth and VA administrative/clinical experience.

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/ .

The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-6. The actual grade at which an applicant will be selected for this vacancy is GS-7.

Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Services