Patient Services Assistant
What you'd do
The Patient Services Assistant (PSA) position is assigned to the Connected Care service and serves as clinical administrative support within the Phoenix VA Medical Center. The incumbent in this assignment will support all facets of the Connected Care service.
Major duties
30 Day Hiring Model The Department of Veterans Affairs is implementing a streamlined 30-Day Hiring Model designed to accelerate hiring while maintaining the highest standards of merit-based selection. This improved process reduces traditional hiring timelines by integrating early coordination, faster assessments, and efficient pre-employment actions. Applicants can expect a more transparent, predictable, and efficient hiring journey from announcement to entry on duty. What Applicants Can Expect Expedited Candidate Review Once the announcement closes, Human Resources will quickly review applications, issue certificates of eligible candidates the day after the announcement closes and refer applicants for hiring manager consideration. Quick Interviews & References HR may arrange interviews and will request references within 3-5 days after being referred to the hiring manager. Streamlined Pre-Employment Requirements: Following a tentative offer, applicants should be prepared to complete required steps, such as fingerprinting and background check, credentialing, and medical examination within 3 days of the offer. Clear and Timely Communication: Applicants will receive clear communication at key milestones, including referral, tentative offer, and onboarding instructions. After meeting pre-employment requirements, candidates will receive a final job offer and start date. Onboarding tasks may continue after starting, with HR ensuring timely completion for a smooth transition into VA service. If selected, applicants should be prepared to come onboard within 30 days of the announcement closing. Duties include but are not limited to the following: The PSA plays an essential role in shaping the patients' experience and is vital to providing timely access to health care. Incumbents will communicate directly with the patient to obtain required information to determine patient needs. He/she will have knowledge of various software utilized to run reports and queries. The work includes functions such as serving as an initial point of contact for functions including but not limited to scheduling patient appointments, tracking, reviewing and responding to electronic orders, consults, and other elements in the electronic medical record. The incumbent must display a practical knowledge of computerized data entry, information processing systems and software related to patient care. Coordinates with the patient care team to review clinic appointment availability (utilization) to ensure that clinic schedules are closely monitored to effectively support the needs of the clinics. Ensuring encounter forms are completed to obtain appropriate workload credit; identifies incomplete encounters, process no-shows, and communicates findings to providers. Utilizes the medical record to enter information and research the needs of the patient as appropriate. Provides excellent customer service and assists in providing front line resolution when applicable. Informs team members about shared patients ([i.e]., those who receive their care at multiple VA centers or those who receive care in the community). Evaluates program operations, anticipates potential problems, identifies existing problems, inefficiencies and develops recommended solutions. Provides advice and guidance for improvements and anticipates areas of concerns or questions which must be addressed when making recommendations. Coordinates with the Facility Telehealth Coordinator or designee to improve the uniformity and standardization of clinical workload, analyze and evaluate work measurement and operations, workforce estimates, procedures and resource estimates and utilization. Assists with equipment issues with oversight from a Care Coordinator. Any subsequent troubleshooting of technology is documented using either the HT or Tech Education notes. Assists Connected Care program to lead the facility's efforts to integrate Home Telehealth among healthcare providers and patients. Collaborates with the Veterans Resource Center, Patient Advocates, PACT, Social Work, and other service lines to ensure Phoenix VA staff are aware of Home Telehealth services available to Veterans. Serves, in the absence of the Facility Telehealth Coordinator as liaison and administrator to VISN and National MHV teams. Applies the training plans and design and perform needs assessments within the project relative to functional and training needs and project effectiveness. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 7:30am - 4:00pm Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Patient Services Assistant/PD14959A
What you need to qualify
To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 08/14/2026. 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-06 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-05. 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. 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 as described below: Specialized Experience: You must have at least one (1) full year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade level (GS-5) in Federal Service, that has equipped you with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of a Program Support Assistant (MHA Program Assistant), GS-6 position, and that is typically in or related to the work of this position. Specialized experience includes: performing a full range of administrative support for an office; receiving visitors and phone calls; reviewing all incoming and outgoing correspondence; scheduling meetings; and utilizing office automation software such as Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint). 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/.
Before you apply
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