Lead Pharmacy Technician
What you'd do
The Community Care Lead Pharmacy Technician serves as the primary point of contact for community care prescription processing and workflows at the Boise Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Responsibilities include overseeing technical operations, monitoring workload, and providing technical direction to other pharmacy technicians.
Major duties
VA Careers - Pharmacy: https://youtube.com/embed/Fn_ickNBEws Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional Duties: 1. Receives faxed, mailed, electronically prescribed, or hand-delivered prescriptions written by non-VA providers for community care patients and processes all received prescriptions, including assessment of appropriateness and eligibility, prioritizing urgent prescriptions first. 2. Utilizes EHRM and other related systems to verify community care authorization, eligibility, and coverage for prescribed medications under Boise VAMC community care programs. 3. Reviews authorized prescriptions for appropriateness using advanced pharmacy technician knowledge of medications, indications, dosing, interactions, and duplicate therapy, as well as national and local VA formulary requirements. 4. Communicates directly and frequently with non-VA physicians, nurses, and office staff to clarify prescriptions, resolve discrepancies, and facilitate medication changes necessary due to VA formulary or safety considerations; forwards all clinical changes to a licensed pharmacist for final acceptance and documents actions in EHRM. 5. Independently initiates the non-formulary/prior authorization process with non-VA providers, gathers supporting documentation, and records required information in EHRM in accordance with VA policy and local procedures. 6. Performs proactive follow-up via phone and/or fax with non-VA providers on outstanding non-formulary requests, prior authorizations, clarifications, and medication change requests to ensure timely resolution and documents all contacts in EHRM. 7. Scans non-formulary and prior authorization documents into VistA Imaging and organizes electronic and shared-drive files to ensure accurate, retrievable records for pharmacy and clinical staff. 8. Assists in tracking and coordinating shipment of non-VA prescribed medications, including controlled substances, from Boise VAMC Pharmacy and Consolidated Mail Outpatient Pharmacy (CMOP), ensuring appropriate packaging, address verification, and use of tracking tools. 9. Communicates with Procurement Pharmacist or Procurement Technician when specialty medications or non-stock items are required for community care prescriptions, providing accurate product, quantity, and timeline information. Work Schedule: Monday to Friday, 8:00am to 4:30pm Recruitment/Relocation Incentives (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 #: 531-60859F Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized
What you need to qualify
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. Education or Experience. (1) None required. (2) For all grade levels and positions that accept both education and experience to qualify, equivalent combinations of qualifying education and experience that total at least 100% are qualifying. The combined percentage is determined by adding total qualifying experience as a percentage of the experience required for the grade level to the education as a percentage of the education required for the grade level. c. Certification. For positions above the full performance level, the employee must pass a national certification exam and hold an active national certification through either: Pharmacy Technician Certification Board (PTCB), Certified Pharmacy Technician (CPhT). OR National Healthcareer Association (NHA), Certified Pharmacy Technician (ExCPT). Foreign Education. To be creditable, education completed outside the U.S. must be deemed at least equivalent to that gained in a conventional U.S. program by a private organization specializing in the interpretation of foreign educational credentials. Physical Requirements. See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Service. English Language Proficiency. Pharmacy Technician candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f). 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: Preferred Experience: Candidate must have three to five years of experience in pharmacy. Experience with Excel and Windows applications will be beneficial in this role. Prior technician lead responsibilities is essential. Experience. Candidates must possess one year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level and demonstrate the KSAs below. Certification. For positions above the full performance level, the employee must pass a national certification exam and hold an active national certification through either: (a) PTCB as a CPhT. OR (b) NHA as a ExCPT. Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSAs). In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs for all GS-08 assignments and meet any additional KSAs for the assignment, if indicated: (a) Comprehensive knowledge of concepts, principles, methodology and policies in a specialized area or section of pharmacy (such as sterile compounding, controlled substances, automation, clinical pharmacy, contact center, etc.) Note: See Specialized Area.in the Definitions Section. (b) Skill in training and orienting new and existing pharmacy facility employees and students on proper policies and procedures. (c) Ability to evaluate, analyze and coordinate workflow and work activities within a specialized area or section of the pharmacy. Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.
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