Transportation Assistant (Beneficiary Travel Coordinator)

Summary

The incumbent serves as the Beneficiary Travel Coordinator for the VA Roseburg Healthcare System (VARHS) and all Community Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs) attached to the facility. Incumbent will perform key duties including: coordinating travel arrangements, counsel veterans and staff alike to ensure cost effectiveness, partnering with community to identify additional travel resources, resolving claims disputes, and educating veterans, families, and VA staff of travel benefits.

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Overview

• Accepting applications

• Open & closing dates

02/08/2024 to 04/01/2024

• Salary

$44,117 - $57,354 per year

• Pay scale & grade

GS 6

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Location

1 vacancy in the following location:

• Roseburg, OR 1 vacancy

• Remote job

No

• Telework eligible

No

• Travel Required

Not required

• Relocation expenses reimbursed

No

• Appointment type

Permanent -

• Work schedule

Full-time -

• Service

Competitive

• Promotion potential

None

• Job family (Series)

2102 Transportation Clerk And Assistant

• Supervisory status

No

• Security clearance

Other

• Drug test

No

• Position sensitivity and risk

Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk

• Trust determination process

Suitability/Fitness

• Announcement number

CBSV-12283603-24-SB

• Control number

775563700

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This job is open to

• Career transition (CTAP, ICTAP, RPL)

Federal employees who meet the definition of a "surplus" or "displaced" employee.

• Federal employees

• Competitive service

Current or former competitive service federal employees.

• Federal employees

• Excepted service

Current excepted service federal employees.

• Individuals with disabilities

• Land & base management

Certain current or former term or temporary federal employees of a land or base management agency.

• Military spouses

• Peace Corps & AmeriCorps Vista

• Special authorities

Individuals eligible under a special authority not listed above, but defined in the federal hiring regulations.

• Veterans

Clarification from the agency

Special authorities include: Former overseas employees and foreign service employees. Clarification for these authorities is provided in the questionnaire. First AOC (Area of Consideration) is Facility employees; Second AOC is VA Agency.

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Duties

Major duties include, but are not limited to;

• He/she will independently manage the Beneficiary Travel Program for the VARHS and all CBOCs associated with this system.

• The Beneficiary Travel program provides transportation at government expense to beneficiaries and their attendants traveling to and from VA facilities and other places for the purpose of examination, treatment or care. This will include correctly determining eligibility for the program, and processing requests. It will also include correctly determining which of several fund control points to utilize, maintaining manual and electronic accounting records.

• Receives invoices for payment of transportation reimbursements and will oversee the completion from processing to issuance of reimbursement to the beneficiary.

• Tracks and researches all transactions pertaining to Beneficiary travel reimbursements and the validity of claims requested.

• Investigates authorizations, orders, and/or utilizes the Computerized Patient Record System (CPRS) to review medical records, forwards for supervisory approval and submits all documents for payment utilizing appropriate control point for reference.

• Responsible for reviewing all invoices submitted for payment on the On Line Certification System; additionally, incumbent is responsible for reviewing and forwarding all appropriate invoices to the Financial Services Center for processing through the On Line Certification System.

• Acts as liaison between vendors and the beneficiary of transportation Services for accident or incident reporting actions.

• Writes or selects appropriate letters explaining disposition of unauthorized travel claims. Responsible for explaining the regulatory guidelines to beneficiaries for submitting any unauthorized reimbursement claims to the VA Medical Center for consideration of payment.

• Corresponds with contracting officer regarding technical problems-or negotiates parts of contractual agreements, acting as the Contracting Officer Technical Representative (COTR) for the transportation contracts.

• Partners with community resources to identify and use alternate modes of transportation.

• Assesses, determines, and educates staff and veterans· of appropriate reimbursement rates. Arranges all modes of transportation via air ambulance, ground ambulance, wheelchair van, and/or secured transports.

• Prepares appropriate documentation and/or scheduling for traveler according to government rates or substantial rates.

• Makes special arrangements per physician documentation according to traveler's medical condition and/or preference. It is especially important that this care be coordinated in a timely fashion as it could delay patient care and treatment.

• May keep in touch with traveler enroute to resolve potential problems.

• Maintains communications with receiving facilities regarding beneficiaries return travel arrangements.

• Reviews requests for reimbursement of travel costs for the purpose of assuring compliance with regulations and procedures, completeness, accuracy, internal consistency, and agreement with basic authorization.

• Reconciles vouchers against authorizations for accuracy prior to preparing certifications for payment.

• Communicates and interacts with patients in a manner which is appropriate to cognitive, emotional, and chronological maturation needs of the adult and/or geriatric patient.

• Documents and prepares monthly account synopsis for contracting officials in Acquisition & Materiel Management Service quarterly to justify yearly ambulance contractual compliance. Documents and prepares statistical ambulance reports to supervisor upon request for fiscal year budget.

• Maintains and controls filing system in accordance with VA regulations.

Work Schedule: Monday

• Friday, 8:00am

• 4:30pm

Telework: This is not a telework position.

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Position Description/PD#: Transportation Assistant (Beneficiary Travel Coordinator)/PD301380

Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized

Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved

Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

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Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job

• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959

• You may be required to serve a probationary period

• Subject to background/security investigation

• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process

• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP)

• Participation in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination program is a requirement for all Veterans Health Administration Health Care Personnel (HCP) - See "Additional Information" below for details.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet Time-In-Grade & Specialized Experience within 30 days of this announcement, 04/01/2024.

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 within 30 days of 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 one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-05 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Knowledge of beneficiary travel reimbursements; This includes funds for mileage payments, ambulance, wheelchair van, and secured transport for authorized and unauthorized claims; Must have office automation abilities, to include knowledge of email system, MS Office, spreadsheets and other equipment; Prepares correspondence to veterans concerning eligibility and counsels veterans who do not meet criteria for transportation reimbursement; Knowledge on how to extract information and mileage from a road atlas and city street maps and the ability to interpret contracts for transportation services; Knowledge of transportation contracts for special mode transports.

NOTE: Experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month and year start/end dates AND hours worked per week.

You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position:

• Critical Thinking

• Customer Service (Clerical/Technical)

• Database Administration

• Self-Direction

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment.

Physical Requirements: The work requires no special physical demands, but will require some physical effort such as standing, walking, bending or sitting.

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/.

Education

There is no educational substitution at this grade level.

Additional information

Special Employment Consideration: VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply, including those eligible for hiring under 5 CFR 213.3102(u), Schedule A, Appointment of persons with disabilities [i.e., intellectual disabilities, severe physical disabilities, or psychiatric disabilities], and/or Disabled veterans with a compensable service-connected disability of 30% or more. Contact the Agency Contact for information on how to apply under this appointment authority via the Selective Placement Coordinator.

The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced Federal/VA competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified you must submit appropriate documentation (a copy of the agency notice, your most recent performance rating, and your most recent SF-50 noting current position, grade level, and duty location) and be found well-qualified for this vacancy. To be well-qualified: applicants must possess experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors, and who are proficient in most of the required competencies of the job. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/.

This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.

Pursuant to VHA Directive 1193.01, VHA health care personnel (HCP) are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 subject to such accommodations as required by law (i.e., medical, religious or pregnancy). VHA HCPs do not include remote workers who only infrequently enter VHA locations. If selected, you will be required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and submit documentation of proof of vaccination before your start date. The agency will provide additional information regarding what information or documentation will be needed and how you can request a legally required accommodation from this requirement using the reasonable accommodation process.

If you are unable to apply online or need an alternate method to submit documents, please reach out to the Agency Contact listed in this Job Opportunity Announcement.

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• Benefits

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A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new window

Learn more about federal benefits.

Review our benefits

Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.

How You Will Be Evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE.

Narrative responses are not required at this time. If you are referred for consideration, you may be asked to submit additional job related information, which may include, but not limited to; responses to the knowledge, skills and abilities; completion of a work sample, and/or contact for an interview. Your resume and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating or consideration for employment.

Resume Reminder

• Your resume must include the following information for each job listed:

• Job title

• Duties (be as detailed as possible)

• Month & year start/end dates (e.g. June 2007 to April 2008)

• Full-time or part-time status (include hours worked per week)

• Salary/Rank etc.

• Series and Grade, if applicable, for all Federal positions you have held

• References, current or recent supervisor

Do not include the following types of information in your resume:

• Classified or Government sensitive information

• Social Security Number (SSN)

• Photos of yourself

• Personal information, such as age, gender, religious affiliation, etc.

Please be aware that your answers will be verified against information provided on your resume. Be sure that your resume clearly supports your responses to all of the questions by addressing your work experience in detail. The experience stated in your resume must support your assessment responses.

Recommended: Even though we do not require a specific resume format, your resume must be clear so that we are able to fully evaluate your qualifications. To ensure you receive appropriate consideration, please list the duties you performed under each individual job title. If we are unable to match your experiences with the positions held, you may lose consideration for this vacancy. We cannot make assumptions regarding your qualifications.

The Department of Veterans Affairs performs pre-employment reference checks as an assessment method used in the hiring process to verify information provided by a candidate (e.g., on resume or during interview or hiring process); gain additional knowledge regarding a candidate's abilities; and assist a hiring manager with making a final selection for a position.

For more information on the "Who may apply" eligibility requirements, please refer to the OHRM Status Candidates and Other Candidate Definitions document.

Placement Policy: The posting of this announcement does not obligate management to fill a vacancy or vacancies by promotion. The position may be filled by reassignment, change to lower grade, transfer, appointment, or reinstatement. Management may use any one or any combination of these methods to fill the position.

It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment.

Veterans and Transitioning Service Members: Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members.