Health Technician Program Coordinator - Ophthalmology

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.
• 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).
• Certification. All applicants must be certified as a Certified Ophthalmic Assistant (COA) with the Joint Commission on Allied Health Personnel in Ophthalmology (JCAHPO). The COA certification is JCAHPO's entry-level certification examination for a Health Technician (Ophthalmology).

Experience and Education.

(1) Experience. One year of experience in a health care field, such as but not limited to nursing, medical assistant, or health technician. -OR-
(2) Education. Two years above high school with a minimum of six semester hours directly related to a health care field or associate's degree in a health care related degree. -OR-
(3) Experience/Education Combination. Equivalent combinations of experience and education are qualifying. Examples are listed below:

• Six months of experience in the health care field; and one year above high school. OR
• Six months of experience in the health care field and successful completion of a course for health care technicians, hospital corpsmen, medical service specialists, or ophthalmology technicians given by the U.S. Armed Forces. OR
• Six months of experience in the health care field and completion of an independent study course in Ophthalmic Medical Assisting.

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:

One year of experience equivalent to the GS-10 grade level. Examples of experience at the GS-10 include, but are not limited to:

• Overseeing the integration between ophthalmic medical devices and the electronic medical record system.
• Responsible for the supervision, administrative management, direction of ophthalmology staff, and supervises interactions of Health Technicians (Ophthalmology) with affiliate ophthalmology residents.
• May be delegated full administrative and professional responsibility for planning and directing the ophthalmology staff activities for the service or equivalent unit at an independent outpatient clinic.
• Has full supervisory responsibility over a section or equivalent work unit.
• Typical duties include preparing work assignments, monitoring clinical performances of ophthalmology staff, volunteers, and/or students, conducting performance appraisals, and other clinical and administrative responsibilities to ensure that the mission of the service and the medical center has been satisfied.
• Assures compliance with accrediting agency and regulatory requirements, and the quality management program, assuring corrective action is initiated as needed.
• Assures orientation and competency assessment of assigned staff.
• Develops policies and procedures; manages document control; develops performance standards, position descriptions and functional statements; and is responsible for professional and administrative management of an assigned area to include budget execution.
• Maintains interdepartmental relations with other services to accomplish medical center goals.
• May have overall responsibility for planning, assessing, and evaluating programs to ensure proper coordination between care delivered by the program and overall.

In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs:

• Ability to perform the full range of supervisory duties, which includes responsibility for assignment of work to be performed; competency assessments; performance evaluations; selection of staff; and recommendation of awards, advancements, and when appropriate, disciplinary actions;
• Ability to analyze clinically appropriate data and make recommendations to optimize quality, efficiency, performance, and productivity within service;
• Advanced understanding of interdisciplinary issues and VA organizational structure to serve as liaison between eye care and other programs that would affect coordination of care, healthcare access, program evaluation, assessment and planning for future needs; and
• Demonstrated leadership and managerial skills in interpersonal relations and conflict resolution to deal with employees, team leaders, providers and managers.

Assignment. For all assignments above the full performance level, the higher level duties must consist of significant scope, administrative independence, complexity (difficulty) and range of variety as described in this standard at the specified grade level and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time. The Program Coordinator is generally found in Complexity Level 1 (High Complexity) facilities, or in facilities of lesser complexity levels where large ophthalmology services are found. Has full responsibility for managing the day to day activities of the clinic and may supervise all phases of a facility specialty program. These duties include but are not limited to promoting health education for patients and staff; patient care coordination; referral and consults, oversight of surgery scheduling and coordination; preceptor and mentorship of personnel; quality improvement activities; patient advocate; polytrauma liaison for all ophthalmology issues, and participation in and coordination of approved research projects. Responsible for the overall technical and administrative oversight for operations within their program area to include coordination with multidisciplinary team members, as well as liaison with other sections that support ophthalmology care, such as Nursing Service, Telephone Care, Sterile Processing Service, Pharmacy, and Infection Control. Typically these duties include assigning and evaluating the work of subordinate staff; resolving problems which may interfere with patient examination or treatment; providing Health Technician (Ophthalmology) services in more complex and non-standard cases; evaluating new products and equipment and making recommendations concerning developments which would improve operations; participating as an instructor in the facility's clinical training program; making final decisions on selections based on recommendations from subordinate supervisors or leads. At this level, assignments include intrafacility, interfacility and interagency coordination of care, triage and coordination of urgent ophthalmic patients, program evaluation and analysis, budgetary issues and planning. Assures orientation and competency assessment of assigned staff and maintains interdepartmental relations with other services to accomplish medical center goals. Plans and develops policies, procedures and goals, interprets, implements and educates staff on applicable VHA directives, handbooks, or other policies. Has overall responsibility for planning, assessing, and evaluating programs to ensure proper coordination between care delivered by the program and overall delivery of healthcare within the facility, or coordination of non-VA care as appropriate.

References: VA HANDBOOK 5005/98 PART II APPENDIX G52, FEBRUARY 7, 2018

The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-11.

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