Program Support Assistant

Program Support Assistant

The Western NY VA Healthcare system is currently recruiting for three Program Support Assistants for the Buffalo location in the Service Center within the Business Office. This position performs a broad range of complex administrative activities in support of access to healthcare related benefits; enrollment, eligibility determination and travel services.

Responsibilities Major Program Support Assistant (OA) duties include :

• Health Benefits Enrollment and Eligibility Advisor : Advises applicants of the health care benefits they are legally entitled to in person and over the phone, initiates administrative processes for establishing care, adjudicates eligibility when discrepancies exist, and notifies appropriate healthcare personnel accordingly.
• Decedent Affairs Duties : Responsible for all administrative functions related to the Decedent Affairs program including details of patient death cases occurring within the Medical Center. Serves as a liaison between Medical Center staff, next of kin, organ / body donation recovery units and funeral directors.
• Beneficiary Travel Advisor : Demonstrates working knowledge and technical proficiency in Beneficiary Travel program administration using eligibility criteria and regulatory authorities to appropriately administer program benefits to eligible patients and caretakers. Prepares and processes claims for travel reimbursement, authors vouchers to reimburse travel cost to eligible beneficiaries and communicates eligibility criteria to the patient.
• HOPTEL : Perform administrative responsibilities in management of Hoptel services. Ensure guest meet eligibility requirements and are able to independently function in the Hoptel environment according to orders / Hoptel notes. Admissions : Will be responsible for monitoring and processing admissions and transfer of inpatients from clinics and the Emergency Room accurately and in a timely manner. Is required to determine eligibility for inpatient status, including medical, surgical, behavioral health, domiciliary, and long term care and alerting management / admitting provider regarding ineligible patients submitted for admission.

Note : The above is not an exhaustive list of duties and you will be expected to perform additional tasks as necessitated by the supervisor or designee.

Work Schedule : Monday- Friday, 8 : 00am-4 : 30pm

Physical Requirements : The work involves mostly administrative processing which requires standing, walking, sitting, stooping, bending, lifting light objects, answering the telephone and retrieving and entering data into various computer programs and databases.

Position Description Title / PD# : Program Support Assistant / PD21T53A

Promotion Potential : The selectee may be promoted to the full performance level without further competition when all regulatory, qualification, and performance requirements are met. Selection at a lower grade level does not guarantee promotion to the full performance level.

Requirements Conditions of Employment You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job To be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. In addition to the application and questionnaire, this position requires an online assessment. The online assessment measures critical general competencies required to perform the job.

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

Subject to background / security investigation Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements.

Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.

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

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest.

Qualifications To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 11 / 03 / 2025. You may qualify based on your experience and / or education as described below :

Program Support Assistant (OA), GS-05 grade : One year of specialized experience (equivalent to the GS-04 grade level in the federal service); experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA's) and other characteristics to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled, in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience includes : Responsible for providing clerical, technical, or customer support; Receiving and referring phone calls; Communicating and treating customers in a courteous, tactful and respectful manner while providing consistent information according to established policies and procedures; and Using computer programs to prepare correspondence and manage documents.

OR, Applicants may substitute education for the experience required for the GS-05 level. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have four (4) years above high school.

OR, Applicants may also have a combination of education and experience to qualify at the GS-05 level. To calculate, first identify the percentage of required education you have earned (when substituting, you cannot use the first 60 semester hours that you earned). Then identify the percentage of required experience you possess. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify at the GS-05.

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 A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.

Additional Information Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer.

Reasonable Accommodation (RA) Requests : If you believe you have a disability (i.e., physical or mental), covered by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended that would interfere with completing the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you will be granted the opportunity to request a RA in your online application.

Receiving Service Credit or Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave : Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. VA may offer newly-appointed Federal employee's credit for their job-related non-federal experience or active duty uniformed military service. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave.

The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced VA competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified you must submit appropriate documentation and be found well-qualified for this vacancy.