Lead File Clerk

Full Job Description

The position is at the full performance level located in the Southern Arizona VA Health Care System (SAVAHCS) Health Administration Service Department, File Room Unit in Tucson, AZ.

The primary purpose of the position is to ensure the timely completion of all major duties, the maintenance and control of patient consolidated, outpatient, and treatment records in a Veterans Administration Hospital and the correct usage of the Medical Record Tracking System.

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 02/23/2026.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-05 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-04. 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 and/or education described below: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-04 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization.

Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: receipt, scanning, indexing, and destruction of non-electronic health and administrative information for the File Room/Scanning Unit.

OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience.

To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have successfully completed four (4) full years of education beyond high school.

OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level.

You must have an combination of specialized experience and education beyond 2 years of progressive education above high school.

You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Attention to Detail Computer Languages Leadership Reasoning 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 is primarily sedentary in nature. Typically, the employee may sit to do the work, but there will be some walking, standing, bending. and pushing of record carts.

Lead File Clerk requires lifting record bins and stacks of medical records weighing up to 40 pounds. Lead File Clerk also pushes record trucks of medical records weighing several hundred pounds.

There is lifting and carrying of boxed patient records and bulky voluminous patient materials. Proper body mechanics should be observed in bending and stretching required lifting records.

Repetitive motion of upper extremities is common. Frequent minor injuries, such as pinched fingers and paper cuts are commonplace in this position.

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/.

Major Duties:

Serves as Lead File Clerk and technical assistant for, File Room File Clerks, temporary File Clerks, Work Study Students, who complete initial searches for records, filing of loose material, retrieve and compile inpatient documentation, compile and distribute department distribution and scan eligibility documents.

Provides continuous workload coordination and distribution thereby maintaining a stable flow of work assignments.

Distributes and balances the workload among File Clerks in accordance with established work flow or job specialization and follows up to be assured work is completed in a timely manner.

Identifies training deficiencies and recommends additional training for file room staff.

Reviews records to ensure accuracy, timeliness and completeness of health records and completes reviews within established timeframes.

Assists the Supervisor, in the performance, completion and maintenance of accurate and timely monitors to ensure that medical record availability meets or exceeds levels acceptable to the Health Information Management Section, JCAHO and other reviewing organizations.

Assists in the establishment and maintenance of File Room standards of performance and provides statistical information to the Supervisor on the overall conduct and performance of assigned File Clerks.

Coordinates all record activities and maintains follow-up using the automated record tracking module for all medical records transferred to or from the Medical Center, including records from all VA facilities, Satellite Clinics, and Non-VA facilities.

Retrieves records for ROI request, correspondence and/or billing purposes, and others as directed by the File Room Supervisor.

Screens records annually to determine which have been inactive for three years.

Report all unproductive searches for records to the supervisor and ensure the record is correctly updated in the chart tracking system.

Lead File Clerk will maintain a data base of actions taken on unproductive record searches. Work Schedule: Monday to Friday, (Supervisor's Discretion) Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Position Description/PD#: Lead File Clerk/PD10404O Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required