Program Support Assistant

Full Job Description

The Program Support Assistant position is organizationally aligned under the Office of the Chief of Staff within Community Care Service at Edward Hines, Jr VA Hospital, Hines, IL, a Level 1a Complexity facility.

The primary purpose of the position is to serve as a Community Care Coordinator.

This role works within the continuum of patient care, working collaboratively with the patient care teams as well as a variety of specialty health care providers.

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 04/07/2026.

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-6 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-5. 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.

You may qualify based on your experience as described below: GS-6 SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: Must possess at least one (1) full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-5 level in Federal Service.

Specialized experience for this position would consist of: Performing all technical duties to maintain an office and coordinating the work of the administrative office, preparing and proofreading written correspondence; reviews for accuracy, completeness, and format; and makes appropriate corrections.

Working with PC operating systems and the use of word processing, spreadsheet and database software.

You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Accountability Attention to Detail Customer Service Decision Making Flexibility Integrity/Honesty Interpersonal Skills Learning Reading Comprehension Reasoning Self-Management Stress Tolerance Teamwork 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 sedentary.

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:

The incumbent provides administrative and clinical care coordination support to clinicians and other administrative and professional staff for purposes of coordinating Non-VA medical care for veterans when inpatient and outpatient, and their VA provider has deemed such care necessary.

Duties include but not limited to: Generating authorizations for pre-authorized medical care, while making eligibility determinations for the various programs in Community Care.

Acts as a liaison between the veteran and the vendors with regard to Community Care and VA clinical services and/or primary care services.

Obtains requested reports, x-rays, labs and any pertinent information required to complete the Community consult in CPRS.

Responsible for the coordination of all administrative information between the professional staff and the patient. Update and verify demographic information.

Generate correspondence to the veterans and various providers and managing all received correspondence related to their care. Assists with getting patients scheduled with the community providers.

Track and follow up on all authorizations to ensure timely scheduling.

Provides necessary information to the staff and the patient, dealing with a wide range of problems including atypical and complex situations.

Coordinates the completion of Community Care consults assuring the corresponding report is linked to the appropriate consult, progress note title and patient.

Screen/receive phone calls in a courteous and timely manner, determine the nature of requests and provide the information desired using privacy rules and established processes.

Reviews and determines veteran's eligibility for specialty programs in the Community Care program (CC) and appropriately processes their authorizations.

Discusses eligibility for programs or specific claims with vendors, veterans, and/or service officers.

Explains the VA's mandate to collect insurance information to veterans, their families, and other eligible patients.

May also be required to train other new Patient Services Reps on the Community Care process. Performs other related duties as assigned.

Work Schedule: 8:00am - 4:30pm, Monday - Friday Telework: Not Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Position Description/PD#: Program Support Assistant/PD14279A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized