Patient Representative (Facility Patient Advocate)

Patient Representative (Facility Patient Advocate)

Duties include but are not limited to:

• Contact members of the hospital staff at all levels concerning any matter or problem relating to patient care that has not been resolved by other services and seeks a resolution, whenever possible; within the full resources of the medical center and VA system.
• Explores all avenues, crossing all lines of authority and responsibility within the medical center, in order to properly identify the nature and scope of the problem and to initiate appropriate action to expedite a resolution.
• Identify existing or potential problem areas and suggests solutions or alternatives to existing procedures which contribute to these problems.
• Resolve the most difficult and complex problems, expedites services, and implements necessary corrective measures within established facility policies.
• Reviews files and records, and discusses with personnel or witnesses any practice that appears to violate patient's rights or which causes unnecessary discomfort or embarrassment to patients, their families, or the health care facility and reports such findings with recommendations for improvements to the facility Director and/or top management team.
• Serve as a staff member directly supporting the top management team responsible for the planning; organization, development, direction and evaluation of medical center administration.
• Ensure that national VA patient advocacy program requirements are met by collecting, analyzing, and evaluating relevant data; and preparing meaningful reports based on that data.
• Serve as an advocate for patients throughout the facility.
• Receive and listen to complaints and grievances from patients or from individuals on behalf of patients. Makes inquiries into patient complaints; initiates action or changes necessary to correct problem situations, and reports on corrective measures taken.
• Act as an advocate for patients to resolve problems.
• Serves as the liaison between the facility, patients, staff, and the community, ensuring Patient Rights and Responsibilities, advocacy, and services are available. Assists patients in understanding their rights, in addition to, their responsibilities. Provides a channel through which patients can seek solutions to problems, concerns, and unmet needs, recognizing that complaints are a gap between service expectations and the actual experience of the patient.
• Patient Advocates work directly with health care teams, Service Chiefs, and management to facilitate the resolution of problems beyond the capability of front-line staff and participate in resolution of system problems by presenting the patient's perspective of the problem and the desired resolution.
• Represents the Facility Director in safeguarding and ensuring ethical, statutory, and constitutional rights of patients are met. Assists patients, their families and representatives, and facility staff members in recognizing and removing institutional barriers to the provision of optimum health care to patients.
• Patient Advocates must maintain the attitude of taking a negative experience and turning it into a positive, memorable experience for patients and employees. The Patient Advocate works closely in identifying, training, and consulting with SLAs, and front-line staff, in resolving issues on first contact within their service area and use of the Patient Advocate Tracking System (PATS). Patient Advocates may respond to patient inquiries through multiple VA-approved forms of contact (e.g., Inquiry Routing and Information System (IRIS), MyHealtheVet, Secure Messaging, E-mail, Phone, Walk-in, Town Halls, etc.), where patients pose questions, complaints, compliments and suggestions.
• Serves as liaison with congressional offices, responding directly to their staff assistants on matters involving patient concerns or dissatisfaction.

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

Telework: This is not a telework position.

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Position Description/PD#: Patient Representative (Facility Patient Advocate) / PD99864S

US Department of Veterans Affairs