Health Technician (Telehealth Clinical)

The Health Technician (Telehealth Clinical) serves as a generalist to support and manage telehealth operations at the VA Albany Health Care Center, with duties that may require travel. Primary responsibilities include: supporting clinical telehealth encounters for both the patient and provider by serving as the telepresenter, and clinical data manager for telehealth store, managing real time clinical telehealth events, and providing technical and administrative support of telehealth operations.

This is considered the full performance level for the Health Technician (Telehealth Clinical) position. The incumbent performs a full range of duties and is responsible for the day-to-day operation of telehealth services at the assigned location and between the assigned location and remote sites of care.

Assignments associated with this position include, but are not limited to:

• Preparing the clinical environment, which may include preparing medical and telecommunications equipment used for clinical examination and treatment.
• Serving as a telepresenter, within scope of practice, during Clinical Video Telehealth (CVT) and VA Video Connect (VVC) encounters, including tasks such as establishing and maintaining videoconferencing connections, making introductions between the patient site and provider site, and following clinician instructions to facilitate an effective clinical encounter.
• Serving as an imager and clinical data manager for Store and Forward Telehealth (SFT) clinical encounters, including capturing images, collecting data, and transmitting them electronically for clinical review in accordance with VHA national guidelines.
• Receiving and scheduling requests for simple and complex intra-facility and inter-facility telehealth appointments using an electronic resource-based scheduling system.
• Screening patients for telehealth modality and referring patients who do not meet established criteria to appropriate care.
• Monitoring and maintaining schedules of rooms, patients, technologies, clinical providers, and presenters as needed to ensure efficient telehealth operations.
• Providing patient education using approved materials.
• Communicating effectively with clinical and administrative staff at the assigned local site and with staff located at remote sites of care.
• Configuring, installing, troubleshooting, cleaning, and performing minor routine maintenance on assigned telehealth technology.
• Ensuring assigned telehealth technologies are managed appropriately, including inventorying, securing, preparing for use, and accounting for equipment by preparing and tracking maintenance work orders, information systems records, inventory documentation, and communicating with the National Telehealth Technology Help Desk to facilitate troubleshooting, repair, and coordination of replacement equipment as necessary.
• Providing established education and training to Veterans, staff, and providers on the use of telehealth technologies and serving as a point of contact to answer questions and address concerns related to these technologies.
• Maintaining regular contact with other staff members and the Facility Telehealth Coordinator to resolve process issues, equipment needs, problems, data collection, and other logistical matters.
• Arranging and completing test video calls with Veterans to prepare them for clinical encounters using telehealth technologies.
• Ensuring information and resources are maintained for local and remote telehealth providers so they can effectively execute contingency and emergency plans.

Completing other duties as assigned.


Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional


Work Schedule: 8:00am - 4:30pm (Monday - Friday)
Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized
Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not Authorized
Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases. When setting pay, a higher step rate of the appropriate grade may be determined after consideration of higher or unique qualifications or special needs of the VA (Above Minimum Rate of the Grade).
Paid Time Off: 37-50 days of annual paid time offer per year (13-26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, 11 paid Federal holidays per year)
Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior [work experience] or military service experience.
Parental Leave: After 12 months of employment, up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave in connection with the birth, adoption, or foster care placement of a child.
Child Care Subsidy: After 60 days of employment, full time employees with a total family income below $144,000 may be eligible for a childcare subsidy up to 25% of total eligible childcare costs for eligible children up to the monthly maximum of $416.66.
Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA
Insurance: Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement)
Telework: Not Available
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 37007F
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

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.

Experience and Education.
(1) Experience. One year of experience in a health care field that demonstrates the applicant's ability to perform the work or provides an understanding of the work such as but not limited to a medical or clinical assistant (or technician) or health technician.

OR,

(2) Education. Four academic years above high school leading to a bachelor's degree with courses related to the occupation.

OR,

(3) Experience/Education Combination. Equivalent combination of experience and education are qualifying for entry level for which both education and experience are acceptable. Examples are listed below: (a) Six months of experience in the health care field and two years of education above high school that included at least six semester hours in health care related courses such as, biological science, surgical technician courses, nursing assistant or other courses related to the position; or an associate's degree in a health care related field; or 2 (b) Six months of experience in the health care field and successful completion of a course for health care technicians, hospital corpsmen, or medical service specialists given by the U.S. Armed Forces.

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: Health Technician (Telehealth Clinical), GS-6 (Full Performance Level) GS-06

Experience. One year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level.

Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSA). In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs.
(a) Comprehensive knowledge of computer systems and programs to perform a variety of tasks.
(b) Ability to communicate, consult, and interact with other members of the healthcare team, external relations, customer service and patient education. (c) Ability to provide and receive guidance and technical direction.
(d) Ability to plan, organize, set priorities, work as a team member, and effectively complete assignments.
(e) Ability to read, interpret, and apply complex written instructions.
(f) Knowledge of general clinical policies and procedures in a healthcare environment.
(g) Skilled in the use of telehealth technologies for the facilitation of telehealth clinical encounters.

Assignment. This is considered the full performance level for this assignment. The Health Technician (Telehealth Clinical) performs a full range of duties and is responsible for day-to-day operation of the Connected Care Services. Assignments at this level include, but are not limited to, screening patients for Telehealth modality and referring patients that do not meet established criteria to appropriate care; communicating effectively with administrative and professional staff, and obtaining assistance for issues that may arise or backlogs that cannot be resolved in a timely manner. Responsible for performing imaging duties in accordance with VHA national telehealth guidelines such as: capture and transmission of clinical images and/or data, obtains consent as necessary, generates consults according to established procedures for each telehealth specialty, transmits images or clinical data to the electronic medical record, provides patient education regarding general anatomy, disease processes and prevention as appropriate, and takes appropriate action based on the providers' findings and recommendations. Responsible for facilitation of real-time Telehealth encounters by providing hands on assistance and reporting clinical observations under the direction of a licensed independent Practitioner or clinical specialist; schedules, confirms and coordinates Telehealth services between internal and external VA and non-VA sites; analyzes own work flow to determine potential problem areas and recommends corrective action to improve coordination between various units/facilities; has regular contact with the Facility Telehealth Coordinator to work out process issues, equipment needs, problems, data collection and any other logistical issues; responsible for conducting routine inventories and consistently tracking location/status of Telehealth technology located at assigned site; and communicates with National Telehealth Technology Help Desk to facilitate troubleshooting, repair, and coordination of replacement equipment as necessary.


Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.

The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-06. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is GS-06

Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019

Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job.
• All applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English.
• 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 (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). 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.
• Must pass pre-employment physical examination.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).
• Complete all application requirements detailed in the "Required Documents" section of this announcement.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1 or 2-year trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:

• your performance and conduct;
• the needs and interests of the agency;
• whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
• whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Upon completion of your trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.