Summary This position is located within the Outpatient Pharmacy and provides support to all pharmacy operations in a variety of settings, including patient care activities in the main outpatient dispensing pharmacy. The position requires independent judgement and can include team assignments as they relate to pharmacy services and care of the Veteran. Responsibilities The medical center offers a wide range of outpatient medical care services, these services include Primary Care; Specialty Care; Women's Health Clinic; Mental Health; Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Program (RRTP); and Employee Health. The outpatient pharmacy distributes acute and chronic medications or other direct patient care services unique to the VA health care model to surrounding area Community Based Outpatient Clinics and Patient Outpatient site of Care clinics. Functions and roles of the Outpatient Pharmacy Technician include: Triage all Pharmacy communication with internal and external customers by phone, email, Microsoft Teams messaging, and Message Pool messages in PowerChart; refer all questions requiring clinical judgement to the pharmacist. Complete all Cerner PowerChart Messages within the Technician scope. Process incoming fax prescriptions by name and confirm Community Care authorization of care to include expiration date of service. Process Community Care prescriptions by confirming a valid Community Care authorization exists. Send notice letters to the writing provider and the patient when no valid authorization is available. Send a notice letter to prescriber and patient when a PADR has been denied. Download USPS & UPS tracking to the Pharmacy drive daily for future tracking capability by pharmacy & call center staff. Assist patients requesting refills and prescription renewals by alerting provider team when the prescription is out of refills or is expired and requires renewal. Provide patient education on Pharmacy topics such as the refill and renewal process and prescription tracking information, relay clinical judgement questions to the pharmacist. Provide the patient with prescription tracking information from USPS and UPS, when requested. Process pharmacy returned mail by contacting the patient and confirm or update patient mailing address in Cerner and ScriptPro. Forward patient prescriptions to a pharmacist for cancel fill action in patient Cerner profile when appropriate. Keep designated workstations clean, stocked and organized. May be required to travel to CBOC/PTOC clinic locations for Omnicell restocking and medication outdate checks, as needed. Assist in training lower graded technicians. Perform all duties of lower graded technician functions, as needed. Provide coverage to the next higher-grade technician, as needed for short staffing situations. Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional Work Schedule: Mon - Fri, 8:00am to 4:30pm. Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized. Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases. 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). 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 #: 000000. Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized. Requirements Conditions of Employment 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. You may be required to serve a trial period. 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 dentification 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). Qualifications To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement. BASIC REQUIREMENTS: Citizenship. Be a citizen of the United States. Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with38 U.S.C. § 7407(a). Education or Experience. (1) None required. (2) For all grade levels and positions that accept both education and experience to qualify, equivalent combinations of qualifying education and experience that total at least 100% are qualifying. The combined percentage is determined by adding total qualifying experience as a percentage of the experience required for the grade level to the education as a percentage of the education required for the grade level. Certification. For positions above the full performance level, the employee must pass a national certification exam and hold an active national certification through either: (1) Pharmacy Technician Certification Board (PTCB), Certified Pharmacy Technician (CPhT). OR (2) National Healthcareer Association (NHA), Certified Pharmacy Technician(ExCPT). Foreign Education. To be creditable, education completed outside the U.S. must be deemed at least equivalent to that gained in a conventional U.S. program by a private organization specializing in the interpretation of foreign educational credentials. English Language Proficiency. Pharmacy Technician candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f). GRADE DETERMINATIONS. In addition to the basic requirements for appointment above, VA HR staff must use the following criteria to determine the appropriate grade assignment of candidates. Pharmacy Technician, GS-07. (1) Experience. Candidates must possess one year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level. (2) Certification. For positions above the full performance level, the employee must pass a national certification exam and hold an active national certification through either: (a) PTCB as a CPhT. OR (b) NHA as a ExCPT. (3) Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSAs). In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs: (a) Knowledge of pharmacy technician principles, practices, concepts and theories providing for sound independent work. (b) Knowledge of the computerized prescription process and input of prescriptions and medication orders or electronic equivalent. (c) Ability to resolve pharmacy/medication issues with other members of the healthcare team, Veterans and external customers. (d) Ability to train developmental pharmacy technicians and students. (e) Ability to dispense medication or sterile products following all regulations, policies and procedures to ensure safe medication distribution. (f) Ability to troubleshoot automated dispensing equipment (ADE) or technology platforms/databases. 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-7. Physical Requirements: The work requires light lifting and carrying (under 15 pounds); reaching above the shoulder; use of fingers; walking (up to 8 hours); standing (up to 8 hours); kneeling; near vision correctable at 13" to 16" to Jaeger 1 to 4; the ability to distinguish basic colors; and hearing (aid may be permitted). Education 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/. Additional Information 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. Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior work experience or military service experience. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed. During the application process you may have an option to opt-in to make your resume available to hiring managers in the agency who have similar positions. Opting in does not impact your application for this announcement, nor does it guarantee further consideration for additional positions. This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies. This position is in the Excepted Service and does not confer competitive status. VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply. The health-related positions in VA are covered by Title 38, and are not covered by the Schedule A excepted appointment authority. If you are unable to apply online or need an alternate method to submit documents, please reach out to the Agency Contact listed in this Job Opportunity Announcement. 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. For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act.
