Health Technician (Hearing Instrument Specialist)

Major duties

• Primary responsibility is for patient care, supporting diagnostic and treatment procedures, patient charting and patient education.
• Support functions include both direct patient care and administrative duties.
• Direct patient care duties may include, but not limited to the following:
• Hearing aid troubleshooting and repair;
• Performing visual and auditory checks of hearing aids and hearing assistive technology-including all hearing aid accessories as well as alerting devices;
• Fabricating earmold impressions with proper (non-diagnostic) otoscopy;
• Ordering earmolds based on plan of care through prosthetics or DLC and fitting and modifying earmolds, if necessary;
• Providing basic hearing aid information for patients and caregivers consistent with the audiologist's treatment plan, including but not limited to, realistic expectations, communication strategies, and/or aural rehabilitation;
• Assisting in set up and delivery of face-to-face and telehealth visits by preparing the equipment for patient evaluation and other audiology procedures including, but not limited to daily biologic listening calibration of audiometric equipment and calibration of real-ear equipment;
• Assisting patients with hearing aid connectivity including, but not limited to downloading applications (or apps), pairing devices in the app, Bluetooth pairing, and pairing hearing aid accessories.
• The incumbent is responsible for ensuring timely and accurate documentation of all interactions in the medical records and that all encounters are correctly documented using electronic medical record and computerized tracking and ordering functions via ROES.
• The Health Technician (HIS) completes documentation per medical center policy for timeliness for each episode of care and codes procedures as appropriate in the patient record in preparation for co-signature by the audiologist.
• Administrative duties may include, but not limited to the following:
• Maintaining comprehensive supply and equipment tracking systems to include monitoring stock of RME and consumable items;
• Ensuring proper inventory levels to complete the daily tasks;
• Prioritizing the acquisition of all supplies and equipment regarding date of expiration and may maintain a loaner hearing aid inventory.
• The Health Technician (HIS) assists patients through triaging phone calls and audiology requests with regards to priority and urgency, following the audiologist's plan of care.

Qualifications

• Completion of the Department of Labor Apprenticeship Program for Hearing Aid Specialists; OR
• Successful completion of two academic years above high school that includes coursework related to the field: hearing science, human anatomy and physiology, hearing instrument science, gerontology, psychology or other general healthcare areas.

Education

• A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on 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/.