Health System Specialist

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 11/01/2024. 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-13 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-12. 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. Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment. Quality Ranking Factor (QRF): The Quality Ranking Factor listed below will be used to identify highly qualifed applicants. No applicant will be deem ineligible for lacking a QRF. Applicants may submit their professional certification with application. Project or Change Management Certification Individual Occupation Requirement (IOR) You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: IOR Education: Do you possess undergraduate or graduate education with major study in hospital administration, public health administration, or related fields such as business or public administration with course work in health care administration? Transcripts are required with application and unofficial transcripts are acceptable. OR IOR Experience: Do you possess at least one (1) full year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade level (GS-12) in the Federal Service, that is directly related to the work of the position and has equipped you with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities to successfully perform the duties as a Health System Specialist? Qualifying specialized experience is defined as progressively responsible analytical or administrative, or clinical management or supervisory experience in the health care field? This work may have been performed in an operating health care facility or a higher organizational echelon with advisory or directional authority over such facilities. Work must have involved a close working relationship with facility managers and analysis and/or coordination of administrative, clinical, or other service activities, and provided knowledge of the following: (1) Missions, organizations, programs, and requirements of health care delivery systems; (2) Regulations and standards of various regulatory and credentialing groups; and (3) Government-wide, agency, and facility systems and requirements in various administrative areas such as budget, personnel, and procurement. At this level, applicants would have obtained this experience working within a health care setting, working directly with clinicians and local leadership to develop performance improvement techniques; applying organizational and system-wide strategies for continuous quality improvement; and experience running and supervising an administrative component of a health care system customizing in facility wide performance improvement programs, projects, and products. NOTE: 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. OR IOR Special Provision for In-service Placement: Have you successful completed an agency-sponsored on-the-job training program may be substituted for qualifying experience, provided it included a formal individualized training plan? Such a training program must have been conducted in an operating health care system and included: Assignments providing a knowledge of basic health system administration philosophies, practices, and procedures, and basic government administrative policies and requirements; Practical assignments providing an opportunity to apply health system administration skills and principles (as the individual progresses, work assignments must be characteristic of the grade level to which he or she is assigned); and Oversight by an experienced health system administrator with periodic evaluation of the individual’s progress and appropriate adjustment of the training program. AND Specialized Experience: Have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-12 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. In order to meet the minimum qualifiations for this position, you must meet 5 of the 7 following examples of specialized experience: Support VHA healthcare operations and functions to include eligibility and enrollment, benefits delivery, healthcare delivery and operations, Analyze and evaluate major administrative aspects of IT, Oversight and Accountability and Resource Allocation programs associated with the Government AccountabilityOffice (GAO) Apply pertinent federal, state & local laws, regulations, policies and precedents to major issues, program goals and objectives Modify or adopt analytical techniques and evaluation criteria to the measurement and improvement of program effectiveness Appy change management principles, methodologies and tools Define and measure success metrics and monitor change progress to support Leadership Refine or develop guidelines to measure or improve the effectiveness and efficiency of project or program Preferred Experience: The preferred experience below will be used to identify highly qualified applicants. No applicant will be deemed ineligible due to lacking preferred experience. Previously supported VHA Governance functions at Facility, VISN, or Central Office levels. Mommunicating with, coordinating stakeholder responses to, and responding orally and in writing to VHA Oversight entities (e.g. GAO, OIG, OAWP, OMI, Joint Commission, LTCI, Congressional Inquiries, etc.). Note: If selected for interview a project or change management wrting sample will be required. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Stakeholder Management Planning and Evaluation Change Management Project Management 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: Most of the work is performed in an office setting within VA Central Office in Washington, DC or remotely from a home office. 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/.
The position serves as the Health Systems Specialist (HSS) for Change Management, Governance and Government Accountability Office (GAO) High Risk List (HRL) located at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Veterans Health Administration (VHA), Office of Integrity and Compliance (OIC).