Clarification from the agency

Open to Current permanent employees of the White River Junction VA Healthcare System including permanent Veterans Canteen Service employees, current permanent full-time Hybrid Title 38 and permanent full-time Title 38 employees.

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The Health Systems Specialist will serve as the facility Systems Redesign Coordinator and is responsible for delivering Performance Improvement techniques to a broad array of program and services throughout the Medical Center, including Lean, Six Sigma, Coaching, Project Management, and Training. Additional functions of the position involve advising leadership in the formulation of planning complex facility wide Strategic Plans and facility wide projects in the execution phase of supporting of Strategic Planning.

Duties include but are not limited to:

• Organizes, directs, controls and coordinates group activities in a timely and effective manner.
• Conducts extensive work in analyzing data and conducting background research on the issue.
• Pulls, isolates and manipulates data to identify root causes of a performance issue.
• Converts data into numerous formats using advanced statistical models including statistical process control charts, histograms, and many more.
• Defines a project scope and goals through a collaborative process with subject matter experts and leadership at the facility, service line or program, or unit level.
• Leads a team of subject matter experts, front line staff and leadership through a rigorous and defined project management process utilizing multiple tools from Lean Six Sigma, and other performance improvement disciplines to further define the current state of the process.
• Leads project teams through designed brainstorming sessions to develop solutions towards as specific deliverable or goal during a project.
• Collects baseline information, identifies limitations in current systems, and discovers potential improvements.
• Develops benchmarks, and assigns a schedule or priority level to a potential project based on the needs of the organization and direct consultation with executive leadership.
• Develops written and verbal teaching materials.
• Responsible for leading the team through development of control strategies, to ensure project solutions are sustained after the project lifecycle.
• Delivers training materials and curriculum consisting of advanced practices of project management, statistics, coaching, facilitation and leadership.
• Performs other related duties as assigned.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 08:00am - 04:30pm
Compressed/Flexible Work Schedule: Not Authorized
Telework/Virtual/Remote Work: Not Authorized.
Position Description/PD#:Health System Specialist/PDS0012A
Relocation or Travel Incentives: Not Authorized
Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Financial Disclosure Report: Not Required

Notifications:

• This position is a AFGE Bargaining Unit position.
• May be required to attend conference at other facilities or other VA sites on occasion.
• The incumbent may be required to travel to other VA campuses and CBOC's.
• This position is covered by locality-based comparability pay.
• Current and former Federal employees must submit copies of their most recent SF-50 (Notice of Personnel Action). The SF-50 must identify the position title, series, grade, step, tenure and type of service (Competitive or Excepted). In some cases, more than one SF-50 may be required to show a higher grade previously held.
• This position is in the Competitive Service.
• Time-in-Grade Restriction: 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. The grade may have been in any occupation but must have been held in the Federal service.
• Veterans' preference does not apply for other current permanent Federal agency employees.

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• You may be required to serve a probationary 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 by the closing date of this announcement, 06/09/2025.

Time-In-Grade Requirement: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS-11 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-12 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-11. 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.

You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below:

Individual Occupational Requirements

Specialized Experience: 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:

• Missions, organizations, programs, and requirements of health care delivery systems;
• Regulations and standards of various regulatory and credentialing groups; and
• Government-wide, agency, and facility systems and requirements in various administrative areas such as budget, personnel, and procurement.

Special Provision for In-service Placement: Successful completion of 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.

OR,

Education: Undergraduate and Graduate Education: Major study -- hospital administration, public health administration, or related fields such as business or public administration with course work in health care administration.

GS-12 Grade Level Requirements:

Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience, equivalent to at least the GS-11 level or pay band in the Federal service, that equipped me with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA's) needed to successfully perform the duties of the position and that is typically in or related to the position being filled. Examples of specialized experience include: Experience with 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; Knowledge of the Missions, organizations, programs, and requirements of health care delivery systems; Knowledge of Government-wide, agency, and facility systems and requirements in various administrative areas such as budget, personnel, and procurement.

You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position:

• Analysis and Problem Solving
• Communication
• Organizational Performance Analysis
• Project Management
• Teaching Others

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: The work requires some physical exertion, such as periods of standing when teaching; some walking, bending, crouching, stooping, stretching, or similar activities when visiting work sites; and some moderate lifting and carrying. At other times work is sedentary, requiring the use of a computer.

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/.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE.

Narrative responses are not required at this time. If you are referred for consideration, you may be asked to submit additional job related information, which may include, but not limited to; responses to the knowledge, skills and abilities; completion of a work sample, and/or contact for an interview. Your resume and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating or consideration for employment.

The Department of Veterans Affairs performs pre-employment reference checks as an assessment method used in the hiring process to verify information provided by a candidate (e.g., on resume or during interview or hiring process); gain additional knowledge regarding a candidate's abilities; and assist a hiring manager with making a final selection for a position.

For more information on the "Who may apply" eligibility requirements, please refer to the OHRM Status Candidates and Other Candidate Definitions document.

Placement Policy: The posting of this announcement does not obligate management to fill a vacancy or vacancies by promotion. The position may be filled by reassignment, change to lower grade, transfer, appointment, or reinstatement. Management may use any one or any combination of these methods to fill the position.

It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment.

Veterans and Transitioning Service Members: Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members.