Clarification from the agency

Current, permanent employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs including VA Title 38, Title 38 Hybrid, and Canteen employees serving on excepted appointments that meet interchange agreement requirements, CTAP Eligible

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The Health System Specialist (HHS) is the staff assistant to the Associate Director for Operations at the Louisville VA Medical Center. He/She performs duties directly contributing to the administrative management of a healthcare delivery system. Incumbent advises and assists management responsible for planning, organization, development, direction and evaluation of administrative programs. Performs staff support work to develop comprehensive short and long-rang detailed Medical Center plans, goals, and objectives including those impacting strategic initiatives of the medical center. Obtains and consolidates planning information from subordinate units assessing their impact on overall medical center operations. The HHS provides assistance to the management team regarding possible need for revision of policies and procedures governing planning activities. The HHS is involved and assists services in reviewing program operations and develops methodology to assess the functions of assigned areas and assists management in problem identification of various services and components. Major duties include, but are not limited to the following:

• Participates in decision and policy making with top management.
• Offers advice on a variety of administrative and management problems, proposes changes, and long range objectives.
• Identified problems areas and makes recommendations to alleviate conditions.
• Acts as a resource in in areas of administration and coordination of activities.
• Presents information and or recommendation for presentation.
• Makes sound decisions independently.
• Plans, coordinates, and controls program operations.
• Advises Medical Center Director on personnel utilization of services.
• Communicates both orally and in writing with a variety of internal and external customers to gain cooperation, negotiate, build consensus.

Work Schedule: Monday through Friday, 8:00 am to 4:30 pm
Telework: Not available
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Health System Specialist - EA to Associate Director, Operations/PD064830
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

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
• 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, 03/02/2023.

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.

Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR). An IOR is a basic requirement that must be met in order to qualify for entry into this job series, and it is something that can't be waived. The Individual Occupational Requirement for the Health System Specialist position is:

• Education: Undergraduate and Graduate Education with a major study in hospital administration, public health administration, or related fields such as business or public administration with course work in health care administration. OR
• Experience: You must have 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.

In addition to the Individual Occupational Requirement above, the following is the specialized experience required to qualify at the GS-13 grade level in this occupation.

Specialized Experience. We will not make assumptions when reviewing applications. Please see the Required Documents section below for resume requirements. Your experience must be fully documented in your resume and must include job title, duties, month and year start/end dates AND hours worked per week to receive proper evaluation.

• Specialized Experience: You must 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. Examples of specialized experience are defined as: progressively responsible analytical or administrative, or clinical management or supervisory experience in the health care field. Such work must have involved a close working relationship with facility managers and analysis and/or coordination of administrative, clinical, or other service activities. Experience must have provided knowledge of missions, organizations, programs, and requirements of health care delivery systems. Experience must demonstrate knowledge of the management and organizational structure of hospitals and health care systems; comprehensive knowledge of qualitative and/or quantitative methods for improvement of program effectiveness or the improvement of complex management processes and systems. Experience in the analyzing and evaluating the effectiveness of clinical center operations and programs in meeting established goals and objectives.

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

• Communications
• Decision Making
• Human Capital Management
• Influencing/Negotiating
• Organizational Stewardship
• Planning and Evaluating
• Problem Solving

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 is primarily sedentary, although some slight physical effort may be required.
Work Environment: Work is typically performed in an adequately lighted and climate controlled office. May require occasional travel.

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.