Clarification from the agency

This position is open to Current Permanent Eastern Oklahoma VA HealthCare System Employees only (Serving on a Career/Career-Conditional Appointment or Covered Under OPM's Interchange Agreement).

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Major duties of this position include, but are not limited to:

• Sets the work schedules and ensures all shifts are covered. Delegated full authority and responsibility to exercise the Medical Center Director's prerogative in medical administrative matters.
• Represents management in matters pertaining to the lawful retention of Veterans in the VAMC
• Maintains continuity of functions and provides full medical administrative support during other than normal tours of duty to clinical and administrative medical center staff
• Interprets VA rules and regulations relating to determining legal entitlement to benefits relating to hospital admission, nursing home, dental, domiciliary, Community Care (outside VA), and outpatient care, dental treatment, prosthetic appliances, patient transfer, and beneficiary travel.
• Authorized as certifying officer for documents pertaining to the administration of laws concerning VA. Coordinates the resolution of medical legal problems concerning the medical center.
• Processes administrative issues surrounding beneficiary death, seriously ill cases, elopements, suicides, assaults, deaths on arrival (DOA's), homicides, code blue, cost recovery matters, and facility or community disasters, etc. Determines the appropriateness of notifying the medical examiner of unusual deaths and directs actions accordingly.
• Provides administrative authority, guidance, and advice to Medical Officer of the Day (MOD), Nursing Officer of the Day (NOD) and all other clinical staff concerning administrative matters necessary for operation of the medical center
• Assists medical center staff with medically related problems, including involuntary commitments, orders of protective custody, and management of unruly or severely disturbed patients.
• Promotes harmonious working relationship among the AODs/PSAs, patients, public, and staff.
• Directly intervenes when problems regarding patient activity occurs, advising subordinates and clinical staff of appropriate administrative action.
• Ensures that appropriate legal, regulatory, and policy requirements are met.
• Provides daily Gains and Losses Sheet and other related statistical reports to appropriate senior staff.
• Incumbent has access to VistA and is aware of the confidential nature of the information contained therein. Incumbent is aware of his/her responsibility to maintain and safeguard against the unauthorized release of this confidential information.
• Monitors current bed inventory utilizing BMS software and ensures the accuracy of the program for national reporting purposes; obtains bed availability for treatment needs.
• Analyzes and resolves problems in the staffing, effectiveness, and efficiency of administrative support and staff activities within their area of responsibility.
• Crosses all service lines in dealing with special problems that affect delivery of health care services and has daily contact with members of the clinical staff to coordinate accomplishment of program functions.
• Analyze the issues involved in the tasks or problems brought forth, must select and apply the appropriate policy or procedure to resolve the issue, and must accept responsibility for their outcome, always considering both the medico legal aspects of a problem as well as the potential social-political point of view.
• Receives and responds to non-routine patient condition inquiries and other administrative inquiries from concerned veterans, families, visitors, law enforcement officials, representatives from private hospitals, veterans service organization representatives, VA Central Office, Congressional offices, military personnel, private physicians, media, and the public.

Work Schedule: Full Time, Varies Shifts, Weekdays, Weekends, Days, Nights, and Holidays
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Supervisory Medical Administration Specialist/PD135150
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

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
• 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)

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period or 2-year trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:

• your performance and conduct;
• the needs and interests of the agency;
• whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
• whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Upon completion of your probationary period or trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 01/21/2026.

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-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-09. 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.

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

Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-11 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to:

• Knowledge and understanding of the entire Medical Administration program.
• Comprehensive knowledge of the overall mission and goals of the Inpatient and Ambulatory Care program and the VA systems.
• Knowledge of all service lines in dealing with special problems that affect delivery of health care services and has daily contact with members of the clinical staff to coordinate accomplishment of program functions.
• Ability to analyze and resolves problems in the staffing, effectiveness, and efficiency of administrative support and staff activities within their area of responsibility.
• Knowledge of the delivery of veteran benefits or services at the operating level.

OR,

Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have completed Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.M., if related.

OR,

Combination: equivalent combination of successfully completed education and specialized experience directly related to the work of the position as outlined above that meets the requirements of the position. Only graduate education in excess of the amount required for the next lower grade level may be used to qualify applicants for positions at grade GS-11. NOTE: If using education combined with specialized experience to qualify, a copy of your transcript is required.

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

• Conflict Management
• Critical Thinking
• Information Management
• Interpersonal Skills
• Leadership
• Organizational Awareness

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 such as walking through the medical center with occasionally the requirement to lift objects such as suitcases, clothing, or medical charts.

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.