Clarification from the agency

This job is open to current permanent Department of Veteran Affairs employees, current permanent Federal employees of other agencies. First area of consideration is Facility. NOTE: The 2-page Resume requirement does not apply to this occupational series. For more information, refer to Required Documents below.

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The CPS serves as a provider with prescriptive authority as outlined in the individual's Scope of Practice.

Duties but not limited to:

• CPS has full responsibility to develop necessary services such as physician consultation, patient monitoring, patient counseling and medication management clinics within the PACT setting.
• Serves as a physician extender/independent practitioner in a clinic setting, requiring the highest level of pharmacist clinical privileges with minimal supervision.
• Directly assists clinicians in rational drug selection by providing written and/or verbal consultation
• Actively participates as a member of the PACT team to assist in monitoring patient's therapy as directly related to pharmaceutical care.
• Assures that all prescriptions and actions meet proper eligibility criteria on a patient specific basis and the National Formulary and Non-Formulary procedures are followed; this includes adherence to all national, VISN and local criteria for use treatment algorithms and guidelines.
• Participates in developing criteria for use, medication use evaluations, data collection for pertinent reports, and other quality assurance activities, as required, to ensure appropriate and safe drug utilization.
• CPS manages pharmacotherapy to ensure that treatment guidelines and appropriate medication monitoring recommendations are being followed, in addition to adherence to National Formulary and local policy.
• Clinical Pharmacy Specialist will independently manage pharmacotherapy patients not at disease-state goal in his/her pharmacotherapy clinic, improving the clinic system efficiency and quality
• Fully utilizes the highest level of clinical privileges for CPS to manage assigned patients.
• Interfaces with providers, including physicians, PAs, ARNPs in the design of the veteran's treatment regimen to achieve optimization of rational and cost-effective drug therapy.
• Serves as an authoritative information source on drugs and their utilization in therapy, with special emphasis on medications used in treatment of the assigned patients.
• Establishes and expands the patient database through interpreting the drug history, medical history, allergies/adverse drug events, physical examination and ongoing patient specific monitoring of therapy, with documentation in the electronic medical record.
• Monitors and assesses therapeutic and adverse effects of drug therapy (including drug interactions) through selection and evaluation of patient-specific and laboratory parameters.
• Provides consultation on selection of appropriate therapeutic regimens as a follow ­up of non-therapeutic drug concentrations obtained from ambulatory care and inpatients.
• May use telehealth modalities (e.g., clinical video telehealth) to improve access for patients requiring pharmacotherapy.
• Participates in the training and in-servicing of pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, pharmacy students, pharmacy residents, and other medical center personnel as requested.
• Provides highly specialized education and training support to other professional services in the broad area of advanced pharmacotherapy.
• May serve as preceptor and/or mentor for pharmacy students and pharmacy residents; maintains at least minimum ASHP requirements for resident preceptorship.
• Assists in new employee orientation sessions, as scheduled.
• Assists in the development of proposals for improved and/or new clinical pharmacy services.
• Educates patients on the proper use and care of their medications through the day-­to-day personal interactions with patients
• Provides drug information and drug literature evaluations as requested by the professional staff.
• Provides formal education and clinical education in the area of expertise to pharmacists in training.
• Serves as an authority on drug usage, interactions, over-dosages, and compliance to medical staff, nursing staff, technicians and students. Uses appropriate references to research drug information.
• Has a good working knowledge of information resources, both written and electronic.
• Maintains a current knowledge of therapeutics and disease management.
• Provides timely and accurate responses to drug information inquiries.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 8:00am - 4:00pm- Employees may be required to work day, evening, night, weekend , holiday and or compressed, tours on a rotating schedule. The hours may vary per the needs of the service and will rotate, on a fair and equitable basis, to include weekends and holidays.
Telework: Not Authorized
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: FS#: 80384F
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive.Contact Contact Jamie Wunsch at V8_EDRP_Orlando@va.gov, the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance. Learn more

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job.
• All applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English.
• 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.
• Must pass pre-employment physical examination.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).
• Complete all application requirements detailed in the "Required Documents" section of this announcement.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1 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 trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Qualifications

Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met.

Basic Requirements:

United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.

English Language Proficiency. Pharmacists must be proficient in spoken and written English as required by 38 U.S.C. 7402(d), and 7407(d).

Education-Transcripts Submitted:

(1) Graduate of an Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) accredited College or School of Pharmacy with a baccalaureate degree in pharmacy (BS Pharmacy) and/or a Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) degree. Verification of approved degree programs may be obtained from the
Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education, 20 North Clark Street, Suite 2500, Chicago, Illinois 60602-5109; phone: (312) 664-3575, or through their Web site at: http://www.acpe-accredit.org/.

(NOTE: Prior to 2005 ACPE accredited both baccalaureate and Doctor of Pharmacy terminal degree program. Today the sole degree is Doctor of Pharmacy.)

(2) Graduates of foreign pharmacy degree programs meet the educational requirement if the graduate is able to provide proof of achieving the Foreign Pharmacy Graduate Examination Commission (FPGEC) Certification, which includes passing the Foreign Pharmacy Graduate Equivalency Examination (FPGEE) and the Test of English as a Foreign Language Internet-Based Test (TOEFL iBT).

Licensure-Documentation Submitted. Full, current and unrestricted license to practice pharmacy in a State, Territory, Commonwealth of the United States (i.e., Puerto Rico), or the District of Columbia. The pharmacist must maintain current registration if this is a requirement for maintaining full, current, and unrestricted licensure. A pharmacist who has, or has ever had, any license(s) revoked, suspended, denied, restricted, limited, or issued/placed in a probationary status may be appointed only in accordance with the provisions in VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Chapter 3, section B, paragraph 16.

May qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision as described in the VA Qualification Standard for this occupation (only applicable to current VHA employees who are in this occupation and meet the criteria).

Grade Determinations: In addition to the basic requirements for employment above, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates.

Clinical Pharmacy Specialist GS-13:

Experience. In addition to the GS-12 requirements, must have 1 year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level.

Assignments. Candidates at this grade level are to be in one of the assignments listed below. For all assignments above the full performance level, the higher level duties must consist of significant scope, administrative independence, complexity (difficulty) and range of variety as described in this standard at the specified grade level and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time.

Clinical Pharmacy Specialist. The clinical pharmacy specialist (CPS) functions at the highest level of clinical practice, works independently under their scope of practice as defined by the individual medical center to directly care for patients. A CPS plays a defined role in budgetary execution and serves as a mid-level provider who functions to initiate, modify or discontinue medication therapy and as a consultant for intensive medication therapy management services. This includes, but is not limited to, the following: designing, implementing, assessing, monitoring and documenting therapeutic plans utilizing the most effective, least toxic and most economical medication treatments; helping achieve positive patient centric outcomes through direct and indirect interactions with patients, providers, and interdisciplinary teams in assigned areas; performing physical assessments; and ordering laboratory and other tests to help determine efficacy and toxicity of medication therapy. Pharmacists assigned to this position must demonstrate the following

KSAs:

• Ability to communicate orally and in writing to persuade and influence clinical and management decisions.
• Expert understanding of regulatory and quality standards for their program area.
• Ability to solve problems, coordinate and organize responsibilities to maximize outcomes in their program area or area of clinical expertise.
• Expert knowledge of a specialized area of clinical pharmacy practice or specialty area of pharmacy.
• Advanced skill in monitoring and assessing the outcome of drug therapies, including physical assessment and interpretation of laboratory and other diagnostic parameters.

Preferred Experience: PGY1 +/- PGY2 in an applicable area and board certification in pharmacy or other related area.

References: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.

The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-13


Physical Requirements: Physical aspects associated with work required of this assignment are typical for the occupation, see Duties section for essential job duties of the position. May require standing, lifting, carrying, sitting, stooping, bending, pulling, and pushing. May be required to wear personal protective equipment and undergo annual TB screening or testing as conditions of employment.

How you will be evaluated

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

Area of Consideration - Eligible applications will be reviewed and referred in the following order:

• Current permanent VA employees of the facility.
• All other VA employees.
• All other applicants.

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE MAY NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Your application, resume, C.V., and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect consideration for employment.

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.

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.

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.