Clarification from the agency

This job vacancy announcement is only open to current, permanent employees of the Department of Veterans Health Administration (VHA). Please be sure to submit an SF-50 with your application to verify you meet this required Area of Consideration when applying.

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Duties to include, but not limited to:

• Responsible for the day-to-day management of the OPPE/FPPE evaluation process for an assigned caseload of all licensed and credentialed Surgical Service personnel.
• Ensures that all evaluation procedures are implemented in accordance with current facility, BUSN 6, VHA, JCAHO and other applicable regulatory body rules, regulations, and policies.
• Collects and analyzes all required OPPE/FPPE data which includes over 400 rosters of data to include consults, history, and physical examination, and surgery service notes.
• Must review all surgical cases across the entire spectrum of Surgical Services and determine what procedures each provider completed; must further analyze hundreds of resident supervision notes, and over 4,000 I-med consents, operation reports, operation notes, and discharge summaries in support to the Chief of Surgical Services at PSB.
• Must have a knowledge of the Press Ganey system.
• Responsible for monitoring the monthly Audit Transfusion Roster.
• Assists in maintaining all appropriate Department of Veterans Affairs handbooks, manuals, directives, circulars, and bulletins regarding the OPPE/FPPE requirements.
• Must participate in organizational performance improvement activities by assisting in the preparation for JC surveys, OIG inspections, and other external reviews, and monitoring follow-ups and recommendations made by the PSB.
• Collects and analyzes thousands of individual data for P4P contracts for the providers that work within the Surgical Service, providing accurate proof for each entry and is responsible for ensuing that the program deadline is met.
• Responsible for verifying accuracy of P4P metrics and provides input into the continuous improvement of this program, to include, developing a process to be able to collect data and review it.
• Gathers data from VISTA, NSO report, TMS, Utility Management Report, EPRP audit, and the data warehouse; must have knowledge and understanding of each report.
• Independently consult with technical experts across all surgical subspecialties to examine and analyze usual or problem situations indicated by changes in the performance evaluation process, and, when necessary for required reports, statistical information, and requests for release of information.
• Serves as a primary timekeeper for the Surgical Service and is cross-trained to provide backup services for other staff in Surgery Service as needed.
• Must be able to problem solve in a timely manner and distribute open encounters daily to providers.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Work Schedule: M-F 0800 - 4:30pm
Telework: This position is only approved for Ad-Hoc Telework.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Program Support Assistant/PD042830

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, 02/06/2026.

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-7 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-6. 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: Do you possess at least one (1) full year of specialized experience that equipped you with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties the Program Support Assistant at the full performance level (GS-7), and that is typically in or related to the position to be filled. To be creditable, specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the next lower grade level (GS-6) in the Federal service. Specialized experience includes experience where you were responsible for providing administrative support functions within a healthcare facility; experienced Managing the Surgery Package for the Surgery Department to present reports or combination of routines to create complex reports from the Surgery Package; Implementing effective Problem Solving skills and overall knowledge of VISTA applications; Troubleshooting all error messages and malfunctions of all OR software and packages supported or used within the Surgical Service; Advanced knowledge of various software applications to include Dragon Speak, MS Excel, Access, Word and PowerPoint to effectively be able to advise staff as needed; Ability to retrieve periodic data and statistical reports and prepare correspondence by collecting and releasing data relevant to surgical medical and clinical activities and workload; Experience building and posting daily OR schedules and overseeing all aspects of the OR scheduling processes; Experience serving as a Timekeeper, initiating and maintaining all required records; and other functions within the Surgical or similar clinical environments within the VA Healthcare system. NOTE: Experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month and year start/end dates AND hours worked per week.

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

1. Information Management
2. Data Management
3. Knowledge Management
4. Computer Skills
5. Customer Service

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: he work is mostly sedentary, however, walking and stair climbing, bending, stooping, and carrying light weight documents, folders and manual are required.

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.