Clarification from the agency

Open to all current, permanent Department of Veterans Affairs (Agency - VHA, VBA, NCA) Employees. Facility employees will have FIRST consideration.

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Duties:
The incumbent serves as a Lead Program Analyst (Health Informatics) located at the medical centers, in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The primary purpose of the position is to improve the quality, efficiency, and effectiveness of health care by integrating clinical and information processes necessary to achieve successful adoption and application of new technologies throughout the VHA. Duties include, but may not be limited to the following:

• Cultivates a healthy working relationship between business lines/departments to enable the sustainment and optimization of workflows and for the benefit of all staff and patients.
• Cultivates a healthy collaboration between enterprise and facility level clinical staff ensuring that patient care technology is effectively and efficiently integrated into the clinical process.
• Develop reports and information tools using a variety of methods and tools.
• Enables healthcare capabilities and the evolution of technology to deliver quality care by developing, implementing, monitoring, maintaining, and optimizing informatics tools and access to them.
• Supports the thorough analysis of a workflow to consider opportunities for the potential improvement or optimization of the behavior of people, systems, information, and tools.
• Applies a true end-to-end process to evaluate workflows, identify issues, and develop solutions.
• Oversees the management, planning, scheduling, and controlling of a software build through different stages and environments, including testing for efficiencies, and approval of software releases.
• Assists in the management, assessment, design, integration, modification, maintenance, and analysis of programs and processes related to the field of health informatics.
• Serve as liaison between clinical staff and technical staff and manage all administrative aspects of their programs and projects.
• Assist in planning the overall program trajectory to achieve goals and monitor progress to ensure milestones are met.
• Leads meaningful and coordinated use of subject matter experts (SME) to support decision-making among informatics functions to optimize the healthcare system and the tools that support the business.
• Evaluates content quality and assure access to knowledge resources, eliminating redundancy in duplicate data sources, and improving information interoperability across the organization *14.
• Applies statistical (quantitative information derived mathematically), machine learning (use of artificial intelligence to derive knowledge from data to predict outcomes), visualization (representation of data via a chart or other image), inferencing (a way to understand cause-and-effect relationships) and other techniques to enable decision support.
• Assist in the identification and documentation of end-user requirements and budget for clinical software solutions.
• Ensures clinical and business systems operate in a way that improves patient care, ensures patient safety, and meets the needs of providers.
• Evaluates, documents, analyzes, prioritizes, and recognizes requirements for the improvement of the electronic health record (EHR) and other systems, in collaboration with the end-user.
• Uses communication, education, and leadership to support comprehension of and adaptation to organizational updates.
• Utilizes innovative practice patterns and specializations to continuously develop the informatics role and associated competencies, aligning it with the strategic needs of the organization.
• Provides formal and informal in-services to facility staff on the various software packages utilized at their facility.
• Provides advice on work methods, practices, and procedures, and assists the team and/or individual members in identifying the parameters of a viable solution.
• Plans and provides for both long-range and short-term training and assist employees in career development.
• Coaches team members in the selection of problem-solving methods and techniques, provides advice on work methods and procedures and assists team members in identifying factors needed to resolve problems.
• Researches, learns, and applies a wide range of qualitative and/or quantitative methods to identify, analyze and improve team effectiveness, efficiency, and work products.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 7:00 AM - 3:30PM
Telework: This position may be authorized for telework.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Lead Program Analyst (Informatics)/PD99349S
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized
PCS Appraised Value Offer (AVO): Not Authorized

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
• 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, 03/24/2026.

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-12 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-13. 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.

To qualify for this position at the GS-13 level, you must meet one of the following:

Specialized Experience: You must have at least one (1) full year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade level (GS-12) in the Federal Service, that is directly related to the work of the position and has equipped you with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities to successfully perform the duties as a Lead Program Analyst - Informatics. Qualifying specialized experience includes determining organizational unit goals and objectives in a constantly changing and developing health care field; independently performing a full range of data analysis, to include collecting, evaluating, and synthesizing data; assigning, monitoring, and reviewing the work performed by subordinate team members; comprehensive knowledge of the data life cycle to input, retrieve, analyze, summarize, and present information effectively; and experienced knowledge and use of national database architecture and file structure, analytical techniques, and clinical applications development techniques.

NOTE: One (1) 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 and Work Environment: The work is usually sedentary, but it requires periods of walking, standing, bending, or climbing, and employees may carry light items such as books, instruments, laptops, and other similar materials. The work is conducted in office, conference room, and clinical/hospital patient care settings. Typically, the work is hazard-free, not requiring any special equipment or clothing. The employee is in on-call status as needed and works flexible hours to meet the needs of the facility end user.

You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position:

• Administration and Management
• Education and Training
• Health Informatics
• Technology Management

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.

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.