Clarification from the agency

OTE: The 2-page Resume requirement does not apply to this position. For more information, refer to Required Documents below.

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VA Careers - Pharmacy: https://youtube.com/embed/Fn_ickNBEws

The Ambulatory Care Clinical Pharmacy Specialist:

Promotes the appropriate, economical, safe, and effective use of medication therapy through maintaining independent Ambulatory Care Clinical Pharmacy practice sites. Practice sites may include but are not limited to:

1. Anticoagulation Management Clinics
2. Primary Care/PACT Clinics
3. Specialty Care Clinics
4. Home Based Primary Care
5. Community Living Center

• Maintains collaborative and comprehensive medication therapy management clinics and services in designated areas of practice, under a scope of practice. This shall include physical assessment, ordering laboratory and diagnostic tests necessary to manage medication therapy, referring patients to appropriate health care providers as needed, performing patient triage functions and independently initiating, adjusting and discontinuing medications.
• Delivers direct care to patients through a variety of modalities which may include but are not limited to: Face-to-face, telephone, video/telemedicine, e-consults, chart reviews, shared medical appointments, drop-in group medical appointments, group education classes and/or secured messaging interactions.
• Documents encounters and clinical decisions in Electronic Health Record (EHR) progress notes.
• Utilizes Pharmacists Achieve Results with Medication Documentation (PhARMD) Tool to track disease state and other clinical interventions.
• Responds to alerts sent by other members of the health care team.
• Maintains a collaborative case management relationship with registered nurse case/care managers and nurse practitioners within designated practice areas. The CPS provides appropriate independent medication changes including initiation, adjustment, and discontinuation for patients seen and evaluated and/or presented to the CPS and deemed to be within the CPS scope of practice for disease state management.
• Provides medication extensions when prescribing provider is not available.
• Critically reviews prior authorization drug requests according to criteria for use, appropriateness, safety, cost-effectiveness and utilizing evidence-based decision making.
• Provides professional consultative services related to their designated area of practice. Professional consultative services include but are not limited to extensive drug information services, formulary management, and medication recommendations.
• Works as part of an interdisciplinary team within the CPS practice site to help achieve positive patient centric outcomes.
• Solves complex drug related problems or clinical patient care issues; coordinates and organizes responsibilities to maximize outcomes in their program area or area of clinical expertise.
• Attends and participates in interdisciplinary rounds, team meetings, huddles, conferences, and other meetings as required for the purpose of providing consultation in all pharmacy and medication-related matters.
• Functions independently in day-to-day clinical and administrative duties associated with the position, consulting with higher level ambulatory care and pharmacy supervisors only when required. Uses a high degree of professional judgment to solve complex problems which routinely arise throughout the workday.
• Keeps abreast of advances and changes in ambulatory medicine by participating in programs that provide continuing education and training.
• Understands the medication use systems in the health system and their impact on the care of patients.
• Other duties may be assigned within the general qualifications to support distribution of pharmacy services and the delivery of healthcare

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.

• 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.

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:

• Citizenship: Citizen of the United States. (Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with chapter 3, section A, paragraph 3g, this part.)
• Education: 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://vvww.acpe-accredit.orgt (NOTE: Prior to 2005 ACPE accredited both baccalaureate and Doctor of Pharmacy terminal degree program. Today the sole degree is Doctor of Pharmacy.) 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: 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.
• English Language Proficiency: Pharmacists must be proficient in spoken and written English as required by 38 U.S.C. 7402(d), and 7407(d).
• Grandfathering provision: 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 in paragraph 2, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates

GS-12 Pharmacist (Full Performance Level)

Experience or Education: In addition to the basic requirements, candidates must meet one of the following:

• 1 year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level; or
• Completion of an ACPE-accredited Pharm.D. Program.

Pharmacists assigned to this position must demonstrate the following knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs):

• Knowledge of professional pharmacy practice.
• Ability to communicate orally and in writing to both patients and health care staff.
• Knowledge of laws, regulations, and accreditation standards related to the distribution and control of scheduled and non-scheduled drugs and pharmacy security.
• Skill in monitoring and assessing the outcome of drug therapies, including physical assessment and interpretation of laboratory and other diagnostic parameters.

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/. VA Handbook 5005/55 Part II Appendix G15 dated June 12, 2012


Physical Requirements: The work environment is an inpatient pharmacy, an outpatient pharmacy, or a patient care area environment (including the Surgical Suite or Emergency Department). There may be extremes of temperature, distractions, noise from equipment or patient care activities. Handles frozen and refrigerated products often. May be required to use heating equipment. Exposure to negative and positive air pressure rooms is also possible. Must be able to don/doff protective garments and use equipment as necessary for assignment. May work with cleaning and disinfecting products occasionally. Must have the use of fingers; both hands required; Twisting and grasping of bottles and vials or syringes occurs frequently. Some lifting (25 lbs.), stretching and forward and overhead reaching is involved. Walking and standing 8-12 hours; repeated bending 8 hours; both legs required. May have to kneel to retrieve product(s) from lower cabinets or the floor. Must be able to rapidly coordinate mental and muscular duties simultaneously. Computer keyboard activity and computer monitor use is frequently performed. May be required to operate robotic packaging machinery and automated dispensing devices. Fine motor skills (for packaging and counting) and excellent visual acuity (for expiration date, tablet identification, and prescription interpretation) are required. Near vision correctable @ 13" to 16" to Jaeger 1 to 4; far vision correctable in one eye to 20/20 and to 20/40 in the other, depth perception; ability to distinguish shades of colors. Hearing acuity is required for phone communication, patient counseling and professional communication (hearing aid use is permitted). May be exposed to infected patients and contaminated materials or other parts of the facility, carrying of light objects such as books and reports. May occasionally be exposed to patients who are combative secondary to delirium, dementia, or psychiatric disorders. Must be a mature, flexible sensible individual capable of working effectively in stressful situations and able to shift priorities based on patient needs. Works closely with others. May have protracted or irregular hours of work. Shift rotation is commonly required.

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 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.