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Program Specialist (Customer Service)

Department of Veterans Affairs
Veterans Health Administration
G.V. (Sonny) Montgomery VA Medical Center

Summary

The Program Specialist (Customer Service) serves as a Customer Service Liaison and Service Level Advocate for the all Community Care programs and functions. The primary purpose of this position is to improve the Veteran and community care provider experience. Performs reviews by examining Veterans' medical records, community care authorizations and referrals, community payment records and historical tracking of submitted health care claims.

Overview

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Accepting applications
Open & closing dates
03/27/2026 to 04/06/2026
Salary
$50,460 - $80,243 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 7 - 9
Location
1 vacancy in the following location:
Jackson, MS
1 vacancy
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
No
Travel Required
Not required
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
9
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Not Required
Drug test
No
Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk
Trust determination process
Financial disclosure
No
Bargaining unit status
No
Announcement number
CBST-12913918-26-MG
Control number
862883400

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Duties

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Duties include but not limited to:

  • Receives and hears complaints, grievances and other requests for information from Veterans or from individuals acting on behalf of the Veteran.
  • Monitors and evaluates corrective measures taken.
  • Investigates complaints, initiates action/appeals or change to rectify the situation and reports corrective measures taken to parties involved
  • Communicates with the patient and his/her family and with clinical and administrative staff, Veteran's Affairs (VA), and private sector, to enhance responsiveness in meeting the health care needs of Veterans.
  • Communicates with the patient and his/her family and with clinical and administrative staff, Veteran's Affairs (VA), and private sector, to enhance responsiveness in meeting the health care needs of Veterans.
  • Serves as the liaison for the patient/family, vendor, Veterans Board of Appeals, Congressional Liaisons, District Counsel, Veteran's Integrated Service Network (VISN) 16, the GVSMVAM, and Community Care Office and provides a channel through which the unit can respond to patients' needs and concerns.
  • Makes appropriate referrals to other services and provides follow-up to ensure that satisfactory service has been provided.
  • Acts on behalf of the Community Care Service Chief to resolve escalated issues, expedite services, to operations and meet the needs of the organization.
  • Provides accurate and well-developed responses to various heightened inquires within the established timeframe.
  • Provides management with customer feedback to be used to identify the dimensions of care that have the potential to make a difference in overall satisfaction, retention or other desired outcomes.
  • Gathers, analyzes, and prepares information while applying sound judgement when responding to inquiries.
  • Collaborates with Veterans and vendors regarding procedural, technical and/or operational functions within the Office of Community Care.
  • Contributes to service recovery while completing complex requests in a timely and
  • efficient manner.
  • Organizes, completes, summarizes and analyzes the data collected and develops reports which reflect the scope of activities and identifies trends and opportunities for improvement.
  • Obtains and researches necessary documentation needed to resolve multifaceted issues, while establishing outreach and flow of communication to meet customers' needs.
  • Maintains records of all inquires utilizing tracking programs and documents.
  • Takes inquiries from Veterans, their family members, and/or representatives and uses research tools, assessment of data, and research modalities in order to get the data to support the response.

Promotion Potential: The selectee may be promoted to the full performance level without further competition when all regulatory, qualification, and performance requirements are met. Selection at a lower grade level does not guarantee promotion to the full performance level.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00am - 4:30pm, subject to change based on the needs of the facility
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Program Specialist (Customer Service)/PD84251A and PD84252A
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Requirements

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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 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, 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, 04/06/2026.

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 this GS-7 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-5. For this GS-9 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-7. 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.

Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former VA employees applying for reinstatement with CTAP eligibility.

Specialized Experience (GS-7): You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade (GS-5) in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized Experience include (but are not limited to):Assist in the development of detailed training materials and teaching aids to conduct formal and informal training sessions to vendors, Veterans, Congressional Offices, large hospital associations, medical center staff and other stakeholders, administer duties, priorities, commitments, polices, precedents, procedures, practices, goals, objectives, laws, VA guidelines and program goals of both administrative and clinical services of Community Care in order to respond to concerns expressed by patients and their families, foster the abilities to solve complex problems associated with the day to day operations concerning customer service issues in a positive, goal-oriented way, and ability to take quick and effective action when necessary.
OR
Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have 1 full year of graduate level education or superior academic achievement (Transcripts required).
.
Specialized Experience (GS-9): You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade (GS-7) in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized Experience include (but are not limited to): Administers Federal laws, VA regulations and directives governing medical benefits for veterans; facility policies, procedures and organizational structure; medical terminology; services available, capabilities of clinics; and must be aware of changes which affect veterans' benefits, implements health services research methods, including data collection and management methods, analysis design, interpretation of study results and translation of study results into action plans., performs high degree of skill and written communication as well as interpersonal relations, effectively review and interpret information contained in medical and administrative records, and utilizes analytical abilities is required in reviewing policies, identifying existing issues and potential issues and suggesting solutions or alternative to existing procedures which may contribute to those issues.
OR
Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have master's or equivalent graduate degree, or 2 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree, or LL.B. or J.D., (if related) (Transcripts required).

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

  • Manages and Organizes Information
  • Decision making
  • Information Management
  • Problem Solving
  • 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: The work is primarily sedentary, although some walking, standing, bending, or carrying of light items may be 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/.

Education

A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.

Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

Additional information

Receiving Service Credit for Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave: Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior work experience or military service experience. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed.

This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.

If you are unable to apply online or need an alternate method to submit documents, please reach out to the Agency Contact listed in this Job Opportunity Announcement.

Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer. For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act.

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

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.

Veterans Health Administration

OUR MISSION: To fulfill President Lincoln's promise "To care for those who have served in our nation's military and for their families, caregivers, and survivors" - by serving and honoring the men and women who are America's Veterans. How would you like to become a part of a team providing compassionate whole health care to Veterans?

The G.V. (Sonny) Montgomery VA Medical Center is a Joint Commission accredited facility serving Veterans in Mississippi and parts of Louisiana. The VA Medical Center is located in Jackson, Mississippi. Steeped in southern culture, Jackson is home to a multitude of world-class painters, sculptors, dancers, actors, architects, photographers, filmmakers, musicians, and artisans of many disciplines. The city pulses with music from classical to inspirational, home-grown gospel, blues, jazz, rock 'n roll, R&B and more that can be found all around town. Beautifully changing seasons offer numerous fall and holiday events rich with tradition, surprising spring flings for shaking off winter's chill, and laid back summer celebrations that detour off the fast lane.

Agency contact information

Micheal Griffin
Phone
601-572-7781
Email
micheal.griffin@va.gov
Address
GV Sonny Montgomery VAMC
1500 East Woodrow Wilson Drive
Jackson, MS 39216
US

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http://www.va.gov/jobs

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