Clarification from the agency

First AOC (Area of Consideration) is Facility employees; Second AOC is VA Agency; Third AOC are all other eligible applicants. NOTE: The 2-page Resume requirement does not apply to this position. For more information, refer to Required Documents below.

Videos

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

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF ASSIGNED DUTIES
The incumbent provides administrative, clinical, and programmatic leadership for the Clinical Pharmacy Service to ensure achievement of the clinical, research, and education goals and applicable performance measures. The incumbent is accountable for the delivery of all health care by the staff of the Pharmacy Service. Responsibilities include planning, directing, staffing, coordinating, and controlling a full range of pharmaceutical services or inpatient and outpatient patient care services. The incumbent is responsible to the Chief of Pharmacy Service, and may perform other duties as needed and assigned in other areas as deemed necessary by the Chief of Pharmacy to maintain the consistency of overall Pharmacy services.

Operations: Clinical Practice (generally 25% of regularly assigned daily duties)

• Functions as a clinical pharmacy practitioner (CPP) with a scope of practice.
• Provides pharmaceutical care to optimize patient response and response utilization in a pharmacy practice area.
• Maintains effective clinical pharmacy programs for operational efficiency and from a cost benefit and patient outcome perspective
• Coordinates the development of patient care interactive programs such as medication counseling, medication chart reviews, laboratory drug level reviews, specialized clinics and primary consultations.
• Facilitates the development of efficient and effective drug monitoring programs.
• Manges the maintenance of a Medical Center Drug Formulary in accordance with Veteran's Health Administration (VHA) and Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) policies and regulations. Ensures compliance with all VHA and VISN directives and guidelines concerning the Drug Formulary.

Administrative:

• Is the direct front-line supervisor over the clinical pharmacy practitioners and clinical pharmacy supervisor(s).
• Be visible, available and accessible to clinical staff. Addresses staff's needs and patient care matters timely.
• Provides clinical coverage, addresses patient needs, patient appointments as needed for direct reports' absences.
• Provides coverage when other section of the pharmacy in staffing shortage due to call-outs.
• Works with all Pharmacy front-line supervisors to assure smooth transition of Pharmacy services in all areas are coordinated between all sections.
• Interviews employee candidates, recommends appointments, advancement and all promotions or disciplinary action to the Chief of Pharmacy.
• Conduct daily huddles with clinical staff and weekly leadership rounding to ensure consistent quality and safe patient care and operations; and address issues timely.
• Coordinates the development of and maintains an effective personnel evaluation program.
• Serves as a dedicated member of local, VISN, and or national committees, being a positive representative of the Wilmington VA Pharmacy Department.
• Accepts assignments for ad hoc committees, teams and workgroups to assist the facility.
• Plays a role in budgetary planning and execution.
• Maintains effective channels of communications with persons both within and outside the organization.
• Coordinates the development of monitors for continuous quality improvement and medication usage evaluation under The Joint Commission and Pharmacy Service guidelines. Approves all methodology and reporting criteria, making changes when necessary.
• The incumbent follows The Joint Commission, Office of Inspector General and VHA guidelines, keeping current with the development and analysis.
• Assures that assigned administrative projects and reports are submitted in a timely fashion and reports are well arranged easily understood and are submitted in the proper format in final form.
• Coordinates with the Chief of Pharmacy and pharmacy informatics in overseeing security for the pharmacy.
• Works collaboratively with pharmacy team members and leaders to accomplish the Pharmacy Service goals, Facility goals and the VA missions.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00am - 4:30pm
Compressed/Flexible:Not Authorized
Telework: Ad-Hoc
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 460-05977-F
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): 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.
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English.
• Must pass pre-employment physical examination.
• 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 identification 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).
• 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.
• 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://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.)
  • 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..
• Physical Requirements. See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Services.
• English Language Proficiency. Pharmacists must be proficient in spoken and written English as required by 38 U.S.C. 7402(d), and 7407(d).

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, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates.

Associate Service Chief, GS-14

Experience. In addition to the GS-13 requirements, must have 1-year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Develops and maintains a system of internal reviews that ensure service programs operate at a satisfactory level of performance and in compliance with regulatory and accrediting bodies. Has extensive responsibility for pharmacy utilization of resources and budget. Makes selections, assigns personnel, and serves as a mentor to help employees develop their full potential (NOTE: Associate Service Chief/ Associate CMOP Director positions should be graded one grade below the grade of the Chief of Pharmacy Service or CMOP Director.)

Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. Responsible for the professional and administrative management of an assigned area in pharmacy service, to include budgetary execution. Such individuals have responsibilities for supervising multiple pharmacists and technicians. Manages people, maintains effective interdepartmental relations, and cooperates with other services to accomplish the medical facility's mission and goals. Develops performance standards, assures that the program area is compliant with all regulatory and accrediting body requirements, designs and implements orientation and training programs for staff, and develops and maintains systems to monitor the performance of staff activities. Develops policies and procedures relative to their assigned area. Pharmacists assigned to this position must demonstrate the following KSAs:

1. Skill in persuading others and gaining cooperation to accomplish goals.
2. Ability to effectively communicate orally and in writing regarding complex clinical and technical issues.
3. Skill in utilizing regulatory and quality standards to develop and implement operational programs.
4. Skill in managing multiple people or programs.
5. Skill in utilizing available resources to support the mission and goals of the organization. *
6. Ability to plan, organize and direct the functions of the pharmacy staff.

Assignments. 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.

Preferred Experience: Pharm D with residency, holds an active DEA license, and at least one year of management experience in clinical pharmacy services and operations.

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-14.

Physical Requirements: You will be asked to participate in a pre-employment examination or evaluation as part of the pre-employment process for this position. Questions about physical demands or environmental factors may be addressed at the time of evaluation or examination.

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.