Duties

Summary

The Health System Specialist (HSS) serves as a member of the Executive Staff management team with the primary purpose to provide support to health care management officials by analyzing, evaluating, advising on and/or coordinating health care delivery systems and operations.

Learn more about this agency

Responsibilities

The Health Systems Specialist oversees all the clinical center, services and programs at the VA Maryland Health Care System (VAMHCS), regarding all program and policy development change, and implementation. As an executive staff member, provides support to top management using a high degree of analytical ability and specialized knowledge of the principles and practices related to the management of a health care delivery system. The incumbent interacts with multiple staff offices across the VAMHCS and as necessary VISN 5 and offices and POCs within VA Central Office (VACO) and serves as the conduit for information flow and management of assignments between such offices. Reviews and edits incoming actions and requests from initial receipt to completion and forwarding for closeout.

Duties may include but are not limited to:

• Conduct or participate in special information flow studies, analyses, presentations and briefings, as assigned.
• Develop position papers and decision documents representing the position of the Chief of Staff (COS) and the organization on a variety of complex and sensitive issues such as the quality or timeliness of Veteran care issues within the system or at times, issues of Congressional or media interest that have significant national impact e.g. quality and safety concerns that involve several functional areas.
• Responsible for managing the COS involvement in the monthly VISN 5 Healthcare Delivery Committee meetings and when the VAMHCS is scheduled to present, prepares the COS presentations for this meeting coordinating with the Deputy Chief of Staff (DCOS), Associate Director, Patient Care Services/Nurse Executive, and Director, Quality, Safety, and Improvement for input and updates.
• Work in coordination with other internal reviewing services regarding complex audits and internal/external reviews of a national concern; i. e, fiscal efficiencies and organizational structure that are reviewed by prominent parties such as the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) or the Government Accountability Office (GAO), by implementing and reviewing policies, plans and internal operating systems such as correspondence management, information tracking among pertinent clinical and administrative offices and stakeholders and internal and external information flow.
• Contact and engage frequently with clinical staff at all levels to facilitate the work of the office related to a variety of operations-focused assignments and projects initiated by senior leadership or program offices, or departmental offices.
• Analyze the subject matter of incoming information such as Extra View's, White House complaints, congressional, controlled correspondence, Veterans concerns etc....to ensure they are appropriately distributed to the correct clinical center/service, administrative office or external agency.
• Receive and review completed actions or responses; analyzes responses for completeness and accuracy against known policies and procedures; and ensures action or inquiry is forwarded to the Suspense Coordinator or the inquirer or office to close out.
• Analyze problems that affect the clinical areas taken into full consideration a wide range of factors and requirements that might affect the efficient management of the health care delivery system and presents both written and oral recommendations.
• Responsible for identifying problems which require new or revised policies or procedures and for implementing and following up of those policies or procedures; i.e. change in clinic management, addition/deletion of new clinical programs, testing of new clinical information systems, and bed expansion or closure.
• Coordinate events hosted by COS and DCOS, including town hall meetings with internal staff, annual meetings, informational sessions, introducing new clinical initiatives, changes in clinical operations, introduction of new clinical information systems, safety stand-downs, with assistance from continuing educational staff and initiatives when warranted.
• Coordinate with the appropriate individuals or offices to develop proposals and supporting materials for presentation at conferences, meetings, hearings and other external activities and meetings.
• Responsible for meeting the needs of customers while supporting the VA mission; consistently communicating with Veterans and their family members, visitors and VA staff; stakeholder support and outreach; and resolving conflicts and problems that arise
• Other duties as assigned.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM
Telework: Not Available
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Health System Specialist/PD20048O
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Travel Required

Occasional travel - You may be expected to travel to other VA Medical Centers and Community Based Outpatients Clinics within the VA Maryland Health Care System.

Supervisory status
No

Promotion Potential
None

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• Designated and/or random drug testing may be required
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• You may be required to serve a probationary period
• Subject to background/security investigation
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 03/04/2021.

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-13 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-12. 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 Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment.

You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below:

Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-12 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to work regarding all program and policy development change and implementation. . Work that involves providing support to top management using analytical ability and specialized knowledge of principles and practices related to the management of a health care delivery system. Ability to conduct audits and reviews, analyze incoming information, coordinating events such as town halls and staff meetings and meeting the needs of customers while supporting the VA mission.

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

• Administration and Management
• Analysis and Problem Solving
• Customer Service
• Organizational Awareness
• Organizational Performance Analysis
• Planning and Evaluating

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 in nature. There may be some walking, standing, bending, and carrying of light items. Some travel is required. No other special physical demands are required of this work.

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

There is no educational substitution at this grade level.

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: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html .

Additional information

Receiving Service Credit or 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. VA may offer newly-appointed Federal employee's credit for their job-related non-federal experience or active duty uniformed military service. 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.

The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced Federal/VA competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified you must submit appropriate documentation (a copy of the agency notice, your most recent performance rating, and your most recent SF-50 noting current position, grade level, and duty location) and be found well-qualified for this vacancy. To be well-qualified : applicants must possess experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors, and who are proficient in most of the required competencies of the job. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/ .

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.

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

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.

For more information on the "Who may apply" eligibility requirements, please refer to the OHRM Status Candidates and Other Candidate Definitions document.

If you are unable to apply online view the following link for information regarding an Alternate Application .

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.

Background checks and security clearance

Security clearance
Other

Drug test required
No

Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk

Trust determination process
Suitability/Fitness

Required Documents

To apply for this position, you must provide a complete Application Package which includes:

• Resume
• SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action

The following documents are accepted, and may be required if applicable to your eligibility and/or qualifications for this position. Please use this checklist to make sure you have included other documents required for your application, such as a copy of your transcript (if using education to qualify), SF-50's (current/former Federal employees), documentation to support Veterans Preference claims, or ICTAP/CTAP documentation (for displaced Federal employees). You will not be contacted for additional information.

• Cover Letter
• DD-214/ Statement of Service
• Disability Letter (VA)
• License
• Performance Appraisal
• Professional Certification
• Resume
• Separation Notice (RIF)
• SF-15
• SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action
• Transcript

SF-50, Notification of Personnel Action (if applicable for Time in Grade and/or Eligibility):

• Most recent SF-50 if you are a current or former Federal employee
• An SF-50 showing 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
• Award 50's do not provide sufficient information and will not be accepted for the purpose of verifying time-in-grade.
• Examples of appropriate SF-50's include:
  • Within grade increases at the highest grade held; or
  • Promotions with an effective date more than one year old; or
  • SF-50's at the highest grade held with an effective date more than one year old.

Veterans' Preference: When applying for Federal Jobs, eligible Veterans should claim preference for 5pt (TP), 10pt (CP/CPS/XP), or for Sole Survivor Preference (SSP) in the questionnaire. You must provide a legible copy of your DD214(s) which shows dates and character of service (honorable, general, etc.). If you are currently serving on active duty and expect to be released or discharged within 120 days you must submit documentation related to your active duty service which reflects the dates of service, character of service (honorable, general, etc.), and dates of impending separation. Additionally, disabled veterans and others eligible for 10-point preference (such as widows or mothers of eligible Veterans) must also submit an SF-15 "Application for 10 Point Veteran Preference" with required proof as stated on the form. Documentation is required to award preference. For more information on Veterans' Preference, please visit http://www.fedshirevets.gov/job/vetpref/index.aspx .

If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:

Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education .

Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.