Health System Specialist - Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration

Summary This position is a Health Systems Specialist - Quality Program manager who reports directly to the Chief of Quality, Performance, and Patient Safety service at the Lexington VA Healthcare System. The incumbent works with the Chief of Quality, Performance, and Patient Safety Service, along with the Health Care System Director, executive management, and service line chiefs. Responsibilities The core duties of this position include, but are not limited to: Conducts analytical studies on the operational processes, metrics meeting and not meeting, and any data that is associated with the metric. These studies require study planning, statistical measurement, data analysis, and report preparation and development. This will assist in setting facility priorities related to the function of strategic planning for the organization as a whole. Consultative services are provided to assist services in performance improvement support, assembling data, sharing information and ideas to express progressive and/or proactive ideas and approaches, and developing clear, concrete, concise action plans. Develop and implement a process improvement strategy to enhance the facility's data on performance metrics. Collaborates frequently with executive leadership, service chiefs, program managers, and other managers at the facility to facilitate in forecasting requirements necessary to improve the facility's performance. This interaction is essential to identify substantive issues, establish a plan, and determine those issues requiring action and tracking. Incumbent must develop detailed plans, goals, and objectives for the facility. These action plans and goals are monitored throughout the year to ensure sustainment is met for the facility. Demonstrates advanced leadership in the ability to initiate and lead teams to not only ensure that the team completes the tasks during the specified timeframe, but that all performance-related actions are completed, reviewed, and outcomes are measured and monitored. Uses sound judgment based upon experience and personal knowledge for administering, analyzing, and performing work involved in establishing, disseminating, and managing the LVAHCS policy and governance within the VA, Veteran's Health Administration (VHA) and sharing National and VISN-level directives and policies. Incumbent must be capable of functioning independently and effectively to make complex decisions with only general guidelines. Establish and promote facility-wide policy management procedures. Responsible for providing administrative recommendations relative to policy management functions within the health care system. Reviews facility policies to ensure it is in compliance with the national mandated templates. Oversees and manages the health care system's policies and documents including governing charters and provides guidance throughout the facility. Responsible for working directly with VISN and VACO Policy Redesign Departments to ensure the facility is compliant with directives and laws. Manages and oversees the peer review process for LVAHCS and ensures all documentation is protected under the 38 U.S. Code 5705 Confidentiality of Medical Quality­ Assurance records. Develop and facilitate peer reviewer training and offer guidance when needed. Ensure each individual completes training appropriate to their role in the process. Use sound judgment to support the mortality and occurrence screening processes, to generate peer reviews and other reviews as requested, and ensure each peer review case is properly completed and program is operating efficiently. Lead workgroups to reevaluate system processes and utilize lean tools to improve the program and identify opportunities within the facility. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00 am - 4:30 pm Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Health System Specialist/PD305190 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized. Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved. Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized. Requirements 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 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 Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP) Participation in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination program is a requirement for all Veterans Health Administration Health Care Personnel (HCP) - See "Additional Information" below for details. Qualifications To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 11/14/2024. Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR): is a basic requirement that must be met in order to qualify for entry into this job series, and it is something that can't be waived. The Individual Occupational Requirement for the Health System Specialist position is: Education: Undergraduate and Graduate Education with a major study in hospital administration, public health administration, or related fields such as business or public administration with course work in health care administration. OR Specialized Experience: You must have progressively responsible analytical or administrative, or clinical management or supervisory experience in the health care field. This work may have been performed in an operating health care facility or a higher organizational echelon with advisory or directional authority over such facilities. Work must have involved a close working relationship with facility managers and analysis and/or coordination of administrative, clinical, or other service activities, and provided knowledge of the following Missions, organizations, programs, and requirements of health care delivery systems Regulations and standards of various regulatory and credentialing groups; and Government-wide, agency, and facility systems and requirements in various administrative areas such as budget, personnel, and procurement. Special Provision for In-service Placement: Successful completion of an agency-sponsored on-the-job training program may be substituted for qualifying experience, provided it included a formal individualized training plan. Such a training program must have been conducted in an operating health care system and included: Assignments providing a knowledge of basic health system administration philosophies, practices, and procedures, and basic government administrative policies and requirements Practical assignments providing an opportunity to apply health system administration skills and principles (as the individual progresses, work assignments must be characteristic of the grade level to which he or she is assigned); and Oversight by an experienced health system administrator with periodic evaluation of the individual's progress and appropriate adjustment of the training program. 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-11. 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. In addition to the above IOR and time in grade requirements, you may qualify on the following: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-11 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: - Knowledge of a broad range of clinical and administrative computer systems used by the Department of Veterans Affairs on how to collect data and extract pertinent information for specific assignments (Power Apps, SharePoint, LEAF, VSSC, VistA, etc.) - Ability to analyze complex data and problems and present both oral and written recommendations for improvement, taking into consideration the wide range of factors and requirements that affect the management of the health care system. Knowledge in preparing project papers and reports. - Ability to organize and deliver oral and written briefings to managers to foster understanding and acceptance of findings and recommendations. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Communication Computer Skills Critical Thinking Flexibility Standards 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: Work is mostly sedentary; however, some walking and stair climbing, bending, stooping, and occasional lifting of moderately heavy items such as computers, chairs, multiple folders, books, and binders are 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 There is no educational substitution at this grade level. 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. 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.