Summary

Health Systems Specialist to the Chief of Staff (HSS to the COS) provides executive and administrative staff support to the Office of the Chief of Staff (COS). The primary responsibility of the Health Systems Specialist is to advise the COS, other members of Executive Leadership Team (ELT), and other senior level leadership in the day to day operations.

Duties

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Major duties include, but are not limited to:

• Provide support by analyzing, evaluating, advising on, and/or coordinating health care delivery operations to support improvements in the effectiveness and efficiency of patient care. This includes integrating local, state, federal, VISN and VHA needs into the long-range planning at the Health Care System to include all areas of employee and labor relations (i.e. labor mapping, staffing methodology).
• Clinical resource analysis and cost containment efforts, planning, management information systems, organizational functional analysis, and professional support programs. This includes space needs analysis (from the clinical perspective), resource management and planning, including equipment and specialized items with special controls, and plans for future development. Budgetary oversight responsibilities as they pertain to all clinical service including FTEE oversight, overtime monitoring, and productivity review and analysis.
• Extensive and thorough knowledge of VHA initiatives, Strategic Priorities, healthcare delivery models, such as the operational tenants of multi/interdisciplinary teams, (Primary Care, Community Managed Care, Mental Health Care, Social Work, Physical Rehabilitation Medicine, Pharmacy, etc.).
• Periodic assessment of the efficiency and effectiveness of the delivery model will be accomplished to ensure optimal performance.
• Direct involvement of the development and implementation of alterations and/or modification in operational processes, for example Patient Aligned Care Teams (PACT), Behavioral Health Integration Programs (BHIP), annual staffing and/or team integration methodology process.
• Performs staff support work in short and long-range planning efforts related to NAVAHCS.
• Complies with directives in preparing annual and cyclic planning documents.
• Obtains and consolidates planning information from subordinate units.
• Administers planning processes and provides authoritative recommendations to the COS regarding possible need for revision of regulations and policies governing planning activities.
• Assesses priorities to best meet Veterans' health care delivery needs.
• Directs and assists Health Care System leadership and staff in administrative research, management analyses and development of reports pertaining to program plans, development operations, and assessments of any planning phase of the Health Care System's activities.
• Conducts special studies on staffing methodology, space, clinical informatics, software applications, reusable medical equipment, service contracts, cost benefit analysis and equipment utilization.
• Knowledge and skill in applying analytical and evaluative methods and techniques to issues or studies concerning the efficiency and effectiveness of program operations carried out by administrative or professional personnel which requires knowledge of pertinent laws, regulations, policies and precedents that affect the use of program and related support resources in the area studied.
• Examines programs and recommends expanding, contracting, combining, separating, or realigning them to best meet patient health care needs most economically.
• Ensures and coordinates the appropriate completion of special studies required by the COS, collaborating with, and providing guidance to clinical and administrative Service Chiefs, Program Managers and other Health Care System personnel as required. Conclusions and recommendations from special studies are consolidated as necessary for presentation to the COS and/or Executive Leadership Team (ELT). These studies may require the integration of information drawn from direct interaction with Network, Regional and Central Office levels of VHA, from educational affiliates, and from State and Federal agencies. Results of these studies can have significant impact on future directions of Health Care System programs, resource utilization and relationships within the agency and throughout the community.
• Analyzes and evaluates, on a quantitative or qualitative basis, the effectiveness of programs or operations in meeting established goals and objectives.
• Evaluates agency wide programs against short and long range objectives.
• Conducts meetings for the Administrative Support and Business Managers in service lines reporting to COS in order to ensure continuity of medical, programmatic, administrative, women's health, mental health and specialty and diagnostic programs.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Position Description/PD#: Health System Specialist/PD12674O

Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: May be authorized

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• To be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. In addition to the application and questionnaire, this position requires an online assessment. The online assessment measures critical general competencies required to perform the job.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• Physical Requirements: The work required does not inherently include any physical requirements essential for successful job performance that could not otherwise be performed with accommodation or workplace adjustment. A pre-placement physical examination is not required.
• 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)

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period 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 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, 09/25/2026.

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 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.

This position has an Individual Occupation Requirement (IOR). You must meet the following:

UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE EDUCATION: Have undergraduate or graduate education in a major field of study hospital administration, public health administration, or related fields, such as business or public administration, with course work in health care administration

OR

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: Have specialized experience that is progressively responsible for analytical or administrative, or clinical management, or supervisory experience in the health care field performed in an operating health care facility or a higher organizational echelon with advisory or directional authority over such facilities where I forged close working relationships with facility managers and analysis/coordination of administrative, clinical, or other service activities which provided knowledge in the following areas:

1) Missions, organizations, programs, and requirements of health care delivery systems;

2) Regulations and standards of various regulatory and credentialing groups; and

3) Government-wide, agency, and facility systems and requirements in various administrative areas such as budget, personnel, and procurement.

OR

SPECIAL PROVISION FOR INSERVICE PLACEMENT: Have successfully completed an agency-sponsored on-the-job training program, which included a formal individualized training plan. The training program was performed in an operating health care system and included:

1) Assignments providing a knowledge of basic health system administration philosophies, practices, and procedures, and basic government administrative policies and requirements;

2) 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

3) Oversight by an experienced health system administrator with periodic evaluation of the individual's progress and appropriate adjustment of the training program.

In addition to meeting the IOR above, you must meet the experience 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: Research and data analysis, process design, stakeholder engagement, project management, quality improvement and system redesign activities, and demonstrated skill leading multidisciplinary teams.

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: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

Additional information

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.

Reasonable Accommodation (RA) Requests: If you believe you have a disability (i.e., physical or mental), covered by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended that would interfere with completing the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you will be granted the opportunity to request a RA in your online application. Requests for RA for the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments and appropriate supporting documentation for RA must be received prior to starting the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments. Decisions on requests for RA are made on a case-by-case basis. If you meet the minimum qualifications of the position, after notification of the adjudication of your request, you will receive an email invitation to complete the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, based on your adjudication decision. You must complete all assessments within 48 hours of receiving the URL to access the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments if you received the link after the close of the announcement. To determine if you need a RA, please review the Procedures for Requesting a Reasonable Accommodation for Online Assessments.

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. 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.

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

The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced VA competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for c