Summary

This position is eligible for the Education Debt Reduction Program (EDRP), a student loan payment reimbursement program. You must meet specific eligibility requirements per VHA policy and submit your EDRP application within four months of appointment. Program Approval, award amount (up to $200,000) & eligibility period (one to five years) are determined by the VHA Education Loan Repayment Services program office after review of the EDRP application. Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply.

Duties

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GENERAL DESCRIPTION:

The Ambulatory Care Clinical Pharmacy Specialist will provide direct patient care in General Medical, and Primary Care Clinics. They may also staff the pharmacy disease management clinics including; Hyperlipidemia, Smoking Cessation, hypertension, Insulin Titration, and MOVE Pharmacy Clinics. Pharmacists will be responsible for monitoring medication effects, recommending appropriate and cost effective medication therapy, interviewing patients, performing basic physical assessments, making dosing adjustments with an approved scope of practice (prescriptive authority), ordering laboratory tests, conferring with primary care providers, reviewing non-formulary medication requests, medication reconciliation, maintenance of pain contracts, documenting clinic visits to include the assessment and plan, and arranging follow-up appointments.

In the General Medical Clinic patients are seen for a variety of issues, to include but not limited to: polypharmacy, routine therapeutic follow-up (blood pressure checks); and therapeutic co-management of diseases states (HTN, DM, Lipids, CHF) following VA approved MAP guidelines. The pharmacist will be a licensed independent practitioner with credentialing and a scope of practice approved at the facility level. They will also be responsible for various teaching functions including, but not limited to: precepting pharmacy interns and residents, educational presentations to house staff, continuing education presentations to pharmacy staff, staff in-services, and teaching patient education classes. Education responsibilities may include acting as an academic liaison between affiliated universities including Idaho State University and The University of Washington.

FUNCTIONS:

Clinical:

• Provides overall coordination of clinical pharmacy services in the assigned clinic and disease management clinic.
• Serves as a drug expert in ambulatory care.
• Manage patients in clinic as requested by providers by appointment and provide pharmaceutical care to patients referred to the clinic.
• Design, implement and provide staffing for other pharmacy based clinics as needed.
• Research information and provide education on new medications, as requested by P&T Committee.
• Monitor labs, medication use, review charts and renew prescriptions or provide new prescriptions when necessary through scope of practice approved by the professional standards board.
• Reconcile medication list(s) for patients having recently undergone a transition in care.
• Maintain pain contracts for patients receiving chronic narcotic prescriptions.

Educational:

• Plans, develops, administers, and implements educational programs to enhance clinical skills and knowledge of professional pharmacy staff, medical, providers, pharmacy, residents, and pharmacy interns.
• Provides informal and formal instruction to medical center health providers on therapeutic drug questions.
• Precepts pharmacy residents and interns.

Administrative:

• Maintains an effective liaison with staff members of all professional disciplines and services as consultant regarding pharmaceutical problems, and pharmacy operating policies and procedures. Works with the Chief or Pharmacy to change procedures when necessary.
• Routinely informs the Chief of Pharmacy of any problems concerning the cost impact of prescribing patterns and offers recommendations to correct these problems.
• Coordinate and perform selected medication utilization evaluations as requested by the Chief of Pharmacy.
• Serves as an active member of committees as requested by the Chief of Pharmacy.
• Evaluates and documents reported adverse drug effects.

Work Schedule: Monday- Friday, 8:00am- 4:30pm

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Functional Statement #: 000000

Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized

EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive.Contact [redacted], the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance. Learn more

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.
• 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.
• 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.
• May be required to pass pre-employment physical examination.
• 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:

Citizenship:

• 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.
• 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).c.

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.(1)
• Current DEA licensure or eligible to obtain DEA licensure

English Language Proficiency:

• Pharmacists must be proficient in spoken and written English

Grade Determinations: 13

(a) Experience. In addition to the GS-12 requirements, must have 1 year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level.

(b) Assignments. Candidates at this grade level are to be in one of the assignments listed below. 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.

1. Clinical Pharmacy Specialist. The clinical pharmacy specialist (CPS) functions at the highest level of clinical practice, works independently under their scope of practice as defined by the individual medical center to directly care for patients. A CPS plays a defined role in budgetary execution and serves as a mid-level provider who functions to initiate, modify or discontinue medication therapy and as a consultant for intensive medication therapy management services. This includes, but is not limited to, the following: designing, implementing, assessing, monitoring and documenting therapeutic plans utilizing the most effective, least toxic and most economical medication treatments; helping achieve positive patient centric outcomes through direct and indirect interactions with patients, providers, and interdisciplinary teams in assigned areas; performing physical assessments; and ordering laboratory and other tests to help determine efficacy and toxicity of medication therapy. Pharmacists assigned to this position must demonstrate the following KSAs:

a. Ability to communicate orally and in writing to persuade and influence clinical and management decisions.

b. Expert understanding of regulatory and quality standards for their program area.

c. Ability to solve problems, coordinate and organize responsibilities to maximize outcomes in their program area or area of clinical expertise.

d. Expert knowledge of a specialized area of clinical pharmacy practice or specialty area of pharmacy.

e. Advanced skill in monitoring and assessing the outcome of drug therapies, including physical assessment and interpretation of laboratory and other diagnostic parameters.

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).

Preferred Experience: PGY2 Ambulatory Care strongly preferred

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.

The full performance level of this vacancy is 13.

Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019.

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.

During the application process you may have an option to opt-in to make your resume available to hiring managers in the agency who have similar positions. Opting in does not impact your application for this announcement, nor does it guarantee further consideration for additional positions.

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

This position is in the Excepted Service and does not confer competitive status.

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.

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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.

Benefits

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A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are d