Health System Specialist

Full Job Description

The position is located at the VA Detroit Healthcare System, John D. Dingell VA Medical Center in Detroit, Michigan within the Quality & Patient Safety service .

The primary purpose of this position is to ensure the Patient Safety Program is in compliance with National Center for Patient Safety policies that are found in the VHA National Patient Safety Improvement Handbook, national patient safety training materials and computer systems, and applicable regulations of The Joint Commission.

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 02/27/2026.

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-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-09. 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-09 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization.

specialized experience equivalent to the GS-9 level in the Federal service that has equipped me with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the work of this Health System Specialist position.

Qualifying specialized experience is defined as 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: (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.

At this level, applicants would have obtained this experience working within a health care setting; working directly with healthcare professionals and other administrators to solve problems in support of the delivery of patient care and education/training; experience running an administrative component of a health care onboarding process; and analyzes and synthesizes data from diverse data systems to improve business processes..

OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have successfully completed a Ph.D.

or equivalent doctoral degree OR three (3) full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree, Or LL.M in the related field of the position to be filled (i.e., hospital administration, public health administration, or related fields such as business or public administration with course work in health care administration).

The education portion must include courses that demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of this position.

Education must have been obtained in an accredited college, or university. NOTE: Transcripts must be submitted with your application materials. Education cannot be credited without documentation..

OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level.

You must have an combination of specialized experience and education beyond ???????a master's degree and specialized experience as described above to meet total experience requirements.

The education portion must include graduate courses that demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do to the work of this position (i.e., hospital administration, public health administration, or related fields such as business or public administration with course work in health care administration).

NOTE: Transcripts must be submitted with your application materials. Education cannot be credited without documentation. Experience must be clearly indicated in your resume.

Preferred Experience: Patient Safety Foundations course through NCPS, Current Patient Safety Experience.

You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Administration and Management Interpersonal Skills Leadership Quality Assurance Technical Competence 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, although some slight physical effort may be required. Work is typically performed in an adequately lighted and climate-controlled office.

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/.

Major Duties:

Duties may include, but are not limited to: The incumbent supports the work of the Quality and Patient Safety (QPS) team with a focus on Patient Safety and High Reliability Organization (HRO).

The incumbent works closely with designated program managers in support of daily office and program operations.

The incumbent will be responsible to help build and implement patient safety systems and promote the culture of safety within VA facilities and for VA patients in all healthcare settings.

The NCPS policies are found in the VHA National Patient Safety Improvement Handbook (directive), national patient safety training materials and computer systems, and applicable regulations of The Joint Commission (TJC) Direct support is provided to the development, maintenance, and operation of the VHA's patient safety program at the facility level.

This includes working with all levels of staff within the facility. Performs duties directly contributing to the planning, organizing, developing, and evaluating the patient safety and HRO programs.

These duties require the ability to apply the specialized principles and practices of health care management in leading the patient safety/HRO program.

Performs activities such as Safety Assessment Code (SAC) classification; Provides Root Cause Analysis (RCA); "just in time" training.; Identifies RCA Team members; Supports RCA Teams, e.g., RCA Advisor; Ensures that RCAs are complete, that all technical requirements are met, and all implementation requirements are accurately identified; Proficient in the use of Situation, Problem, Outcome, and Timely (SPOT), VHA's National Patient Safety software application.; Supports aggregate review process; Functions in the role of advisor; Follows-up on RCA Actions/Outcome Measures; Resident expert on confidentiality rules as they apply to the patient safety process; Supports HRO steering committee functions; Reviews HRO leader round data for monitoring and tracking.

Performs patient safety/HRO programmatic functions including: Acts as liaison on patient safety issues. Promotes the HRO mission by serving as an HRO expert.

Serves as an expert on the VHA Patient Safety Improvement Handbook.

Serves as member of various medical center committees, as appropriate to the position, e.g., Safety/Environment of Care, HRO Steering, etc.

Conducts periodic environmental patient safety inspections regarding safety concerns or incidents, which may include interviewing staff.

Collaborates with Biomedical Occupational Safety, Infection Control, etc. Promotes patient safety and HRO successes and activities, e.g., town meetings, awards.

Disseminates Patient Safety Reporting System (PSRS) program information. Provides new employee patient safety orientation and training. Participates in facility patient safety/HRO training program.

Conducts and participates in Proactive Risk Assessment (PRA) and Healthcare Failure Mode Effects Analysis (HFMEA) evaluations.

Serves as a resource for patient safety issues with NCPS, Patient Safety Alerts/Advisories, including tracking system actions.

Performs support work in short and long-range planning efforts in a timeframe of 90 days to 1 year.

Long-range planning efforts include annual patient safety assessment plans, outcome measures action, etc.

Complies with directives and national guidelines in preparing annual and cyclic planning documents.

Monitors and analyzes changes in mission, goals, national patient safety program guidance, new legislation, and technological advances to assess the impact of these changes on local work methods/procedures and to develop new systems which will address these changes.

Collaborates with leadership and Subject Matter Experts to provide input on various safety assessments that support the development of new systems to addresses inefficiencies and monitoring changes.

Participates in the review of administrative policies by ensuring patient safety concerns have been addressed.

These actions are the result of completed RCAs, staff studies, clinical services' input, committee activities, etc.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 6:30am - 3:00pm Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Telework: AD-hoc telework may be authorized by the Supervisor per Agency policy.

AD-HOC telework is telework on an occasional, episodic, or short-term basis. The employee must have completed the required telework training and have an approved telework agreement.

Position Description/PD#: Health System Specialist/PD942770 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized