Health System Specialist

Full Job Description

The Health System Specialist (HSS) is located in the Office of the Chief of Staff (COS), located at the James H. Quillen VA Medical Center (JHQVAMC) Health Care System.

The Health System Specialist provides support for complex clinical operations as the coordinator, advisor, analyst, and planner for multiple program design and development processes among integrated services and the delivery of health care services.

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 03/13/2026.

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. 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.

INDIVIDUAL OCCUPATIONAL REQUIREMENT: The Health System Specialist position requires an Individual Occupation Requirement that will need to be met.

Your resume will be reviewed regarding the Individual Occupational requirement, and it will be reviewed, to ensure that the Individual Occupational Requirement is met.

Please understand that the Individual Occupational Requirement is required in addition to the required Specialized Experience.

You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: GS-11 Specialized Experience/Education Specialized Experience: You must have one year of 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.

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 health care system administration and finance services to solve problems in support of policy compliance and program/operational functions; experience with extracting, analyzing, and organizing data from multiple sources, and assisting with fund disbursement procedures and processes.

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

GS-12 Specialized Experience/Education Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-11 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.

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 health care system administration and finance services to solve problems in support of policy compliance and program/operational functions; experience with extracting, analyzing, and organizing data from multiple sources, and assisting with fund disbursement procedures and processes.

You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Administration and Management 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 sedentary. Some travel is required. No other special physical demands are required of this work. The work is typically performed in an office setting.

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:

Promotion Potential: The selectee may be promoted to the full performance level without further competition when all regulatory, qualification, and performance requirements are met.

Selection at a lower grade level does not guarantee promotion to the full performance level.

Duties included but not limited too: The Health System Specialist is responsible in the provision of continuity between the Office of the Chief of Staff, clinical service chiefs, care line managers, and the JHQVAMC Office of the COS for researching and interpreting internal and external policies, directives, survey standards, and regulatory requirements.

The incumbent responsibilities include multiple and complex systemic activities relating to all aspects of clinical operations, including coordinating utilization management and quality assurance activities to increase the efficiency and appropriateness with which services are provided and resources are utilized.

The incumbent involves assessing the appropriateness and timeliness of care methods provided using written measurable criteria.

The incumbent monitors, as directed by the COS, clinical operations including review, analysis and reporting of workload statistics and program functions.

Identifies clinical operations activities which require educational intervention or additional training.

Collaborates with the COS, Education and health care professional to ensure that identified educational needs are met.

The incumbent serves on facility committees and task groups as requested, providing support and input on a variety of facility issues and concerns.

Represents the COS at meeting or on committees when COS is unavailable.

The incumbent establishes effective tracking systems and conducts statistical analyses on the data to identify patterns, trends, and variance.

The incumbent provides guidance that assures findings are used to modify and improve program processes and systems to facilitate achievement of the health care system strategic plan.

The HSS prepares and submits provider-specific quality assessment information for use in program quantitative and qualitative evaluations.

Works closely with decision-support services (DSS) staff to provide mapping information on staff for the JHQVAMC complex clinical operations.

Incumbent is responsible for the coordination and preparation of recurring or one-time requested reports related to clinical operations ensuring that reports are accurate and submitted in a timely manner.The HSS assists service chiefs and care line managers in preparing organizational and functional charts and is responsible for maintaining accurate provider listing and the administrative functions related to the recruitment of qualified providers, clinical service chiefs, and administrative support staff aligned organizationally under the COS office.

The incumbent participates in the analyses of clinical service and care line staffing patterns, including staff utilization, recruiting, and FTEE acquisition and allocation.

This includes working closely with Human Resources (HR) in the recruitment process (board actions for physician staff, announcing the position, certification of qualified candidates, coordinating with selecting official for interview width candidates, establishment of start date for selected candidate, and writing position descriptions).The incumbent is the COS liaison for other HR activities; including, but not limited to, proficiencies for physicians and nurses, performance appraisals (initial, mid-year, and final) for supervisory (Executive Career Field) and non-supervisory staff, license renewal for physicians and nurses, competency assessments, promotions, and disciplinary and counseling consultation.

The incumbent is responsible for satisfactory resolution of complex patient concerns that reach the level of the Executive Leadership Team and serves as program resource for internal control systems ensuring appropriate management controls are in place for all key functions and coordinates required reporting for various COS and COS reports.

Serves as the COS' representative for facility safety inspections and as the Hazard Communication Coordinator for JHQVAMC Leadership, managing and maintaining current material safety data sheet (MSDS) files, maintaining chemical inventory lists, and coordinating hazard communication training for staff with the Industrial Hygienist.

Work Schedule: Mon to Fri 7:30am to 4:15pm Compressed/Flexible: Not Authorized Telework: Not Authorized Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Position Description/PD#: Health System Specialist/PD605160 and PD605170 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized PCS Appraised Value Offer (AVO): Not Authorized