Health System Specialist

Full Job Description

The Supervisory Health Systems Specialist (Credentialing and Privileging Manger) is assigned to the Medical Staff Office, which is under the Chief of Staff at the Buffalo VAMC.

The incumbent oversees all functions related to healthcare providers' professional credentials supporting all divisions of the VAMC in accordance with VHA Credentialing and Privileging (C&P), Directives, VA Handbooks, Policies, Memos, and Notices; The Joint Commission (TJC) Standards and State and Federal Regulations.

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 02/03/2026.

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-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.

You may qualify based on your experience as described below: 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: 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 clinicians and local leadership to solve problems in support of the delivery of patient care; applying organizational and system-wide strategies for continuous quality improvement; and experience running and supervising an administrative component of a health care credentialing and privileging program.

NOTE: 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.

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.

Specialized knowledge of the basic principles and practices related to the management of health care delivery systems.

While specific qualification requirements vary from position to position, according to the duties and responsibilities described, all positions in the series require certain basic knowledge, skills, and abilities such as those described below: - Knowledge of missions, organizations, programs, and requirements of health care delivery systems in general and the country at large.

- Knowledge of the unique characteristics of the specific heath care delivery system served (e.g., facility resources and programs, medical school affiliations (community demographics, resources, and relationships) and the role and organization of professional societies and volunteer groups.

- Familiarity with regulations and standards of various regulatory and credentialing groups and ability to reconcile contradictory requirements in preparing staff recommendations and/or in coordinating clinical and administrative services.

- Familiarity with government-wide, agency, and facility systems and requirements in various administrative areas like budget, personnel, and procurement.

- Recognition of the different functions and motivations of various employees and groups in the health care delivery system and ability to communicate effectively with each to gather information, present recommendations, and coordinate services.

- Ability to analyze problems and present both written and oral recommendations taking into consideration the wide range of factors and requirements which affect the management of the health care delivery system.

Physical Requirements: The work is mostly sedentary. Occasionally, light physical effort may be required, such as that involved with walking, stair climbing, and carrying of light office items.

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:

Serving as the facility expert on the C&P program.

Performing as the Facility Subject Matter Expert (SME) on the following topics, including, but not limited to: Credentialing of licensed independent practitioners (LIP) and non-LIPs; Privileging and privileging related matters including focused and ongoing professional practice; Adverse privileging actions; Reporting to the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB); and Reporting to State Licensing Boards (SLB).

Serving as primary contact/ liaison for the VHA Medical Staff Affairs Program Office and VISN office related to facility level questions, concerns, and guidance related to facility level credentialing and privileging programs.

Ongoing monitoring and auditing of facility staff within the C&P program utilizing VetPro reports, mandatory auditing and reporting tools.

Demonstrating expertise in utilization of the VetPro credentialing system including knowledge of the credentialing and privileging process, documentation of primary source verifications, how to audit credentialing files and reporting functions.

Managing C&P staff at VA WNY Health Care System, which includes but not limited to time management, performance plans & appraisals, auditing and education/training.

Providing education and training for VA Health Care System credentialing specialists & support staff, Chiefs of Staff, clinical service chiefs, human resource staff, quality managers, and others who are impacted by the credentialing and/or privileging processes.

Being a part of and participating in a credentialing specialists' community of practice across the VISN.

Assisting and reporting required data/material to the VISN SME for external and/or internal regulatory and accrediting organizations, internal VHA auditors, and external auditors investigating issues surrounding credentialing, privileging, privileging actions, and/or reporting to NPDB or SLBs.

Independently investigating extremely complex issues, analyze problems, and present both written and oral recommendations to leaders taking into full consideration the wide range of factors and requirements which affect the C&P program at VA WNY Health Care System.

Performs other C&P program related duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Telework: Yes Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Position Description/PD#: Health System Specialist/PD99874A Financial Disclosure Report: Not required