Health System Specialist

Full Job Description

The Health System Specialist (HSS) is located in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff at the Tennessee Valley Healthcare System (TVHS).

The HSS provides staff support to the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff and is a key member of the management team.

The responsibility of the incumbent is to carry out various assignments of a comprehensive nature designed to assist the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff in directing and evaluating the effectiveness of numerous programs and activities.

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 03/04/2026.

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. The Occupational Series 0671 includes an Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR).

An IOR is a basic requirement that must be met in order to qualify for entry into this job series, and it is something that can't be waived.

The education must be accredited by an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education at the time the degree was obtained.

To qualify for this occupational series, applicants MUST have one of the following listed below.

Undergraduate and Graduate Education: Major 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: 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: Missions, organizations, programs, and requirements of health care delivery systems; Regulations and standards of various regulatory and credentialing groups; and Government-wide, agency, and facility systems and requirements in various administrative areas such as budget, personnel, and procurement.

Special Provision for In-service Placement: Successful completion of an agency-sponsored on-the-job training program may be substituted for qualifying experience, provided it included a formal individualized training plan.

Such a training program must have been conducted in an operating health care system and included: Assignments providing a knowledge of basic health system administration philosophies, practices, and procedures, and basic government administrative policies and requirements; 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 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 above Time in Grade requirement and the Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR), you must have one year of specialized experience as described below: Specialized Experience (GS-12): Must have at least (1) one full year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade level (GS-11) in Federal service that equipped you with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the position to be filled.

Specialized experience includes: 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: Missions, organizations, programs, and requirements of health care delivery systems; Regulations and standards of various regulatory and credentialing groups; and Government-wide, agency, and facility systems and requirements in various administrative areas such as budget, personnel, and procurement.

Specialized experience also includes: Working with healthcare operations, and practices, HPE training programs, clinical disciplines of HPTs to analyze, evaluate, administer, and advise on HPE programs and associated special purpose resource allocations.

You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Administration and Management Manages and Organizes Information Organizational Awareness Organizational Development 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: Work is mainly sedentary.

Traveling off station to various meetings is necessary and working some overtime hours may be necessary; there may be some walking, standing, bending, and carrying of light items such as papers and books.

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:

The incumbent is involved in developing, analyzing; evaluating, advising on, or improving the effectiveness of work methods and procedures, organizations, manpower utilization, distribution of work assignments, management controls, information and documentation systems, and/or similar functions of management.

The HSS has the principal responsibility to support two Deputy Chiefs of Staff (DCOSs) by performing complex administrative duties.

This allows the DCOSs to devote time to the administrative and academic aspects of this highly affiliated healthcare system.

Incumbent applies specialized knowledge of health care management to the planning, organization, and evaluation of the delivery of health care services to veterans and the administrative processes that support them.

Duties include: Provides full staff assistance on administrative matters for the Executive Leader.

Directs and coordinates all administrative matters relative to services under the oversight of the Executive Leader.

Performs staff support work to develop comprehensive short-range and long-range medical center plans, goals and objectives.

Advises and assists management responsible for planning, organization, development, direction and evaluation of administrative programs.

Develops methodology to assess the function of assigned areas and assists management in problem identification of services and components.

Conducts and reports on audits and inspection activities through "white papers" and reports.

Prepares correspondence to local and national inquiries by collecting and analyzing information and preparing responses for final signature.

Conducts qualitative and quantitative analysis and summarizes significant results and recommendations to improve services and to promote quality care.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 7:30am - 4:00pm Compressed/Flexible: Not Authorized Telework: Adhoc Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Position Description/PD#: Health System Specialist/PD70704-0 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized PCS Appraised Value Offer (AVO): Not Authorized