Health System Specialist - Chief of Staff (COS)

Full Job Description

The primary purpose of this position is to provide support to health care management officials by analyzing, evaluating, advising on and/or coordinating health care delivery systems and operations.

The position renders advice on operational policies and assures these policies are coordinated with, and in support of, field operations.

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 03/31/2026.

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-13 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-12. 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.

This position has an Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR) and requires education/experience that must have been related to the work of the position for which application is made.

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.

OR, 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.

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-12 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization.

Specialized experience is defined as: Knowledge of strategic planning theory, tools and implementation as it relates to leading a healthcare institution in strategic planning.

Expert knowledge of the management and organizational structure of hospitals and health care institutions.

This knowledge includes functional alignment of clinical and administrative services and a strong working knowledge of general clinical systems, programs, and practices.

Knowledge is necessary to reconcile conflicting requirements in preparing staff recommendations and developing new approaches to resolving management problems.

Knowledge of and ability to apply use of national and local benchmark performance data, statistics, actuarial projections and other financial data to complete comparative analyses, formulate recommendations and develop initiatives.

Ability to evaluate and interpret study findings, to make oral/written reports and presentations, to prepare reports and other documents, to exercise foresight, to visualize effect of recommended changes, and to exercise ingenuity and inventiveness in devising solutions to problems that are of a difficult and precedent setting nature.

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.

You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Administration and Management Communication Information Assurance Organizational Awareness Organizational Performance Analysis 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 primarily performed in an office setting with significant time involved on the computer.

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:

NOTE: This is a TEMPORARY (not-to-exceed 1 year position). The position could potentially end earlier than 1 year.

This appointment may be renewed for additional service in accordance with Agency needs for 1 additional year.

Temporary positions offer health insurance (if the employee is expected to work at least 130 hours per month for at least 90 days) but do not offer life insurance or retirement benefits and may be terminated at any time before the expiration date.

The appointment to a Temporary position does not confer eligibility for promotion or reassignment to other positions or the ability to be non-competitively converted to permanent employment.

Include but not limited to: The incumbent functions as the primary liaison/administrative support to the Chief of Staff office and serves as the conduit for information flow and management of assignments between such offices.

Monitors and manages incoming actions and requests from initial receipt to completion and closeout.

Analyzes the subject matter of incoming information for appropriate distribution to offices internal or external to the office.

Conducts or participates in special information flow studies, analyses, presentations and briefings, as assigned.

Conducts analytical studies on particular operational processes, issue topics, or related special projects.

Studies and projects addressed are commonly so diverse and intense that they often require input and assistance from departmental or program offices.

These studies require study planning, statistical measurement, data analysis, and report preparation and development.

When tasked with this type of project, serves as the responsible contact for leading these projects from initiation to completion and may be required to present the results to senior leadership.

Develops position papers and decision documents representing the position of the organization on a variety of complex and sensitive issues such as the quality or timeliness of veteran care issues within the system or at times, issues of Congressional or media interest that have significant national impact e.g.

quality and safety concerns or involve several functional areas. An expert level knowledge of health system services is required for the breadth and depth of studies encountered.

Works in coordination with other internal reviewing services regarding complex audits and internal/external reviews of a national concern; i.

e, fiscal efficiencies and organizational structure that are reviewed by prominent parties such as the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) or the Government Accountability Office (GAO).Tracks both routine and uncommon deadlines initiated by OIG/GAO and internal reviewing officials to ensure timely submission of responses and actions.

Communicates with responsible staff agency members to ensure completion of all requested actions and appropriately closes out all requests.

Works closely with senior management and others in implementing and evaluating policies, plans, and internal operational systems such as correspondence management, information tracking among pertinent offices and stakeholders, and internal/external communication flows.

Contacts and engages frequently with staff at all levels to facilitate the work of the office related to a variety of operations-focused assignments and projects initiated by senior leadership or program offices, or departmental offices.

This interaction is essential in order to identify substantive issues, establish relative priorities, and determine those issues requiring tracking.

Functions in myriad roles by contacting and engaging with various administrative program officials within Headquarters and in the field to manage, coordinate, and complete various assignments or projects that involve or are initiated by these officials.

Manages and coordinates of all online communication tools such as assigned intranet websites, internal SharePoint website collection, and other related informational tools in consultation with communication specialists.

Assures compliance with all policies, and development and maintenance of internal management processes related to these online tools.

Coordinates events hosted by officials, including town hall meetings with internal staff, with assistance from continuing educational staff and initiatives when warranted.

Completes all steps required within an event management process, including facilitating selection of the event time, developing a formal agenda, managing any required contracts and all logistical items, disseminating information to attendees.

Works with various boards to coordinate regular committee meetings, ensuring all event management steps are completed.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 7:30AM - 4:00PM Telework: Ad-hoc Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Position Description/PD#: Health System Specialist - Chief of Staff (COS)/PD096280 Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized