Health System Specialist (Facility Planner)

Full Job Description

This position is organizationally aligned under the Medical Center Director and serves as Facility Planner for Battle Creek VAMC.

Duties specific to this position include master planning, capital and facility space planning, project development, demographic and workload analyses; and facilitation of strategic planning activities requested by members of the Executive Leadership Team.

The incumbent reports to the Supervisory Health System Specialist to the Director.

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 02/26/2026.

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.

Preferred Experience: Previous experience with facility planning, and facility level strategic planning.

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-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: 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.

You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Administration and Management Creative Thinking Decision Making Organizational Awareness Strategic Thinking 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.

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:

Major duties include but are not limited to: Serves as the Battle Creek VAMC Space Planner for all projects within the operating plan, providing direct oversight and management to the responsible team and consultative services to all services within the Medical Center.

Serves as a recognized expert in both long-term and short-term space planning and move coordination and execution.

Collects, analyzes, prepares and delivers planning documents and presentations in support of space and capital planning. Demonstrates ability to analyze information in meaningful and relevant ways.

Is trusted by others to use good judgement when making recommendations. Skilled at communicating insights and understanding of issues or problems.

Knowledgeable with various assessment tools resulting in the design of a service delivery plan, using the Health System Planning Application or other tools.

Incumbent understands supply and demand that provides for timely and accessible care and that leverages all community resources, where possible. Integrates large volume of diverse information.

Identifies new trends, potential problems and opportunities early through use of computer modeling and financial assessments.

Leads project groups that may be very large and multidisciplinary in nature.

Collaborates with subject matter experts, neighboring markets and VISNs to align planning efforts and optimize resources in support of current priorities.

Researches, engages, and collaborates with public and private community health care providers and organizations to expand VHA's health care delivery network.

Summarizes interactions in a clear and succinct manner the incumbent is free and expected to be creative and use their background and technical knowledge to problem-solve.

Gathers data and collaborates with service chiefs and section leads to develop a strategic capital investment plans and other planning related requirements.

Reviews and makes periodic updates to databases related to capital asset inventory and activation.

Represents Battle Creek VAMC in activities related to community, regional, and state planning activities which may impact the delivery of healthcare.

Performs strategic and administrative management that requires the ability to apply specialized principles and practices of health care management.

Initiates system wide planning activities to develop, communicate, and continuously update the comprehensive strategic plan.

Engages the Executive Leadership Team in all aspects of strategic planning with an emphasis on establishment of strategic initiatives or actions to support VHA goals and objectives.

Performs population-based demographic studies involving data collection and analysis, forecasting, and related methodologies and performs other studies such as utilization numbers, workflow, patient population, etc.

Advises the Executive Leadership Team on planning issues associated with program development and expansion initiatives related to VA/DoD Sharing Initiatives, VHA Site Tracking (VAST), Clinical Inventory, Rural Health, and Tele-health.

Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 8:00am-4:30pm Telework: This position may be authorized for ADHOC telework, for highly qualified candidate.

Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process. Virtual: This is NOT a virtual/remote position.

Position Description/PD#: Health System Specialist (Facility Planner)/PD91688O Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Physical Requirements: Work is mainly sedentary.

Travel to other Battle Creek VAMC sites is necessary. There will be walking, standing, bending, carrying/traveling with items such as, drawings, files, and at times a laptop.

Work Environment: Work is generally performed in an office setting with significant time involved on computer, on phone calls or in meetings.

Some travel is required to other sites within the health care system however, more extended travel for training conferences is possible and may be required on short notice.