Program Support Assistant

Full Job Description

This position is located in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Veterans Health Administration (VHA), Mid-Atlantic Health Care Network (VISN 6), Asheville VA Healthcare System, Asheville, North Carolina, assigned to Social Work Services (SWS) and serves as the Program Support Assistant to the Caregiver Support Program (CSP).

The primary duties of the Program Support Assistant are program development, assist with data collection, analysis of trends and implementation of best practices.

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 03/23/2026.

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-7 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-6. 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 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-6 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization.

Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: experience with clerical and administrative procedures, various office skills; and carrying out day-today administrative support activities; Working in an administrative position which required preparing correspondence, reports and graphs utilizing a variety of computer program.

Skill in the use of a variety of computer software such as Microsoft Word, Excel, Power Point and other software applications; Interacting with executive leadership in the VA and private sector, contractors, staff members as well as Veterans, their family members and/or legal representatives; Provide/submit requested information to ensure all due dates are met in a timely and satisfactory manner; Managing a fast-paced office to include, establishing priorities, set up, reschedule appointments; Use own initiative to follow-up on action items and time-sensitive issues with appropriate staff members.

You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Accountability Attention to Detail Clerical Communications Computer Skills Customer Service Decision Making Flexibility Integrity/Honesty Interpersonal Skills Learning Manages and Organizes Information Reading Comprehension Reasoning Self-Management Stress Tolerance Teamwork 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 primarily sedentary and is performed by sitting, standing, bending, and stooping.

The employee is required to obtain records from files, and carry files, manuals, and other light objects.

Occasional travel is required to provide support at conferences, workgroups, programs or meetings.

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:

DUTIES INCLUDE BUT NOT LIMITED TOO: PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT AND SUPPORT Develops, coordinates, and implements a comprehensive outreach initiative designed to facilitate the delivery of services to caregivers and their Veterans.

This requires the incumbent to identify the needs and requirements of the Caregiver population, services they are not able to access on their own, partners in the community who are willing to provide services or will jointly develop services.

Maintains responsibility for coordination of referrals for caregivers and their Veterans. Provides resources and referrals to caregivers who provide care for their Veterans.

As a referral and follow-up specialist, reviews Veteran and caregiver referral and resource utilization, participates in caregiver team meetings, and ensures continuity of care by maintaining communication and documentation.

Monitors and evaluates caregiver activities (utilization of referrals/resources, trainings, appointments with the Veteran, caregiver strain, etc.), assessments, enrollment processes, and makes recommendations for improvements for the Caregiver Support Program.

DATA MANAGEMENT & REPORTING Locates, organizes, develops and reports on all data for performance measures and reports this data to the care team weekly, and to the Caregiver Support Coordinators in completing required administrative tasks such as quarterly reports which are presented to the Medical Center Leadership, VISN Leadership and/or VA Central Office.

Assists in the planning, review, and reporting of data/statistical results of program/project studies; performs basic analysis of the data and generates a variety of reports; coordinates incoming data from a variety of sources, reviews documents and reports for omissions and inconsistencies, and ensures data entry is complete and accurate.

Enters pertinent data into an automated tracking system and maintains program-specific data in automated systems to track suspense items such as project milestones, progress reports, accomplishments, compliance strategies, etc.

Assists with maintaining CARMA data base for each Veteran/caregiver (information needed for VACO reporting).

Gathers other mandatory data from multiple sources for the completion of required reports for the medical center, the VISN and national offices in support of the program's operations.

ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT Performs telephone and walk-in triage and brief assessment- assists Veterans, families, medical center staff and community agency personnel who are seeking Caregiver Support services.

This may include identifying and contacting available clinicians in response to urgent needs of Veterans, families and caregivers.

Screens all calls and visitors for the CSP, answering most questions on established policy or routine matters.

When calls are referred to the Caregiver Support Coordinator, the incumbent furnishes readily obtainable information to aid in the discussion.

Accepts telephone calls from Caregiver Support staff in the field, other VA staff, and/or community agency staff, regarding program inquiries, program concerns, etc.

Incumbent obtains as much information as possible, provides information and resolves problems independently when possible, prioritizes, and makes decisions regarding caller referral based on specific caller needs.

The incumbent ensures timely response to team members that potentially have an emergent or urgent care need through prompt identification of the problem and appropriate team referral.

Interacts with visitors and co-workers in a courteous, tactful, helpful manner, exercising mature judgment and diplomacy.

BUDGET MANAGEMENT Design and maintain a tracking system for the Caregiver Support Respite Program expenditures and referrals.

Track quarterly Bene-Travel cost, track all PCAFC quarterly visits, and maintain record of all associated reimbursement costs.

Track and report monthly and annual CSP funding for assigned program fund control points. with the assigned caregiver support coordinator. Prepare yearly funding requests.

In addition to the full performance duties, the PSA works collaboratively as a member of an interprofessional clinical team that submits Veteran and caregiver PCAFC application packages to the VISN for clinical eligibility determinations.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 8:00am - 4:30am Telework: AdHoc Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Program Support Assistant/PD043870