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, Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN 6), Richmond VA Medical Center, Surgical Care Service, Fredericksburg VA Clinic.

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 03/20/2026.

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: knowledge of research principles and practices; assisting with the day-to-day activities; creating agendas and writing committee minutes; collecting and compiling data; preparing correspondence and reports; utilizing automated software (such as Microsoft Word, Excel, etc.); and maintaining records.

(This experience must reflect in your resume) You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: 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 mostly sedentary but requires some walking, standing, bending. lifting and carrying light items such as paper, books, and charts.

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 primary duties of the position involve operation of the Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VISTA) Surgery Package; core package; training and user support; and participation in implementation and testing of new systems and programs Assists the Administrative Officer in conducting studies, analyzing, and evaluating the needs of surgical service and assists in devising specific solutions to meet those needs.

Reviews data and performs limited studies, summarizes information, identifies trends and proposes and implements solutions.

Assists the Administrative Officer in planning and conducting projects or studies to analyze, evaluate and provide recommendations for administrative issues.

Assists the Administrative Officer in researching and analyzing straightforward problems or Surgical Care service issues.

Determines pertinent issues and collects relevant information from a variety of sources.

Reviews information and applies standard analytical techniques and develops recommendations to improve surgical service. Serves as the integrator that coordinates software functions.

Serves as the functional "expert" for matters relating to Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VISTA) packages.

Coordinates with the responsible office(s) for Surgical Care Service workload to ensure the accuracy of the data in VISTA.

Point of contact for all implementation of new software or devices within Surgical Service.

Problem solves with the special ability to integrate overall knowledge of the service system with VISTA applications and to be innovative in the process.

Provides testing of new options and software versions prior to implementation to gain familiarity with the new product features and confirms that software is working according to specifications.

Collects data relevant to Surgery section medical activities and workload for report preparation and submissions. Manages the surgical service call schedules assisting with all subspecialties.

Posts new schedules monthly and makes any necessary or routine changes as requested by the service chief or chief resident. Serves as back-up in the Administrative Officer's absence.

Assists with technical and analytical issues pertaining to Vista/CPRS support and general administrative service line issues.

Work Schedule: 8:00am-4:30pm Monday-Friday Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Position Description/PD#: Program Support Assistant/PD000000 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized