Program Analyst

Summary

The Program Analyst evaluates the performance of services and clinicians using a variety of qualitative and quantitative methodologies, and provides advice to leadership to assist in coordinating health care delivery and meeting revenue goals. They must possess specialized knowledge of healthcare operations, appropriations, budget, clinical documentation, complexity of care, and VA database systems used to correlate a model for funding one of the largest integrated healthcare systems.

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Duties

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Duties may include but not limited to:

• Supports the medical center in its data collection and documentation improvement initiatives, which includes responsibility for the VERA Committee and associated workgroups
• Leads the VERA Committee and serves as a point of contact and consultant in all areas of financial and clinical workload reports.
• Performs analysis and interpretation of health care data.
• Identifies, develops, coordinates, and communicates mechanisms to improve and streamline processes, particularly those that have an impact on funding
• Works with information technology staff, coding staff, Community Care staff, and clinicians to create processes that increase accuracy of the medical record, maximize funding, and encourage clinical follow up
• Assists the Pentad in identifying areas of weakness within the facility and makes recommendations for improved strategies
• Independently prioritizes the processes to be aligned with National, Network, and facility priorities.
• Work independently or as a team member.
• Exercise a high level of leadership ability in resolution of issues.
• Analyzes, interprets, and summarizes a variety of work processes performed by personnel that are functionally different, but in interrelated operations, using computer systems impacting data quality.
• Develops studies, summaries, and analyses from various source data collection systems, which the incumbent needs to validate inpatient and outpatient workload at the patient encounter level.
• Develops query tools to link common databases and fields from various information sources, from employees and clinical and administrative activities, to develop or support plans and programs designed to solve data quality problems.
• Validates data for accuracy and completeness and refines it into formats for specific individual responses or summary reports.
• Identifies and explains disparities between reporting periods regarding changes, trends, or circumstances not readily evident from the data.
• Coordinates and communicates with managers, physicians, and other clinical and administrative staff to improve the uniformity and standardization of clinical and workload reporting.
• Independently or working with the VERA Committee, developing methods to assist the medical center with improving its data quality and business practices.
• Accepts responsibility for locating and making available, via hardcopy or electronically, the latest manuals, guidelines, and procedures needed by administrative and clinical staff, relating to the duties of this position.
• Locates and/or develops needed materials and references.
• Identifies 3 training needs and develops training plans.
• Develops graphical presentations of statistical data, as well as composite material involving data and other types of material, for briefings, publications, and reports.
• Responsible for selecting graphics package to best display the required information. Incumbent establishes, organizes, and maintains health care source data.
• Functions as review specialist and revision coordinator for newly developed or modified information retrieval systems.
• Performs ongoing activities related to the data integrity function to improve the quality and accuracy of the information retrieval systems, data and functionality.
• Serves as technical advisor and expert on matters related to clinical and funding workload reporting. Performs other related duties as assigned

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 7:30am - 4:00pm

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Position Description/PD#: Program Analyst/ PD20005O

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• To be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. In addition to the application and questionnaire, this position requires an online assessment. The online assessment measures critical general competencies required to perform the job.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• Physical Requirements: The work required does not inherently include any physical requirements essential for successful job performance that could not otherwise be performed with accommodation or workplace adjustment. A pre-placement physical examination is not required.
• Subject to background/security investigation
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements ( Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued dentification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP)

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period or 2-year trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:

• your performance and conduct;
• the needs and interests of the agency;
• whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
• whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Upon completion of your probationary period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 06/02/2026.

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-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-09. 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-09 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: development and implementation of programs and projects that concentrate on business practices that result in improving data reliability, validity, and timeliness, from all levels of the medical center, and in properly capturing and documenting workload for facility funding, planning and conducting statistical analyses and studies that trend and impact changes in documentation requirements in clinical and workload data. Incumbent prepares reports based on studies and analyses and provides metrics and other information to senior management and VISN when needed, using services throughout the medical center. OR,
• Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level, you must have:
  • Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree, or
  • 3 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree, or
  • LL.M., if related, OR,

Best Qualified Criteria:

• Experience in analyzing workload capture across an entire health care system.
• Knowledge in evaluating the performance of services and clinicians using a variety of qualitative and quantitative methodologies and provides advice to leadership to assist in coordinating health care delivery and meeting revenue goals.
• Specialized knowledge of healthcare operations, appropriations, budget, clinical documentation, complexity of care and database systems used to correlate into a model for funding.
• Expertise in the development and implementation of programs and projects that concentrate on business practices that result in improving data reliability, validity, and timeliness within organization.
• Incumbent must be familiar with regarding health care management principles to recognize needs for improvement in operating practices.
• Requires knowledge of a capitated funding model with the depth of knowledge to have a direct impact on the ability to ensure adequate funding for the facility.

For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at

Education

There is no educational substitution at this grade level.

A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.

Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit:

Additional information

Whole Health is an approach to health care that empowers and equips people to take charge of their health and well-being and live their life to the fullest. The VA is committed to Whole Health and values Veteran and Employee health and wellbeing. As a VA employee, you will practice Whole Health in an environment that supports personalized and proactive care.

OUR MISSION: To fulfill President Lincoln's promise "To care for those who have served in our nation's military and for their families, caregivers, and survivors" - by serving and honoring the men and women who are America's Veterans. How would you like to become a part of a team providing compassionate whole health care to Veterans?

The VA has adopted Core Values and Characteristics that apply universally across the Department. The five Core Values define "who we are," our culture, and how we care for Veterans, their families, and other beneficiaries. The Values are I ntegrity, C ommitment, A dvocacy, R espect, and E xcellence (" I CARE ").

Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer. For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act.

Reasonable Accommodation (RA) Requests: If you believe you have a disability (i.e., physical or mental), covered by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended that would interfere with completing the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you will be granted the opportunity to request a RA in your online application. Requests for RA for the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments and appropriate supporting documentation for RA must be received prior to starting the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments. Decisions on requests for RA are made on a case-by-case basis. If you meet the minimum qualifications of the position, after notification of the adjudication of your request, you will receive an email invitation to complete the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, based on your adjudication decision. You must complete all assessments within 48 hours of receiving the URL to access the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments if you received the link after the close of the announcement. To determine if you need a RA, please review the Procedures for Requesting a Reasonable Accommodation for Online Assessments.

This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.

The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced VA competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified you must submit appropriate documentation (a copy of the agency notice, your most recent performance rating, and your most recent SF-50 noting current position, grade level, and duty location) and be found well-qualified for this vacancy. To be well-qualified: applicants must possess experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors, and who are proficient in most of the required competencies of the job. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website at

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

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A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.

Receiving Service Credit for Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave : Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. VA may offer newly-appointed Federal employee's credit for their job-related non-federal experience or active duty uniformed military service. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed.

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Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.