Health System Specialist

Summary

The Office of Healthcare Innovation and Learning (OHIL) is seeking a Health System Specialist to join its Front Office. In this role, the incumbent will serve as a national-level project manager and trusted advisor to senior leadership, supporting strategic initiatives and organizational priorities.

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Duties

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The duties of the Health System Specialist are as follows but are not limited to:

• Position coordinates activities with clinical program offices, managers and peers, participates in multiple projects and project teams, and communicates with a wide variety of constituents, including managers, senior executives, clinical, policy, regulatory, quality and technical staff.
• Advises leadership on and approves processes for identifying portfolio gaps and prioritizing special initiatives (e.g., Under Secretary of Health priorities) to address emerging health care needs and stakeholder requirements.
• Leads cross-functional teams to evaluate potential clinical solutions, optimize resource allocation, and mitigate risks to ensure timely delivery of projects within scope and budget.
• Makes recommendations regarding scaling and adoption of pilot technologies, based on rigorous needs assessment and quality criteria. Ensures that recommendations to leadership include analysis of how these pilots align with government wide, agency and facility systems and requirements.
• These projects are multi office focused and are a combination of all OHIL subordinate office efforts. This includes: Tracking projects status, facilitating the resolution of issues with internal and external entities, regularly communicating with many stakeholders, customer relationship management, applying project management principles and practices, responding to data calls, participating in calls, attending kick-off's and other related meetings, contracting and budget analysis, drafting and facilitating the approval of: project management documentation, contracting documentation, budgets, minutes, tracking information , press information, and other communications items.
• Position has responsibility for developing, maintaining, and reporting of project plans in support of project priorities and requirements determined by VHA leadership.
• Acts as a subject matter expert and strategic influencer for the identification, piloting, and potential roll-out of emerging medical technologies and special initiatives. Demonstrates deep clinical insight of VHA practices and policies, enabling translation of clinical workflows and needs into actionable design requirements and project inputs.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 08:00 am - 4:30 pm. You may be required to travel up to 25%.

Compressed/Flexible: Available upon request, and at the discretion of leadership

Telework: This position may be authorized for telework on an Adhoc basis.

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Position Description/PD#: Health System Specialist / PD318380

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 identification 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, 08/07/2026.

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.

You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described by the Individual Occupational Requirements (IOR):

• Undergraduate and Graduate Education : Major study hospital administration, public health administration, or related fields such as business or public administration with course work in health care administration. OR,
• General Experience (for GS-5 positions): Work that required a knowledge of the basic principles and practices related to the management of a health care delivery system. Such experience may have been gained as an administrative officer, management analyst, administrative or clinical program manager or supervisor in a health care delivery system. OR,
• Specialized Experience GS-5 and above : 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:

1. Missions, organizations, programs, and requirements of health care delivery systems.
2. Regulations and standards of various regulatory and credentialing groups; and
3. Government-wide, agency, and facility systems and requirements in various administrative areas such as budget, personnel, and procurement.

Special Provision for ln-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.

And,

• 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. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Position coordinates activities with clinical program offices, managers and peers, participates in multiple projects and project teams, and communicates with a wide variety of constituents, including managers, senior executives, clinical, policy, regulatory, quality and technical staff. Advises leadership on and approves processes for identifying portfolio gaps and prioritizing special initiatives (e.g., Under Secretary of Health priorities) to address emerging health care needs and stakeholder requirements. Leads cross-functional teams to evaluate potential clinical solutions, optimize resource allocation, and mitigate risks to ensure timely delivery of projects within scope and budget. Makes recommendations regarding scaling and adoption of pilot technologies, based on rigorous needs assessment and quality criteria. Ensures that recommendations to leadership include analysis of how these pilots align with government wide, agency and facility systems and requirements. These projects are multi office focused and are a combination of all OHIL subordinate office efforts. This includes: Tracking projects status, facilitating the resolution of issues with internal and external entities, regularly communicating with many stakeholders, customer relationship management, applying project management principles and practices, responding to data calls, participating in calls, attending kick-off's and other related meetings, contracting and budget analysis, drafting and facilitating the approval of: project management documentation, contracting documentation, budgets, minutes, tracking information , press information, and other communications items. Position has responsibility for developing, maintaining, and reporting of project plans in support of project priorities and requirements determined by VHA leadership. Acts as a subject matter expert and strategic influencer for the identification, piloting, and potential roll-out of emerging medical technologies and special initiatives. Demonstrates deep clinical insight of VHA practices and policies, enabling translation of clinical workflows and needs into actionable design requirements and project inputs.

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 sedentary. Typically, the position sits comfortably to do the work. However, there may be some walking; standing; bending; carrying of light items, such as papers, books, or office supplies. No special physical demands are required to perform the work.

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

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.

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.

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.

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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.