Program Specialist

Summary

This position serves as the Program Specialist (Navigator) in the Veteran Engagement Service at the VA Sierra Nevada Health Care System (VASNHCS) Reno, NV.

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Duties

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Major duties and responsibilities include, but not limited to:

• Responsible for speaking directly to with Veterans and Family members, identifying barriers and concerns with care and providing resolutions to these concerns.
• Acts as a quality assurance specialist, helping assure accuracy of data entered in the Patient Advocate Tracking System.
• Performs analytical and evaluative work associated with line and/or program activities.
• Welcomes Veterans into the local system, orienting them to Veteran health education and health promotion, offering a variety of points of entry into partnership with VHA, coordinating and connecting Veterans to resources and programs based on preferences, assisting Veterans in articulating their goals for health, supporting them in advocating for themselves to obtain effective services, and providing tools and resources to assist in navigating the Health Care System.
• Directly supports the mission of the Veteran Engagement team.
• Provides information, liaison, and advocacy services to support Veterans' personal health goals and shared goals with clinical care team.
• Collaborates with Veteran Experience Coordinator in establishing and implementing policies and procedures and assures that programs and services are incompliance with patients rights.
• Makes inquiries into patient complaints, initiates action or changes necessary to correct problem situations, and reports on corrective measures taken.

Work Schedule: Full Time, Monday - Friday, 07:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Telework: Not Authorized

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Position Description/PD#: Program Specialist / PD03470-A

Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized

Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

PCS Appraised Value Offer (AVO): Not Authorized

Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• You may be required to serve a probationary period
• Subject to background/security investigation
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP)
• Participation in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination program is a requirement for all Veterans Health Administration Health Care Personnel (HCP) - See "Additional Information" below for details.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 08/24/2026.

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-07 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-05. 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-05 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Meeting the needs of customers while supporting VA missions, provides consistent information per established policies and procedures, handles conflicts, responds to all inquiries in person, by email, and telephone, informs supervisor or management official of any issue or potential incident where a customer is dissatisfied or angry, interacts with patients, supervisors, staff, visitors and non-VA personnel, protects data from unauthorized release or loss, uses MS word, MS excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint. Experience directly interacting with Veterans in VHA environment, familiarity with the wide range of services available in VHA & experience providing external customer service within the VHA environment.

OR,

• Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have One (1) full year of graduate level education beyond a bachelor's degree (normally 18 semester hours); OR Superior academic achievement. (Transcripts required).

OR,

• Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. A combination of experience and education may be computed by first determining the applicant's total qualifying experience as a percentage of the experience required; then determining the applicant's education as a percentage of the education required for the grade level; and then adding the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify. For example, an applicant who has 9 semester hours of graduate level education (i.e., 50% of graduate education required) and 6 months of creditable experience (i.e., 50% of the required experience) would equal 100% of the required experience/education to qualify for the GS-7 grade. (Transcripts required)

• Attention to Detail
• Customer Service (Clerical/Technical)
• Decision Making
• Flexibility
• Integrity/Honesty
• Interpersonal Skills
• Interpersonal Skills
• Organizational Awareness
• Problem Solving
• Reading Comprehension
• Reasoning
• Self-Management
• Stress Tolerance

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 will involve a laptop computer at docking stations in staff cubicles/office space, outpatient treatment rooms, and group/conference rooms. The work will involve walking around to different workspaces within the clinic and thus conveying a patient-centered environment where providers go to the patient. The physical demands include presenting oneself in an energetic way to create positive attitudes about health and well-being for Veterans, families, VA employees, and stakeholders.

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

Education

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

The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced Federal/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

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

Pursuant to VHA Directive 1193.01, VHA health care personnel (HCP) are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 subject to such accommodations as required by law (i.e., medical, religious or pregnancy). VHA HCPs do not include remote workers who only infrequently enter VHA locations. If selected, you will be required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and submit documentation of proof of vaccination before your start date. The agency will provide additional information regarding what information or documentation will be needed and how you can request a legally required accommodation from this requirement using the reasonable accommodation process.

To ensure compliance with an applicable preliminary nationwide injunction, which may be supplemented, modified, or vacated, depending on the course of ongoing litigation, the Federal Government will take no action to implement or enforce the COVID-19 vaccination requirement pursuant to Executive Order 14043 on Requiring Coronavirus Disease 2019 Vaccination for Federal Employees. Therefore, to the extent a VA job announcement includes language requiring applicants to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 pursuant to Executive Order 14043, that requirement does not currently apply to this Job Announcement. VA may request information regarding your vaccination status, if selected, for the purposes of implementing other workplace safety protocols, such as masking, physical distancing, testing, travel, and quarantine.

Due to COVID-19, VA is currently in an expanded telework posture. If selected, you may be expected to temporarily telework, even if your home is located outside the local commuting area. Once employees are permitted to return to the office, you will be expected to report to the duty station listed on this announcement. Management officials will provide information about returning to the official, pre-pandemic worksite, when applicable. At that time, you may be eligible to request to continue to telework depending upon the terms of your organization's telework policy and the duties of the position.

If you are unable to apply online or need to fax a document you do not have in electronic form, view the following link for information regarding an Alternate Application.

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.