Administrative Officer

Summary

The Administrative Officer (AO) is located in the Office of the Chief, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at James H. Quillen VAMC (JHQVAMC), Mountain Home, TN. The incumbent provides support for complex clinical operations as the coordinator, advisor, analyst, and planner for multiple program design and development among integrated services and the delivery of the health care services.

Learn more about this agency

Duties

Help

The incumbent has the responsibility to assist the Chief, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and the Laboratory Manager by fulfilling administrative duties. This allows the Chief. Pathology and Laboratory Medicine to devote time to the clinical and academic aspects of this active, affiliated healthcare system. The incumbent assists in the design, implementation, modification, and maintenance of quality management and risk management programs. The incumbent applies specialized knowledge of health care management to the planning, organization, and evaluation of the delivery of health care services to Veterans. The incumbent provides administrative leadership, consultation and technical assistance to other service chiefs, section chiefs, care line managers and their administrative support staff related to complex clinical operations. The incumbent will be responsible for preparing and submitting business plans, equipment procurement packages. scarce medical and service contract procurement packages. etc., which encompasses the input of all patient care services (Nursing Service, Business Office, Quality Management, etc.). Duties include but are not limited to:

• The incumbent is responsible in the provision of continuity between the Pathology and Medicine Service for researching and interpreting internal and external policies, directives survey standards and regulatory requirements.
• These responsibilities include multiple and complex systemic activities relating to all aspects of clinical operations including coordinating utilization management and quality assurance activities to increase the efficiency and appropriateness with which services are provided and resources are utilized. This involves assessing the appropriateness and timeliness of care methods provided using written measurable criteria.
• The incumbent ensures accurate identification, reporting, trending, interventions, and education to provide efficient operations and to protect the organization's resources. The incumbent collects data from multiple sources ensuring that precise and accurate summaries are provided for reporting, tracking/trending and reviews and validates the data. Data will include but is not limited to, relative value units (RVU), clinic encounters, procedures, clinic wait times, missed opportunities, external peer review, etc.
• The incumbent establishes effective tracking systems and conducts statistical analysis on the data to identify patterns, trends, and variances.
• The incumbent prepares correspondence to local and national inquiries by facilitating retrieval of clinical records for external abstractors, sharing results and databases with providers in accordance with the Privacy Act and Confidentiality Statutes, and recommending actions to improve the delivery of care and services.
• The incumbent is responsible for the management and final development of all action items such as data calls, VISN, FOIA, OIG requests, local and VISN submittals, and congressional correspondence.
• The incumbent serves as Chief, Pathology and Medicine Services liaison for administrative investigations or root cause analysis reviews involving clinical operations and other internal and external reviews, including investigations, surveys and focused reviews. The incumbent collaborates with the Office of Quality Management to provide education, consultation, and technical assistance to service staff to Joint Commission standards and the Joint Commission survey process.
• The incumbent provides leadership for the design and implementation of indicator processes, and critical pathways that promote interdisciplinary efforts in the establishment of effective monitoring and evaluation of patient centered outcomes and organizational performances.
• The incumbent prepares and submits provider specific quality assessment information for use in program quantitative and qualitative evaluations.
• The incumbent prepares organizational and functional charts and is responsible for maintaining accurate provider listing and the administrative functions related to the recruitment of qualified practitioners and administrative support staff aligned organizationally under the Chief, Pathology and Medicine Service.

Promotion Potential: The selectee may be promoted to the full performance level without further competition when all regulatory, qualification, and performance requirements are met. Selection at a lower grade level does not guarantee promotion to the full performance level.

Work Schedule: Monday through Friday 7:45 am to 4:30 pm

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Position Description/PD#: Administrative Officer/ PD605600 and PD605590

Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized

Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved

Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Requirements

Help

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.
• 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, 07/27/2026.

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-9 position, you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-7 . For a GS-11 position, you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-9 .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:

GS-9

• Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-07 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Provides administrative orientation for new staff; Projects staffing needs utilizing staffing methodology calculators; Collaborates with leadership to include the VISN and CO, business managers, and Service Chiefs; Establishes administrative controls and tracking systems; Gathers data from various databases, and produce statistics and briefings; Manages data management processes for the Service; Utilizes Word, Access, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and VISTA; Establishes tracking systems to ensure actions are completed within established parameters.. OR,
• Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have a master's or equivalent graduate degree or 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree. Note: coursework must have equipped you with the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of the Administrative Officer position. (TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED) OR,
• Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education beyond a Bachelor's degree. (To compute, divide your total months of qualifying experience by 12. Then divide your semester hours of graduate education beyond one year by 18. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify.) Note: coursework must have equipped you with the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of the Administrative Officer position. (TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED)

GS-11

• 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: Provides administrative orientation for new staff; Projects staffing needs utilizing staffing methodology calculators; Collaborates with leadership to include the VISN and CO, business managers, and Service Chiefs; Establishes administrative controls and tracking systems; Gathers data from various databases, and produce statistics and briefings; Manages data management processes for the Service; Utilizes Word, Access, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and VISTA; Establishes tracking systems to ensure actions are completed within established parameters.. OR,
• Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or three full academic years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree in one or LL.M. if related. Note: coursework must have equipped you with the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of the Administrative Officer position. (TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED) OR,
• Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education beyond the second year of graduate level education. (To compute the percentage, divide your total months of qualifying experience by 12. Then divide your semester hours of graduate education beyond two years by 18. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify.) Note: coursework must have equipped you with the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of the Administrative Officer position. (TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED)

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

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.

Help

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.

Review our benefits

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.