Program Specialist

Summary This position is located at the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center, Chicago, IL. and is organizationally aligned under the Health Administration Service (HAS) Line. The primary purpose of this position is to provide oversight, support, evaluation and tailored training as it relates to all programs in the section and is responsible for performing audits and other reviews for administrative staff throughout the entire HAS Service Line. Responsibilities Major Duties Include: Develops, modifies, and administers training programs for staff and supervisors throughout the department and tailors training for local needs and specific areas at the Medical Center. In this capacity, coordinates orientation activities and prepares material to educate new and experienced employees with the organization's mission, structure, history, objectives, and policies of scheduling and high-level customer service. Provides management with periodic reports on the status of the training and an analysis of the effectiveness and capacity of the training program in achieving agency objectives and policies. Modifies annual training plans to stay within the guidelines established by VHA regulations and management to meet training objectives. Provides detailed guidance to staff concerning consult management and scheduling activities. Works with supervisors, managers, and service chiefs to resolve discrepancies or conflicts with established consult management. Provides consultation and assistance in implementation of performance improvement activities. Provides assessments of the utilization of the Enrollment Standardization (ES) program. Ensures that all enrollment staff are thoroughly trained on the utilization of the Veteran Enrollment System (VES) software. Ensures that all staff are continually provided with updated eligibility regulations applicable to the enrollment of veterans. Obtains certification from the national Health Eligibility Center (HEC) to become a NEST trainer. Ensures that enrollment and eligibility all staff at the medical center are fully compliant with the training regulations required for VES access and usage. Delivers hands-on classroom and virtual training on the usage of all systems utilized by staff in this section through a standardized auditing mechanism. Conducts extensive reviews and analysis of data from diverse sources, assembles information, and develops reports or presentations. Writes reports that accurately depict an entity's level of compliance with internal and external regulations and polices. Evaluates control systems and develops constructive recommendations for improvements and prepares complete reports of the audit including availability of supplementary documentation to support findings that may be controversial and require program modification. Ensures that all required consult audits are completed by the required deadlines, to include both appointment audits and telephone audits. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 7:30am-4:00pm Telework: VA supports the use of telework as a way to help attract and retain talented individuals in public service, increase worker productivity, and better prepare the agency to operate during emergencies. This position may be authorized for telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Program Specialist/PD231420 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized PCS Appraised Value Offer (AVO): Not Authorized Requirements 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, 11/25/2024. 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-09 position, you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-07. 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-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: skill in applying analytical and evaluative techniques to the identification and resolution of issues or problems as they are related to consult management and audits, workload, compliance with VHA guidelines, and accurate data capture; Knowledge of Hospital goals and objectives and expert knowledge of scheduling directives and provisions related to access to care, and computer-based medical systems to perform systematic reviews of information and data, run specialized reports, ensure competency of scheduling processes, ADT, and enrollment standards, provide appropriate supervisors with recommendations for performance improvement, and tailor training to specific needs; Knowledge and ability to write effective and clear Standard Operating Procedures pertaining to materials being taught to staff. 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 OR LL.B. or J.D., if related TRANSCRIPTS 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. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Customer Service Flexibility Teaches Others 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: Work is mainly sedentary with little need for physical exertion. 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/. 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: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. 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: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/. Additional Information 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. If you are unable to apply online or need an alternate method to submit documents, please reach out to the Agency Contact listed in this Job Opportunity Announcement. 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.