Summary The Health Administrative Specialist on Duty (HOD) is a facility-wide position, located in the Office of the Chief, Health Administration Service (HAS), or Business Office (BO), or Medical Administration Service (MAS), or similarly named and organized service; the position has both the authority and responsibility to represent both the Medical Center Director and the Chief, HAS on all administrative matters occurring when assigned to other than a normal tour of duty. Responsibilities Duties include, but may not be limited to the following: Delegated full authority and responsibility to exercise the Medical Center Director's prerogative in medical administrative matters and issues that may arise. Represents management in (non-policy making) administrative matters. Represents management in matters pertaining to the lawful retention of veterans in the VAMC. Maintains continuity of functions and provides full medical administrative support during other than normal tours of duty to clinical and administrative medical center staff. Responsible for achieving management objectives and supporting the decision of management in carrying out duties. Provides technical guidance necessary to meet procedural, legal, and administrative requirements relating to the care and treatment of patients to achieve optimum use of available resources. Processes administrative issues surrounding beneficiary death, seriously ill cases, elopements, suicides, assaults, deaths on arrival (DOAs), homicides, code blue, cost recovery matters, and facility or community disasters, etc. Assists in responding to emergencies, determines priorities and nature of action to be taken. Assists with computer issues during non-business hours. Maintains good public and media relations as instructed and trained by the Public Affairs Officer until the designated employee arrives. Conducts analytical studies on operational processes, issue topics, or related special projects as assigned. Reviews data and information for trends, problem areas, and makes recommendations to management to resolve issues. Performs other duties as assigned. 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: Evenings Nights Rotating Weekends and Holidays Virtual: This is not a virtual position Position Description/PD#: Medical Admin Specialist/PD99385S 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, 10/30/2024. 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-7 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-05 and For a GS-9 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-7. 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: In addition to the time in grade requirements listed above, the below education/experience qualification requirements must be met at the grade in which you are applying. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: GS-07: 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. For the GS-07, you must have 52 weeks at the GS-05.Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: General knowledge of basic principles and practices applicable to VA policy and regulations. Reviewing data and information for trends, problem areas, and makes recommendations to management to resolve issues. Ability to cope with wide variety of problems and to resolve them quickly and decisively; and explain and organize complex issues in writing. Coordinates non-routine contacts received at the Medical Center after hours. Provides full administrative support during other than normal tour of duty to clinical and administrative staff. Provides technical guidance necessary to meet procedural, legal, and administrative requirements relating to care and treatment of patients. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the experience required for the GS-07 level. 1 full year of graduate level education or, Superior academic achievement Education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university and must demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of this position. NOTE: Transcripts must be submitted with your application materials. Education cannot be credited without documentation (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 beyond one year of graduate education. (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED). GS-09: 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. For the GS-09, you must have 52 weeks at the GS-07. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Perform medical-legal administration functions of a comprehensive medical center; Knowledge of all aspects of the Medical Administration Service programs and how they interrelate to all other Medical Center services and programs; Interpret laws, regulations, policies, and guidelines governing health care delivery systems (i.e. eligibility for medical benefits, processing of applications, beneficiary travel, patient transfers, inter-facility consults; Established effective working relationships that contributed to the attainment of the organization's goals; Communicate both orally and in writing with health care professionals, other medical center personnel and outside constituents; Apply Federal laws and other regulations to priorities of care, patient processing, entitlements, clinical/admission procedures and other appropriate patient processing activities; Investigate and obtain preliminary data involving injuries of patients or employees or employee/patient complaints and take immediate action to oversee the proper handling of all non-medical emergencies; Coordinate administrative matters that arise within a medical center/hospital on matters relating to personnel on duty during irregular hours for proper actions, emergency repairs, call-in personnel for emergency repairs or patient care emergency reasons; Identify and analyze complex problems or situations with a range of variables; Explain and organize complex issue in writing, complete projects; studies; narrative and statistical reports; and review in a through accurate and timely manner. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the experience required for the GS-09 level. 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. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Accountability Administration and Management Communications Interpersonal Skills Problem Solving 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 requires both sitting and standing, as well as, frequent walking throughout the Medical Center. The position requires considerable writing, reading, and computer activities. 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 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.