Summary This position serves as a Veteran Experience Specialist, organizationally reporting to the Chief, Organizational Excellence at the Northern Arizona VA Health Care System. This position is located within a Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Health Care System (HCS) at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The mission of the VHA is to honor America's Veterans by providing exceptional health care that improves their health and well-being. Responsibilities Major duties include, but are not limited to: The incumbent must have the ability to build a culture of patient-centeredness considering the significance and impact the experience has in overall Veteran satisfaction and the perspective of the care received. The incumbent will develop and manage programs based on data and analysis collected and representative of the voice of the Veteran, family members, caregivers, survivors, and staff. Navigating multiple data sources is vital for this position and its program development and management. The incumbent will foster clear communication between patient, family members, caregivers, survivors, staff, community members and facility leadership to support positive experiences and a patient-centered culture. The incumbent will be responsible for supporting proactive patient experience training and initiatives which may include Own the Moment, patient centered care training, customer service training, New Patient Orientation, and on the topic of Veterans Experience associated initiatives. The incumbent is responsible for addressing training needs and seeking tools to support the efforts to develop, build, implement and manage programs to support a culture centered around the Patient and respect to employee needs to support such a culture. Effectively manages the facility's Veteran Experience program which may encompass other services such as transportation, customer service and patient support. Incumbent monitors and analyzes changes in patient experience and satisfaction services or those that impact such for program implementation. Conducts proactive strategic planning to improve the operation of the facility's Veteran Experience Program. Formulates new and revises existing healthcare system policies and procedures related to patient experience as necessary to support program implementation. Develops new and revised Medical Center Memoranda and Bulletins that pertain to the facility's Patient Experience Program. Coordinates and completes facility's response to recurring, non-recurring and special reports related to the Patient experience program as directed by medical center leadership. Consults with staff and managers to identify opportunities for improvement of the Patient Experience Program and customer satisfaction. Consults with program offices such as the Veterans Experience Office and seeks tools to support a Patient experience Patient centered focused facility culture. Develops additional materials for patients, family members, caregivers, survivors and staff, including fact sheets, brochures, booklets, etc., that increase communication with the target audience to support the program. Incumbent may design and implement studies, training programs and organizational strategies for identifying opportunities to improve customer service and Patient experience process quality. The individual must demonstrate leadership, experience, and creative approaches to managing practices to support positive Veteran experiences at the local facility. The incumbent will work with services, program offices and their coordinators, supervisors, service chiefs and others to plan programs and tools as well as the implementation and evaluation of those efforts for reactive and proactive service recovery needs and to support a general culture of patient-centeredness. The incumbent is responsible for developing strategic plans related to veteran experiences and ensuring directives are met in preparing annual and cyclic planning documents for the patient experience program within the medical center. The incumbent may participate in research around the efficacy of current existing systems and processes identified in impacting the patient experience for considering or designing/planning opportunities to improve the experience. The incumbent collaborates with other Patient Experience professionals, including the VISN Patient Experience Officer, the Veterans Experience Office (VEO) and other national program offices while working closely with the local staff and stakeholders in all areas/services to ensure their priorities and interests are represented in patient experience and patient centered initiatives. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m./8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. work schedule, but work schedule may be adjusted to meet the needs of the service. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Program Specialist (Veteran Experience Officer)/PD142720 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required 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) Qualifications To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 10/28/2024. 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-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: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-9 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Experience with the following systems: The Patient Advocate Tracking System (PATS), Veteran Signals, Strategic Analytics for Improvement and Learning (SAIL), Survey of Healthcare Experience of Patients (SHEP), and the All Employee Survey (AES); planning, organization, development, direction, and evaluation of the Medical Center and healthcare system operations as they relate to Veteran Experience; monitor and analyze changes and/or trends of a veteran program and/or services; providing assistance in the oversight, management, and/or coordination of a veteran program and/or services; performing personnel management and administration responsibilities for an organization with varied functions and activities; applying knowledge of policies, regulations, and guidelines pertaining to the effective operation of a program, coordinating activities; and establishing and maintaining effective working relationships with different organization at all levels. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have completed a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree, or 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree, or an LL.M. 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 master's or equivalent graduate education. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Configuration Management Data Systems Decision Making Strategic Thinking 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 regular and recurring work of this position is sedentary in nature and involves sitting at a desk, conferences, meetings, etc., and visits to facility work sites. Occasional use of automobile and public conveyances may be required. 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 Receiving Service Credit or 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. Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior work experience or military service experience. 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. 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 http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/. 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.