Program Applications Specialist

This position is located in the Office of the Chief in Health Administration Service at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System (GLA). The incumbent serves as the integrator coordinating the business process and software functions. This position provides continuous business oversight and effects programmatic changes for a variety of software programs integral to the overall administration and operations of the business at the facility level.

Qualifications:

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 04/27/2026.

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-09 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-07. For a GS-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-09. 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 s described below:

• 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. Examples of Specialized Experience would typically include, but are not limited to: using VA software to create entry transactions on simple and sophisticated data needs; understanding VA policies, VA directives, operating procedures, information flow and other prevailing automated practices. 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. 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 2 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education.

• 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, coordination, planning, implementation, and training for service and facility staff in business and functional areas for various information technology VISTA packages; providing training and troubleshooting for clinical and administrative staff in business processes and associated supporting software; developing and presenting both formal lectures and on-the-job sessions. . 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 3 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.M., if related 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 3 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education.

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/.

Responsibilities:

Duties include but are not limited to:

• Coordination, planning, implementation, and training for service and facility staff in business and functional areas for various information technology VISTA packages, e.g. ADT (Admissions/Discharge/Transfer); Scheduling; PTF (Patient Treatment File); Medical Record Tracking; Fee Basis; POX (Patient Data Exchange); HINQ (Hospital Inquiry); AMIEII/IBBA (Intranet BDN/BIRLS Access); 18 (Integrated Billing); AMIE (Automated Medical Information Exchange); Discharge Summary; PCE (Patient Care Encounter and Visit Tracking); ACRP (Ambulatory Care Reporting); Network Health Exchange; AICS (Automated Information Collection System); KLF Menu; CIRN (Clinical Information Resource Network);TIU (Text Integration Utilities); EWL (Electronic Wait List), Beneficiary Travel V 1.0; Incomplete Record Tracking V 1.0; Claims Manager - VISTA; EAS (Electronic Application Systems) V1 .O; and additional business office programs as added.
• Provides training and troubleshooting for clinical and administrative staff in business processes and associated supporting software.
• Provides training for individual users on daily operational tasks and trains new users.
• Trains service employees and facility employees in the use of PIMS programs, such as scheduling, to ensure that data is entered correctly and optimizes clinic utilization.
• Development and presentation of both formal lectures and on-the-job sessions to those employees who will be entering, changing and extracting data.
• Trains users in resolving minor processing and equipment problems. The incumbent maintains reference material for the service.
• Serves as the functional "expert" for matters relating to the Patient Information Management System (PIMS) core package.
• Plans initiatives for hardware and software needs for the service.
• Preparation and implementation of the business contingency plans for system failure specifically addressing manual system backup plans addressing how day to day business will be conducted for long and short-term outages.
• Determining the physical and data security needs for the service areas and implements necessary improvements.
• Establishes administrative qualitative standards; the objective of which is intended to improve programs, facilities and operations.
• Maintains records, prepares project administrative and statistical reports, assures compliance with review process, and monitors compliance with program requirements.

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 - Friday 8:00am - 4:30pm
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Program Applications Specialist/PD13237A
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Salary : $71,957