Program Specialist

OUR MISSION: To fulfill President Lincoln's promise "To care for those who have served in our nation's military and for their families, caregivers, and survivors" - by serving and honoring the men and women who are America's Veterans. How would you like to become a part of a team providing compassionate whole health care to Veterans?

Qualifications:

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 04/30/2026.

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-7 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Participates with section supervisors in reviewing office needs, plans, and goals to develop budget data and justification for review and approval, communicate verbally and in writing with a variety of people from different backgrounds and different levels of understanding; to include clerical, technical, administrative, and professional (medical and non-medical) people at all levels in the agency, to explain, obtain, and adhere to the objective of patient care, responsible for developing and maintaining computerized information and for providing outputs and interpretation to appropriate staff. OR,
• Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have:
  • GS-9: 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.
• Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education beyond bachelors degree.

GS-11:

• Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-7 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Discusses, investigates, and responds to associated employee grievances and dissatisfactions in order to resolve conflicts, assists managers and staff in projecting staffing needs, writing position descriptions/functional statements, developing job analyses, preparing performance plans and appraisals, drafting disciplinary and adverse actions, ensures quality assurance issues pertaining to the service are documented and appropriate follow-up action occurs regarding any problem or recommendation found, participates with section supervisors in reviewing office needs, plans, and goals to develop budget data and justification for review and approval. OR,
• Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have:
  • GS-11: Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree, or 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such degree, or LL.M., if related.
• Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education. Only graduate education in excess of the amount required for the next lower grade level may be used to qualify applicants for positions at grades GS-9 and GS-11.

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:

The Program Specialist reports directly to the Chief, Office of Community Care (OCC) who reports to the Deputy Chief of staff at the Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans' Hospital. The OCC Service consists of 66.0 FTEE including nurses, advanced medical support assistants, medical support assistants and a customer service specialist. The purpose of this position is to provide administrative support to the OCC program, directing and coordinating the administrative, operational, and planning activities within the service. The Program Specialist position is responsible for the administrative management of the Service with final authority resting with the Chief. Incumbent serves as the focal point and resource person responsible for the development, implementation, evaluation, interpretation, revision, and necessary corrective action of all applicable administrative policies, functions, activities, operations, and programs for OCC. The primary functions of this position involve providing administrative support to the Chief of OCC as warranted, participating with the Chief in strategic planning; creating and maintaining statistical data for decision-making purpose; developing and monitoring cost effective programs; developing administrative/business/clinical processes, methods, and tools to systematicallyevaluate program activities and effectiveness.Duties include, but are not limited to:

• Coordinate's activities, performs analytical trending and evaluative work associated with OCC such as consults, authorizations, payments, scheduling, VSSC, Community Care contracts.
• Reviews outgoing correspondence under the supervision of the Chief for determination of accuracy of information, proper composition, proper format, and whether such correspondence conforms to current VA polices, instructions and regulations, as well as the viewpoint of the Chief.
• Develops both long and short-range policies and plans for the organization by coordinating the medical administration needs of the organization(s) for which accountable.
• Develops the need for and maintains an awareness of available resources, and makes recommendations regarding needs, distribution, or redistribution of these resources.
• Gathers and analyzes budget needs of the Medical Center in relation to the Service Line and performs all phases of budgeting within administrative requirements.
• Develops monthly and quarterly cost ceilings while maintaining running control of funds to ensure that accounts are within authorized levels.
• Discusses, investigates, and responds to associated employee grievances and dissatisfactions in order to resolve conflicts.
• Assists managers and staff in projecting staffing needs, writing position descriptions/functional statements, developing job analyses, preparing performance plans and appraisals, drafting disciplinary and adverse actions.

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: 7:30am-4:00pm, Monday-Friday
Telework: This position may be authorized for telework.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Program Specialist/PD090930
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized
Financial Disclosure: Not Required

Salary : $61,722