The Program Applications Specialist position will serve in the The Health Administration Service (HAS) at the VA Puget Sound in Seattle, WA. The Health Administration Service (HAS) core mission at VA Puget Sound Health Care System (VAPSHCS) is to provide administration of various federal laws, regulations, policies and procedures that permit Veterans to obtain health care through the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Duties

Duties for the position include but are not limited to: You will provide business oversight for a variety of software programs. You will coordinate and train business and functional areas for various information technology VISTA packages. You will provide training and troubleshooting for clinical and administrative staff in business processes and associated supporting software. You will assure all service information technology equipment is operational and functions. You will coordinate replacement/installation of equipment with OI&T. You will provide testing of new options and software versions prior to implementation. You will confirm that software is working according to specifications. You will provide staff support to OI&T by providing information and analysis of software functions within the service. You will be responsible for designating and preparing data management analysis, special studies, and reports for use by top management. You will coordinate data collection and analysis and uses knowledge of System Redesign principles to determine organization performance. 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 Telework: Ad-Hoc only authorized. 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 Applications Specialist/PD40652A and PD40651A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized. Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized. PCS Appraised Value Offer (AVO): Not Authorized. Financial Disclosure Report: Not required.

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by 30 days of the closing date of this announcement, 09/06/2023. 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. 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. For a GS-07 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-05. For a GS-09 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-07. 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. Test Requirement: ACWA testing is required at GS-7 grade level. (Note that references to "ACWA," the Administrative Careers with America examinations, pertain only to positions that meet the ACWA criteria). You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: GS-7 Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-5, that includes performing the following duties: overseeing and coordinating a variety of software programs integral to the operation of programs. Examples of Specialized Experience may include coordinating the process with software functions; supporting clinic grid capacity, applying fact-finding approaches and continuous quality improvement mechanisms; providing factual data on various subjects; installing software and evaluating applications to ensure compatibility; setting up parameters for hardware and software operations; troubleshooting to identify problems and facilitate corrections; extracting and compiling data from large databases such as those used for large multi-facility online patient medical records systems or similar databases; utilizing data management applications such as Microsoft Access or Excel; experience in refining data and creating reports. GS-9 Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-7, that includes performing the following duties: understanding and implementing data processing documentation procedures, administration operations, clinic grid capacity, workload capture and reimbursement to effectively maximize the capture of data using the applicable technology or software package. Examples of Specialized experience may include implementation of System Redesign principles to determine organization performance; writing updates to end-user manuals, utilizing structured analysis and automated design methodologies to assist with recommendations on plans, proposals or designs to improve efficient and productivity; tracking information for cost analysis, workload, trend analysis, efficiency, effectiveness, and productivity. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: AccountabilityRequirements AnalysisSystems ThinkingTechnical CompetenceTechnical 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: Work is mostly sedentary, but does require some walking and standing for a few minutes at a time several times a day processing paperwork, filing, etc. Requires the ability to move from one geographic location of the facility to another. Minor lifting of 5 lbs or less, carrying files, paper supplies and manuals. Use of a computer keyboard and telephone keypad. 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

• GS-7 Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have one full year of graduate level education or a Bachelor's degree with superior academic achievement. This education must have equipped you with the knowledge, skills and abilities to perform the duties of the position at this grade level and is in a field directly related to the position. (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED)

OR

• GS-7 Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have a combination of the specialist experience and education as described above. (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED)

• GS-9 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 (post-bachelors), or 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.B. or J.D., if related. This education must have equipped you with the knowledge, skills and abilities to perform the duties of the position at this grade level and is in a field directly related to the position. (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED)

OR

• GS-9 Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have a combination of the specialist experience and education. To qualify based on a combination of specialized experience and education, you must have a combination of specialized experience as described in A above and education as described in B above, such that the percentage of required experience plus the percentage of required education equals 100%. Note, this is computed by first determining your total qualifying experience as a percentage of the experience required for the grade level; then determining your education as a percentage of the education required for the grade level; and then adding the two percentages. The total percentages must equal at least 100 percent to qualify. For graduate education, 18 semester hours should be considered as satisfying the 1 year of full-time study requirement, unless otherwise determined by the accredited school. (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED)

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: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html.

Contacts

• Address VA Puget Sound Health Care System 1660 South Columbian Way Seattle, WA 98108 US
• Name: Maria Dela Cruz
• Phone: 253-582-8440 X75434
• Email: [email protected]