The Integrity and Compliance Officer (ICO) and Integrated Ethics Program Officer (IEPO) position is located within the Finger Lakes VA Medical Center (Canandaigua or Bath) in the Office of the Director. The primary purpose of the position is to provide leadership, strategic direction, and oversight of the compliance activities for the medical facility and to ensure a standardized and effective approach to compliance using the compliance framework, Compliance and Integrity standards.

Duties

Integrity and Compliance Program Administration (70% of the position) Responsible for developing, recommending, and implementing Integrity and Compliance program goals for the operational units within the local healthcare system. Assists the front-line operational units in developing their Integrity and Compliance activities using the compliance framework established by national program guidance and policy. Develops detailed plans, tasks, milestone dates and schedules to ensure proper sequencing of events and tracking of processes and costs throughout the life cycle of the programs/projects. Reviews programs/projects to determine how they can be accomplished with the least disruption to workers and mission operations and that directions and schedules are accomplished in a timely manner. Provides local healthcare system and VISN senior executives and executive committees regular reporting on the implementation and effectiveness of the local healthcare system's Integrity and Compliance program and must communicate timely on an ad hoc basis any urgent and significant compliance or business integrity issues. Participates in regular information planning sessions, maintains productive interaction with staff, reports on the status and progress of work accomplished to date, and monitors work in progress. Exercises oversight of the implementation of the Integrity and Compliance program within the local healthcare system to ensure that it is effective. Establishes program objectives and units of measure for determining when objectives have been met; alerts the local healthcare system's leadership of any material noncompliant or unethical activity detected. Implements national Integrity and Compliance controls, solutions, and programs at the local health care system. Develops and implements internal controls and solutions in partnership with risk owners to manage and mitigate key risks that may adversely impact local healthcare system objectives. Drafts guidance and direction regarding program management and reporting. Plans and initiates a comprehensive evaluation system for the review and analysis of proposed costs, program development, and performance. Participates in meetings with internal staff and representative operational units within the local healthcare system to determine compliance program status, major milestones, and coordination of each to detect in advance potential slippage or increased costs; and to ascertain appropriate action required to maintain or improve program or project schedules. Takes actions necessary to correct any identified problem areas. Responsible for understanding the local strategy, local needs, and risks of the local healthcare system, developing close working relationships with other members of senior management and analyzing and prioritizing local risks by working closely with senior management to develop a proactive strategy to mitigate compliance risks. Performs other related duties as assigned. Integrated Ethics Program Administration (30% of the position) Reports on Health Care Ethics Programming to the VA Medical Center Director, and Executive Leadership Team. Establishes effective communication mechanisms and relationships between the IE program and other facility programs, offices, and leaders throughout the facility and builds visibility and support for Health Care Ethics in the facility and networks externally. Provides staff education about Health Care Ethics to leaders and staff at all levels in the organization and presents information at the New Employee Orientation. Guides staff in questions pertaining to ethical decisions or actions and refers issues to the NCEHC Regional Team, NCEHC National Team, and/or the Office of General Council, Ethics Specialty Team (OGC EST) as necessary. Acts as the local facility liaison to the VISN 2 Health Care Ethics Program, the NCEHC Regional Team, NCEHC National Team. Maintains the performance of the program. Performs other related duties as assigned. Work Schedule: 8:00AM-4:30PM, M-F Telework: Not available. Position Description Title/PD#: Health System Specialist, PD # 37020-O Physical Requirements: The work is primarily sedentary, although some slight physical effort may be required when visiting different sections of the healthcare system for meetings or fact-finding. Work Environment: The work is performed in an administrative office setting within a local healthcare system. In the course of performing duties, employee may have to visit clinical portions of the organization observing appropriate healthcare rules. May require occasional travel.

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 11/15/2023. 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. For a GS-12 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-11. 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 as described below: GS-12 Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Knowledge of high reliability theories, principles, concepts, and functions in order to provide the necessary guidance to Executive Leadership, Service Chiefs, the Compliance Committee, Ethics Consultation Coordinator, Ethics Consultants, employees and other stakeholders, including guidance that may be contradictory to current popular practices and organizational behavior. Skill in ethical and legal leadership conduct in order to serve as a role model for the local health care system. Knowledge of project concepts, practices, and scoping; data collection techniques; sampling methodologies; applying qualitative and quantitative analysis; and documentation methods in order to conduct compliance related activities to include report writing and communication of findings to executive leadership and senior management. Knowledge of auditing standards, procedures, techniques and audit tools in order to perform audits and monitor compliance areas to ensure compliance with laws, regulations and policies and provide organizational leadership with reasonable assurance that established goals and objectives are being met. NOTE: Your experience and skills must be detailed in your resume to receive full credit. Selecting Placement Factor: This position includes a skill, knowledge, ability or other worker characteristic basic to -and essential for- satisfactory performance of the job. Selective Placement Factors are a prerequisite to appointment and represent minimum requirements for a position. Applicants who do not meet it are ineligible for further consideration. Evidence of the Selective Placement Factor must be reflected in your resume. The Selective Placement Factor for this position is: Experience in developing, recommending, and implementing Integrity and Compliance program goals for the operational units within a local healthcare system. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Analysis and Problem SolvingCompliance InspectionTechnical Competence 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. 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

There is no educational substitution at this grade level.

Contacts

• Address Canandaigua VA Medical Center 400 Fort Hill Ave Canandaigua, NY 14424 US
• Name: Erika Weisbrod
• Phone: 680-216-8337
• Email: [email protected]