This position is located in the James E. Van Zandt VA Medical Center's, Surgical Service, Ambulatory Surgery Clinic, Specialty Clinics to include Dental Service. The incumbent collaborates with other members of the service and medical center as indicated to fully support and assure the success of the service administrative activities and programs. Responsibilities include programs related to leave administration, payroll, onboarding, training, credentialing and New Employee Orientation.

Duties

The Program Support Assistant will provide support for the following positions/programs, including but, not limited to: Service Chief, Assistant chief, Optometry, Section Chief, Dental, Section Chief, Podiatry and Administrative Officer. Responsible for administrative responsibilities in a service line of roughly 71 individuals at the present time (combination of Altoona VA employees, Fee Basis contractors and Western Market collaboration with Pittsburgh VAMC practitioners) and growing rather quickly as well as expanding to the main facility and five Community Based Outpatient Clinics. Major duties include, but may not be limited to: Assists with the formulation of service policies and procedures, directives, and any other unspecified assignments. Policies result from in-depth studies, specific recommendations coordinated committee reports and studies opinions and observations Follows up on any deficiencies and reports on corrective actions and responding to patient advocate PATS and resolving these issues Assists in preparing, performance measure and strategic objective reports to be inputted into local and VISN reports Works closely with Nursing for Operating Room (OR) coverage and clinic coverages, Sterile Processing for instruments and equipment, Housekeeping for appropriate staff to maintain the cleanliness of our OR and disinfecting to adhere to VAMC policies Managing Track Core for our implants for the services we provide Researches, collects, organizes and prepares data related to the service performance measures, monitors and assists other initiatives Responds to telephonic and written inquiries and will assure that critical calls and correspondence are forwarded appropriately. This includes telephone calls from patients, caregivers, and other medical providers and able to transfer the calls and notify the appropriate staff members of the calls and their urgency Independently screens all outgoing correspondence for conformance with regulations and station policy, including spelling, grammar, capitalization, punctuation, and format Reads all correspondence and highlights information with is of importance to the department Prepares reports that enable users to identify potential issues, needs and opportunities for improvement, and assures that reports are accurate structured in a user-friendly format and communicated in a timely manner Performs other duties as required. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00am - 4:30pm Telework: Ad-hoc only Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Program Support Assistant / PD015810 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not approved Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 11/30/2023. 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-06 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-05. 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-06 Specialized Experience: You must have one (1) year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-05 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to assisting with the formulation of service policies and procedures, directives, and any other unspecified assignments; collecting, compiling, and tracking statistical information in support of program operations; and researching, collecting, organizing, and preparing data related to the service performance measures. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Administration and ManagementAnalysis and Problem SolvingClerical 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 primarily sedentary. It occasionally requires carrying of light objects such as files, books and papers; some walking standing and bending. No special physical qualifications are required. Travel to other buildings on the grounds, in sometimes inclement weather may be required. Working in a health care environment carries with it some inherent risks. The employee must be continually alert, sensitive to the needs of others, in control of his/her emotions, using tact and diplomacy, and be able to respond appropriately to a variety of demands. 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 James E Van Zandt VA Medical Center 2907 Pleasant Valley Boulevard Altoona, PA 16602 US
• Name: Ayisha Deloatch
• Phone: (352) 277-7741
• Email: [email protected]