The primary purpose of this position is to develop an infrastructure for cultural change as the VHA advances along the journey to full implementation of High Reliability and supporting Executive Leadership. This position supports leadership in planning, implementing, and monitoring activities to ensure effective leadership engagement, facilitate a robust patient safety program, drive a culture of safety within the organization, and institute and sustain continuous process improvement efforts.

Duties

The primary responsibility is to provide executive program oversight, coordination and leadership in Just Culture, high-functioning clinical and non-clinical teams leading to a High Reliability health care system. The incumbent serves as the chief consultant to the Medical Center Director and Quality Manager in high reliability and coordination of quality, safety, and systems redesign for operations supporting High Reliability strategy and execution. Incumbent manages all aspects of the program and is responsible to collaborate directly with executive facility leadership, non-clinical and clinical services, the VISN and the National High Reliability Workgroup on the development, implementation and sustainment of a High Reliability processes and outcomes. Executive Consultation and Program Oversight (50%) The incumbent serves as project manager for the executive management team with primary duties focused on high reliability initiatives and projects across clinical and non-clinical services. The incumbent performs duties directly contributing to the management of the healthcare delivery system by analyzing performance and developing improvement policies, procedures and methods aimed at preventing harm. Provides leadership for organizational design and cultural change, serving as an expert for Root Cause Analysis, Crew Resource Management and Clinical Team Training assuring continued readiness for internal or external accreditation reviews. The work includes coordinating and assisting in the preparation of policies related to high-quality health care delivery and providing expert consultation and advisory services to executive leaders in sustaining a High Reliability Organization. Designs, coordinates, conducts, and directs studies, using continuous improvement tools and concepts to assist in analyzing complex issues that may adversely affect health care delivery systems and patient care outcomes. Collaborates across multiple stakeholder groups to evaluate a service's practices/standards against national benchmarks then develops and implements plan to improve the healthcare delivery system. Researches, develops, and presents educational programs for clinical and non-clinical services regarding improving quality outcomes and continuous improvement of processes. Program Management (50%) Coordinates and evaluates process and quality improvement strategies for clinical and non-clinical services in the management of High Reliability and Just Culture. Establishes and sustains effective process improvement systems to facilitate comparability in the quality and timeliness of the health care delivery system's processes leading to Zero Harm. Facilitates the VHA patient care mission by ensuring cost effective quality patient care is provided within the framework of established policy, standards of care, standards of practice and regulatory requirements. Analyzes data from a variety of sources to include, but not limited to, balanced scorecard metrics, sentinel event statistics, reporting systems and Service Line key performance indicators. Maintains data and prepares reports for management; identifies problems, recommends, and tracks corrective actions; and develops reporting procedures and measurements. The purpose of studies is to identify systemic problems and/or improvement opportunities and assist the organization in meeting or exceeding published national standards. Incumbent utilizes study results to identify and set short- and long-range plans aimed at achieving goals. Designs, modifies, and implements systems compatible with professional standards, the mission, and the goals of the organization to improve the cost-effective use of resources. Uses resources to improve safety, the delivery of care and the overall patient experience. Performs other related duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 8:00am-4:30pm Position Description Title/PD#: Health System Specialist (High Reliability Officer)/PD49254O Physical Requirements: No special physical exertion is required. The work is primarily performed while sitting though some work may require periods of standing. The regular and recurring work of the position involves sitting at a desk, conferences, meetings, etc., and occasional visits to activity work sites/CBOC's. Occasionally incumbent is required to carry light objects, such as files, mail, supplies and papers. 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

Requirements

• You must be a U.S. citizen to apply for this job
• Subject to a background/suitability investigation
• May serve a probationary period
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• A complete application package; Resume, Transcripts, etc.
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement. 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 grade level: One year of specialized experience (equivalent to the GS-11 grade level in the federal service); experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA's) and other characteristics to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled, in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience includes: Progressively responsible analytical or administrative, or clinical management or supervisory experience in the health care field. This work may have been performed in an operating health care facility or a higher organizational echelon with advisory or directional authority over such facilities. Work must have involved a close working relationship with facility managers and analysis and/or coordination of administrative, clinical, or other service activities, and provided knowledge of the following: Missions, organizations, programs, and requirements of health care delivery systems; Regulations and standards of various regulatory and credentialing groups; and Government-wide, agency, and facility systems and requirements in various administrative areas such as budget, personnel, and procurement. Experience in leading group activities, coaching, and mentoring. Demonstrates understanding of business process flow. Knowledge of managed health care data concepts and tools. Ability to analyze and synthesize, complex data from a wide variety of sources. Ability to facilitate, and communicate effectively orally, graphically and in writing, prepare and present high-quality communication products. There is no educational substitution for the GS-12 level. 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.

Education

This job does not have an education qualification requirement.

Contacts

• Address Samuel S Stratton VA Medical Center - Albany 113 Holland Ave Albany, NY 12208 US
• Name: Sarah Cassidy
• Email: [email protected]