The purpose of the position is to manage the day-to-day business of the Decedent Affairs Program. The incumbent is responsible to ensure local policy and procedures pertaining to patients who expire while receiving Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)-authorized care and to ensure that Veterans and their next-of-kin receive care and services in a respectful, compassionate, and dignified manner in accordance with VA (VBA, VHA, and NCA), state and local law and regulations.

Duties

Program Administration Incumbent is the Decedent Affairs Officer for the health care system. Incumbent reviews daily death notifications. For Veterans who died at the Portland hospital or Vancouver Community Living Center, incumbent follows up with the unit where the Veteran died and assists in having the death certificate completed by the medical provider. Incumbent checks with Administrative Officer of the Day (AOD) for death certificates which may have been sent to the Emergency Care Unit (ECU) overnight and retrieves those death certificates. Develops local program policies and procedures to ensure that quality provisions are planned, developed, and implemented to identify, prevent, and correct unsatisfactory conditions and elements which influence the correctness and responsiveness of transactions and services. Develops local policy guidance, motivational materials, and information to facilitate participation in important program initiatives. Decedent Services Incumbent greets Veteran next of kin/surrogate decision maker and significant others who present to the office for decedent affairs information and assistance. Incumbent maintains close working relationships with Veteran Benefits Administration representatives and National Cemetery Administration representatives and serves as the primary point of contact for coordination of services between these three federal agencies - VHA, VBA, and NCA - as it concerns matters integral to decedent affairs. Incumbent keeps up to date on VBA and NCA policy and procedures and ensures VAPORHCS Decedent Affairs program follows applicable VA rules and regulations. Data Management and Analysis Investigates and analyzes adverse quality trends or conditions and initiates corrective action. Consults with staff and managers to identify opportunities for quality improvement. Assists staff to develop and implement quality management plans. Manages and analyzes several databases for programmatic and administrative purposes. Analyzes databases from VISTA, CPRS, Decision Support System (DSS), and other local, regional, and national databases to provide information and statistics to support the administration of the Decedent Affairs Program. Utilizes software to gather specific data related to projects. Data management will be related to compliance with performance measures, clinical services and outcomes, and operational efficiency. Liaison Incumbent is the State Vital Records Liaison and Electronic Death Certificate Coordinator. Incumbent is the facility administrator for VAPORHCS's participation in the Oregon State Oregon Health Authority's Oregon Vital Events Registration System (OVERS) and the Washington State Department of Health Electronic Death Registration System (EDRS). OVERS and ODRS are secures, web-based vital records management systems used by Oregon and Washington state staff and state partners such as medical examiners, physicians, funeral directors, and hospital systems to initiate, update, and process vital records, to include death records. The facility administrator obtains and maintains credentials as an administrator with the Oregon Vital Events Registration System (OVERS) and Washington Electronic Death Registration System (EDRS) to assist in registering and supporting pronouncing providers in utilization of the electronic death certificate process. Ensures medical providers who pronounce a Veteran's death are registered in the appropriate state electronic death certificate reporting system facilitates the process of enrollment and password resets for medical certifiers. Incumbent requests state death records on a semi-annual basis to identify deceased Veterans with active medical records, provides notification to Enrollment and Primary Care, and maintains record reports. Fiscal Management Incumbent is responsible for the fiscal management of the facility Decedent Affairs Program. Incumbent assesses past budget requirements, projects future budget needs, submits budget requests, and manages program budget. Incumbent is the fund control point clerk and purchase card official. Contracting Officer Representative Plans and coordinates all phases of the acquisition, implementation, and lifecycle of assets. Conducts extensive research and analytical studies and develops specifications, justifications, and economic analysis in support of selection and acquisition actions. Prepares solicitation packages to include SOW/PWS (statements of work/performance work specifications), technical evaluation criteria, bid schedules, etc., for contracts. Work Schedule: Monday to Friday; 8:00 am - 4:30 pm Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Program Specialist (Decedent Affairs Officer)/PD217270 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 within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement, 02/16/2024. 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 within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-09. 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: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-09 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: provides education, training, and disseminates resources to staff in the hospital and CLC who provide support to Veterans at end-of-life and to their family and next of kin.; manages the clinical programming and operations administration; developing policies and procedures; and preparing reports and statistics for facility; evaluates program outcomes, ensures quality, and identifies and disseminates best practice models for the management of program resources through data collection and analysis; consults with staff and managers to identify opportunities for quality improvement. Assists staff to develop and implement quality management plans; assesses past budget requirements, projects future budget needs, submits budget requests, and manages program budget; Conducts extensive research and analytical studies and develops specifications, justifications, and economic analysis in support of selection and acquisition actions. Note: Experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month & year starting and year ending dates AND hours worked per week. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have I have successfully completed a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.M., if related. Note: Transcripts must be submitted with application. Education cannot be credited without documentation. OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education beyond. To determine if you meet combination requirements, the total percentages of your qualifying experience and percentage of education required for the grade level must equal at least 100 percent. For example, an applicant has 9 months of specialized experience equivalent to GS-9 and 2 1/2 years of creditable graduate level education. The applicant meets 75 percent of the required experience and 50 percent of the required education, i.e., the applicant has 1/2 year of graduate study beyond that required for GS-9. Therefore, the applicant exceeds the total requirement and is qualified for the position. (The applicant's first 2 years of graduate study are not qualifying for GS-11.) (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED).. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Administration and ManagementCustomer ServiceDecision Making 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: The work is mostly sedentary and is performed at a desk or computer workstation. The work requires some walking between offices, locations, and on station buildings. The work includes periodic stocking of office and program supplies. The work involves standing, bending, and lifting of up to 45 pounds. It requires dexterity and coordination to perform clerical responsibilities such as usage of computer, phone, and office equipment. 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

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: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

Contacts

• Address VA Portland Health Care System 3710 Southwest US Veterans Hospital Road Portland, OR 97239 US
• Name: Emily E Hammond
• Phone: 208-422-1000 X4835
• Email: [email protected]