This position is in the VHA Privacy Program, Information Access & Privacy Office of the Health Information Governance (HIG) Division within the Office of Health Informatics. The purpose of the VHA Privacy Program is to provide policy, guidance, and assistance to the field in all matters related to the Privacy Act, Health Information Privacy Authorization Act (HIPAA), and associated statutes, legislation, and guidelines.

Duties

Major duties include but are not limited to: Works with the VHA Chief Privacy Officer and the VHA Privacy Operations Officer and is responsible for assisting in VHA's compliance with the Privacy Act, HIPAA, associated statutes and related legislation, and implementation requirements and guidance of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Department of Justice (DOJ). Utilizes and maintains a comprehensive knowledge of the Privacy Act, HIPAA and VA, VHA and DOJ privacy enforcing regulations and policy; OMB guidance and other areas of administrative, information law. Assists with researching or reviewing VHA comments on or amendment to proposed legislation and guidance related to Privacy Act, HIPAA, computer matching, and VA confidentiality matters, as proposed by other agencies, primarily OMB, DOJ, and the Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR). Interacts with VHA medical and health care facility Privacy Officers and VHA Program Office Privacy Officers using available communication resources to assist them in managing local programs that are compliant with the Privacy Act, HIPAA, OMB guidance, and VA /VHA policies. Serves with the VHA Chief Privacy Officer and the VHA Privacy Operations Officer as the privacy advocate for citizens, especially for those citizens who make up the VHA customer base for privacy issues (e.g., patients, employees). Aggressively seeks opportunities to demonstrate the VHA Privacy Program's support to this advocacy role. Serves as a SME for business associate agreements, system of records notices, contract security reviews related to VA sensitive information (PII and PHI). Conducts training sessions and presentations for appropriate VHA personnel involved in Privacy related matters in conjunction with other VA program offices or independently as resources allow. Conducts complex privacy reviews and determinations related to personally-identifiable information and/or protected health information. Assists in the research, collection of data on, and preparation of periodic Privacy reports for VHA programs, for inclusion in the Agency report to Congress. Serves on several working groups when Privacy expertise is required. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 8:00 AM-4:30 PM Telework: Available (Applicant is required on site at least 50% of work schedule per pay period) Remote: This is not a remote position. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Government Information Specialist/PD77168A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized 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, 09/25/2024. 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 by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-13 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-12. 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. Selective Factor: This position includes a selective factor (skill, knowledge, ability, or other worker characteristic basic to - and essential for - satisfactory performance of the job). Selective factors are a prerequisite to appointment and represent minimum requirements for a position. Applicants who do not meet them are ineligible for further consideration. The selective factors for this position are: Experience administering (processing/reviewing/analyzing) requests under the Privacy Act of 1974. Experience interpreting and utilizing System of Records. Experience conducting complex privacy reviews and determinations related to personally-identifiable information (PII) and/or protected health information (PHI). You may qualify based on your experience as described below: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-12 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Completing Freedom of Information Act/Privacy Act requests in compliance with regulations; system of records; complex privacy reviews and determinations. Utilizes - through frequent work on policy, requests, proposals, and briefings - comprehensive knowledge of the Privacy Act, HIPAA and VA, VHA and DOJ privacy enforcing regulations; OMB guidance and other areas of administrative, information law. Preferred experience: Experience as a Privacy Officer in the GS-0306, Government Information Specialist series You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Compliance Planning and Evaluating Teaching Others Critical Thinking Stakeholder Management 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 performed in a virtual office setting. The employee will be expected to work beyond normal duty hours on occasion. The incumbent must be willing to participate in local and national travel. This will require that the incumbent be amenable to various periods and frequency of travel and to working effectively in unfamiliar surroundings. The incumbent must also be able to trouble shoot computer issues and know what to do if computer access is disturbed for a period of time. 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.

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 VHA Service Center - 1 6100 Oak Tree Boulevard Independence, OH 44131 US
• Name: VHA National Recruitment Center
• Phone: (844)456-5208
• Email: [email protected]