Health System Specialist (Innovation Specialist)
Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration
Summary The incumbent serves as a Health System Specialist (Innovation Specialist) in the Office of the Director, Salisbury VA Medical Center. The incumbent is responsible for leading, coordinating, and facilitating the Facility in the design and implementation of innovation initiatives. The position is essential to ensure the appropriate investment in innovation and is an integral part of the leadership team, working across the Medical Center, National program and staff offices to promote innovation. Responsibilities The position works with leadership and staff to identify innovation opportunities, enhance innovation-related skills and competencies among employees, and build strategic partnership with internal, external, and community stakeholders to develop and implement innovations. Duties include, but may not be limited to the following: Incumbent works with relevant clinical and administrative chiefs and staff members to develop and share innovation-driven strategic plans for programs, services, and/or the facility. Incumbents managerial duties and responsibilities involve decisions which have a direct and substantial effect on the organization and its programs. Solicits innovative ideas and applications for funding under assistance awards. Manages employee submission of innovation projects to VHA Innovators Network Innovation Accelerator program through the Spark-Seed-Spread Innovation investment competition. Conducts program evaluation, including monitoring and assessing investee performance, and establishes performance measures for assessment of innovation impact and value to the organization. Advises Executive Leadership on aspects of healthcare delivery services and support services Conducts qualitative interviews for capture of lessons learned for systems level improvements of the Innovators Network. Integrates standard systems engineering improvement methodologies with existing organization cultural transformation efforts. Briefs information compiled via themes and dashboards to local, regional, and national leadership, as well as individual program offices. Develops methods for the measurement and assessment of spread and sustainability. Designs studies, training programs and organizational strategies for identifying opportunities to improve access, efficiency, and quality related to clinical and administrative programs. Interacts with program counterparts and colleagues from varying programs. Supports facility strategic planning processes. Conducts risk assessments and business reviews of innovation proposals and projects at sites. Analyzes available information regarding cost savings to mentor individual awardees when producing business cases. Provide mentoring and coaching to client resources to facilitate completion of projects. Perform other related duties and responsibilities as necessary. Work Schedule: Monday- Friday, 08:00am-04:30pm (Supervisor Discretion) Compressed/Flexible: Supervisor Discretion Telework: Supervisor Discretion Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Health System Specialist (Innovation Specialist)/PD021270 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Requirements Conditions of Employment Qualifications To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 10/21/2024. 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-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: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-11 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: responsible analytical or administrative, or clinical 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. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Administration and Management Compliance Organizational Performance Analysis 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: The work is primarily sedentary. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Managements 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. Additional Information VA supports the use of telework as a way to help attract and retain talented individuals in public service, increase worker productivity, and better prepare the agency to operate during emergencies. This position may be authorized for telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process. The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced Federal/VA competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified you must submit appropriate documentation (a copy of the agency notice, your most recent performance rating, and your most recent SF-50 noting current position, grade level, and duty location) and be found well-qualified for this vacancy. To be well-qualified: applicants must possess experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors, and who are proficient in most of the required competencies of the job. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPMs Career Transition Resources website at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/. Placement Policy: The posting of this announcement does not obligate management to fill a vacancy or vacancies by promotion. The position may be filled by reassignment, change to lower grade, transfer, appointment, or reinstatement. Management may use any one or any combination of these methods to fill the position. It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment. This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies. Veterans and Transitioning Service Members: Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members. For more information on the “Who may apply” eligibility requirements, please refer to the OHRM Status Candidates and Other Candidate Definitions document. If you are unable to apply online view the following link for information regarding an Alternate Application.