Program Specialist

The Program Specialist will provide administrative support to Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Service (PM&R) and the Emergency Medicine Service Line.

PM&R currently includes Physiatry, Chiropractic, Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Kinesiotherapy and
Recreation and Creative Arts Therapy, Polytrauma/TBI program as well as the Amputation System of Care.

Emergency Medicine includes the Emergency Department in West Haven and the Urgent Care Center in Newington.

Qualifications:

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 12/09/2024.

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-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.

Grade Determination: GS-11 Program Specialist - You must qualify based on your specialized 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: Preparing programmatic reports for presentations and briefings; analyzing complex and critical data ; attending meetings and conferences and reporting back on information provided; staying informed regarding educational and informational materials that change in policy, procedures, standards, etc. and disseminating to personnel in a timely manner; coordinating clinic schedules, coordinating meetings, assisting in the management of the DSS Labor Mapping and working closely with DSS staff to ensure compliance; work as a fund control point clerk ; work as a Contracting Officer's Technical Representative; acting as the service line point of contact on all Credentialing and Human Resources (HR) issues; improve the effectiveness
  of work methods and procedures and manpower utilization and assisting with end of year reports . OR,
• Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have 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 . 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 master's or equivalent graduate degree or 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree.

You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position:

• Administration and Management
• Contracting/Procurement
• Customer Service (Clerical/Technical)
• Data Management
• HR Information Systems

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 position involves mobility within clinical areas as well as the rest of the medical center and
may require travel to other sites. The position requires physical and visual acuity. The incumbent must be able to operate a computer terminal and be able to manage multiple activities simultaneously. The incumbent may need to carry reports, bend for filing, and lift up to 20 pounds.

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/.

Responsibilities:

The duties of this position include but are not limited to the following:

• Preparing programmatic reports, justifications, charts, graphs, statistical and narrative data for executive level presentations and briefings.
• Works with leadership to improve effectiveness of workflow and clinical operations.
• Writes, reviews, and revises documentation, proposals, service agreements, and policies as appropriate.
• Participates on multi-disciplinary process and action teams to improve operations which cross service lines.
• Performs budget analyst duties, forecasts, and estimates program requirement.
• Manages Fund Control Points for two service lines.
• Validate the cost and distribution of services and equipment to improve accountability, resource control, and efficiency of usage.
• Manages the procurement and contracting which may include preparing procurement requests, evaluating proposals for work, acting as COTR for procurements, and/or maintaining procurement and contracting records.
• Advise and assist Leadership to develop, analyze, evaluate, or improve the effectiveness of work methods and procedures, manpower utilization, distribution of work assignments, information, and documentation systems, and similar functions of management to improve the effectiveness of both clinical and administrative work methods.
• Coordinate the Physiatrists schedules, coordinate meetings, and serve as the program manager overseeing clinical coordination for Physiatry services.
• Assisting the Polytrauma/TBI program Case Manager ensuring directives, initiatives, policies, and procedures are met.
• Maintains VA Connecticut Healthcare System program requirements/validation criteria for assigned groups and reviews reports involving trend analyses and follow-up for quality monitors and performance data.
• Collects and validates utilization data, assuring that all workload data are captured. Reviews data and recommends methods to improve productivity and expand services.
• Coordinates quality assurance/utilization review activities within the clinic, e.g., patient and satisfaction surveys, clinical pertinence reviews, clinical reminder reports, etc.
• Prepares all recurring and nonrecurring reports, compiles and analyzes data and gathers information for such reports.
• Balance various assignments involving different and unrelated management or program analysis, technical processes, and procedures, as well as knowledge of data entry and tracking such as Clinic and Encounter setups, DSS mapping procedures, and review of reports (workload, QM, and budget).
• Transfer information from one format into another for various presentations.
• Assists with end of year reports including Tour of Duties, Physicians Proficiencies, and assists with developing goals for Pay for Performance.
• Assists PM&R Leadership with decisions on appropriate clinical profiles, taking into consideration the number of clinicians, space available, time frame, staff, and clerical support availability etc.
• Analyzes a variety of workload data to insure integration of data and related workload statistics are entered properly so that the data are captured equally by DSS and VERA programs. Work is done in conjunction with DSS in determining workload related staffing hours that relate the statistical information with manpower for the multiple program areas.
• Works to develop and implement sound position management principles within the service.
• Serve as point of contact on all Credentialing and Human Resources (HR) issues, and Contracting Officer's Representative (COR).

Promotion Potential: This vacancy is at the full performance level GS-11.
Work Schedule: 8:00am-4:30pm Monday-Friday
Telework: 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.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Program Specialist/PD038680
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Salary : $85,236