Department of Veterans Affairs

Health System Specialist

Reno, Nevada Full time

Health System Specialist

Department: Department of Veterans Affairs

Location(s): Reno, Nevada

Salary Range: $61965 - $97469 Per Year

Job Summary: The Graduate Healthcare Administrative Training Program (GHATP) Trainee) Serves as a GHATP Trainee functioning as a Health System Specialist in the Office of the Director of the Medical Facility and is responsible for managing projects and assisting in the coordination of daily office activities. The incumbent is responsible for all program matters under the direction of the Medical Center Director that are delegated to them.

Major Duties:

  • Duties include, but may not be limited to the following: Utilizes data and reporting tools to develop health-planning service line strategies impacting the operations of components of medical centers, network offices, and/or VHACO program offices. Analyzes data trends in budget and fiscal expenditures supporting the preparation and execution of budget and committee meetings for identified components within the whole organization. Researches laws, regulations, and policies related to budget and fiscal administration displaying knowledge of service line or component operations within the health care system or oversight office. Participates on project teams in lead or support roles identifying and improving operational processes impacting service lines or components of the VA health care system or oversight office. Displays knowledge of VA priorities and mission statements to recommend improvements to policy and procedures related to service line budget and administrative processes. Observes, analyzes, and reports under professional service direction the areas of discipline, rewards and recognition, reassignment, staff adjustments and realignments, labor/management relationships, affirmative employment, and alternative dispute resolutions and grievances to understand processes for conducting projects and studies. Performs rotations and on-site visits to make recommendations to the issues and opportunities present at the Network and other V ANHA facilities and program offices. Analyzes org charts, policies, VERA and SAIL data to represent the service line of the facility or program office priorities during resource allocation committee meetings. Participates in disaster preparedness and emergency management planning meetings to evaluate efficiency and effectiveness of policies and procedures at the service line level. Attends facility/Network/and VHACO program office strategic and succession planning meetings to observe techniques and methodologies in VHA personnel management. Gathers organizational data from reports and TRIP packs in preparation for media and community events either separately or in conjunction with the Public Affairs Office. Reviews and explores VHA relationships and processes with affiliated education programs. Participates in local hospital council, veteran organization, and community organization meetings with VHA senior leader staff members. Manages, leads, and administers project plans which include meeting objectives, assigning resources, giving briefings and presentations as project representative, maintaining quality assurance processes, creating project documentation, and completing after action review reports and follow-up procedures in conduct comprehensive project management. Reviews and reports on service line policies in preparation for surveys, audits, and inspections in quality assurance, compliance, and procedures governed by internal and external organizations. Develops and presents an innovative project recommending improvements to policies, procedures, and services provided by VHA at the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE). Performs other related duties as assigned Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 7:00am - 3:30pm Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Health System Specialist/PDPD S00001A

Qualifications: To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 04/30/2026. 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-09 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-07. 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: To qualify for this position at the GS-9 level, you must meet one of the following: Specialized Experience: You must have at least one (1) full year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade level (GS-7) in the Federal Service, that is directly related to the work of the position and has equipped you with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities to successfully perform the duties as a Health System Specialist. Qualifying specialized experience is defined as 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: (1) Missions, organizations, programs, and requirements of health care delivery systems; (2) Regulations and standards of various regulatory and credentialing groups; and (3) Government-wide, agency, and facility systems and requirements in various administrative areas such as budget, personnel, and procurement. At this level, applicants would have obtained this experience working within a health care setting; working directly with healthcare professionals and other administrators to solve problems in support of the delivery of patient care; and experience assisting an administrative component of a health care onboarding process. ~OR~ Education: Successfully completed a master's or equivalent graduate degree, successfully completed two (2) full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree, LL.B or J.D in a related field of the position to be filled (i.e., hospital administration, public health administration, or related fields such as business or public administration with course work in health care administration). Education at the graduate level must have been obtained in an accredited college or university and must demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of this position. ~OR~ Combination: Combinations of successfully completed graduate level education (beyond the first year) and specialized experience as described above, to meet the total experience requirements. The education portion must include graduate courses that demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do to the work of this position (i.e. hospital administration, public health administration, or related fields such as course work in health care administration). This education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university. To qualify for this position at the GS-11 level, you must meet one of the following: Specialized Experience: You must have at least one (1) full year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade level (GS-9) in the Federal Service, that is directly related to the work of the position and has equipped you with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities to successfully perform the duties as a Health System Specialist. Qualifying specialized experience is defined as 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: (1) Missions, organizations, programs, and requirements of health care delivery systems; (2) Regulations and standards of various regulatory and credentialing groups; and (3) Government-wide, agency, and facility systems and requirements in various administrative areas such as budget, personnel, and procurement. At this level, applicants would have obtained this experience working within a health care setting; working directly with healthcare professionals and other administrators to solve problems in support of the delivery of patient care and education/training; experience running an administrative component of a health care onboarding process; and analyzes and synthesizes data from diverse data systems to improve business processes. ~OR~ Education: Successfully completed a Ph.D., equivalent doctoral degree, three (3) full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree, Or LL.M in the related field of the position to be filled (i.e., hospital administration, public health administration, or related fields such as business or public administration with course work in health care administration). The education portion must include courses that demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of this position. Education must have been obtained in an accredited college, or university. ~OR~ Combination: Combinations of successfully completed graduate level education (beyond a master's degree) and specialized experience as described above to meet total experience requirements. The education portion must include graduate courses that demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do to the work of this position (i.e., hospital administration, public health administration, or related fields such as business or public administration with course work in health care administration). You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Administration and Management Communication Database Management Systems Technical Competence Physical Requirements: The work is primarily sedentary; although, some slight physical effort is required. Accompanying HPTs through the medical site or clinical training site may be required. Some work may require walking and standing in conjunction with travel to and attendance at meetings and conferences away from the worksite. Stamina and concentration to meet crucial deadlines is required. The work is performed in a typical office environment located in a health care facility. The work environment involves everyday risks and discomforts that require normal safety precautions. The responsibilities of the position require occasional travel and may subject the position to various resultant environmental changes.

How to Apply: All applicants are encouraged to apply online. To apply for this position, you must complete the questionnaire and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section below. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on 04/30/2026 to receive consideration. To preview the questionnaire click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12942979. To begin, click Apply Online to create a USA JOBS account or log in to your existing account. Follow the prompts to select your USA JOBS resume and/or other supporting documents and complete the occupational questionnaire. Click Submit My Answers to submit your application package. NOTE: It is your responsibility to ensure your responses and appropriate documentation is submitted prior to the closing date. Beginning September 27, 2025, Federal agencies will only accept resumes up to two pages in length to comply with the Merit Hiring Plan. Resumes longer than two pages will result in ineligibility for further consideration for the position. USAJOBS will not allow you to upload or build resumes longer than two pages, and you will need to update the resumes in your profile before applying for a job. Resumes should include information relevant to the knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies of the position to which you are applying. VA is unable to make assumptions about qualifications if not clearly listed. Resumes must be legible so they can be reviewed for eligibility, minimum qualifications and other position requirements listed in the job announcement. Your resume must be 5MB or less. We recommend saving and uploading your resume as a PDF to maintain formatting and number of pages. We also accept GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, TXT, PDF, ODT or Word (DOC or DOCX). We do not accept PDF portfolio files. We recommend using a sans-serif font size like Lato, if available. Other widely available options are Calibri, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, Open San Source Sans Pro, Roboto or Noro Sans. Make your page margins 0.5 inches. Consider using 14-point size font for titles and 10-point for the main text in your resume. The resume builder can help you create a resume using these recommendations and uses the information in your USAJOBS profile to help you get started. Helpful Hints for Creating a Two-Page Resume: Prioritize most relevant and recent experience Use concise, results focused language Align language from the job announcement Focus on demonstrating skills and competencies Remove outdated or unrelated experience Use the USAJOBS resume builder Additional guidance on this new requirement and resume building tools can be found at: https://help.usajobs.gov/faq/application/documents/resume/page-limit https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/hiring-information/merit-hiring-plan-resources/applicant-guidance-on-the-two-page-resume-limit/ 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 OPM's Career Transition Resources website at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/. During the application process you may have an option to opt-in to make your resume available to hiring managers in the agency who have similar positions. Opting in does not impact your application for this announcement, nor does it guarantee further consideration for additional positions.

Application Deadline: 2026-04-30