Program Specialist

Program Specialist

Department: Department of Veterans Affairs

Location(s): Columbus, Ohio

Salary Range: $52654 - $83733 Per Year

Job Summary: The Outreach Program Coordinator (OPC) is trained to help Veterans learn/navigate VHA enrollment process. Developing training/education tools for active duty service members, VSOs, Veterans and families to aide understanding rules/regulations that govern VA healthcare enrollment and benefits. Participates in outreach/training events within the community, system focusing the eligibility/enrollment aspects of health benefits arena. The incumbent will plan, coordinate, and attend outreach events.

Major Duties:

• 1. Outreach Program Management: The incumbent is the VACOHCS representative for all community outreach events, meetings and trainings. S/he will provide outreach services to all Veterans and their families and provide support for recently discharged service members transitioning to civilian life. Educates the community on VA Health care services and benefits, increases enrollment and improving TCM patient care coordination. This requires and in-depth knowledge regarding all eligibility rules and regulations, an understanding of laws, regulations and manuals; and the ability to interpret those rules and communicate them in an understandable manner to individuals raising questions. Incumbent may be required to drive mobile unit, and may be required to obtain Commercial Driver's License (CDL). 2. Data Analysis and Budget: The incumbent will have specialized knowledge in data collection and analysis, and will prepare monthly reports indicating number of new enrollees and eligibility categories, number of outreach events attended, and event and marketing costs. The incumbent will evaluate the return on investment by analyzing outreach costs and number of new enrollees vested at outreach events. Complying with all fiscal procedures to include usage of appropriate fund control point, correct Budget Object Codes and Cost Centers and verification of availability of funds prior to purchase. 3. Health Benefits Advisor: Serves as Health Benefits Advisor during Outreach events and activities, and supports Eligibility and Enrollment at all VACOHCS sites of care. Determines eligibility/entitlement for benefits of all applicants using various methods including income assessments, military discharge documents including separation papers, awards, commendations, computer hospital inquiry (HINQ), Master Patient Index (MPI) Veterans Information Solution (VIS), Veteran Benefits Management System (VBMS), Defense Personnel Records Information Retrieval System (DPRIS)and other means, such as communications with VA Regional Office or VA Records Processing Centers. 4. Knowledge Required by the Position: Incumbent must have a comprehensive knowledge of VA policies, procedures, objectives and regulations pertaining to the operation of patient care programs and their inter-relationships to appropriately advise veterans on administrative policies relating to patient care. Ability to deal with a variety of individuals with tact and diplomacy. Ability to present self in a professional attitude and to create positive impression as a management's representative. 5. Complexity: Decisions are made at each stage of the assignment including: identifying issues, drawing sound conclusions and taking appropriate actions. The incumbent evaluates and determines final results, plans and institutes administrative methods and procedures, and establishes or recommends program objectives. Defines and applies veterans' laws relating to determination of eligibility for ambulatory care services, hospitalizations and other related benefits. Promotion Potential: The position is at the GS-09 level, which is the full performance level. Work Schedule: 7:30am to 4:00pm; Monday thru Friday Compressed/Flexible: Not authorized Telework: This position may be authorized for telework, Ad-hoc. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Program Specialist/PD911180-0 and PD93949-0 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized PCS Appraised Value Offer (AVO): Not Authorized

Qualifications: To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 05/06/2026. 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. 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-07 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: prioritizing, coordinating activities, and effectively communicating with people at all levels of organization, completing projects within established timeframes, preparing, evaluating and analyzing reports, knowledge of word processing, spreadsheet, and relational database programs, providing training and guidance. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have successfully completed a master's or equivalent graduate degree, or 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or an LL.B. or J.D., if related to the work of this position. (Transcripts must be submitted).. OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education as described above to qualify at the GS-9 level for Program Specialist. You must possess 6 months of specialized experience equivalent to GS-7 and 1 year of graduate level education. The applicant meets 50 percent of the required experience but none of the required education, since you do not have any graduate study beyond that which is required for GS-7. Therefore, you meet only 50 percent of the total requirement and are not qualified for the position (The applicant's first year of graduate study is not qualifying for GS-9). Transcripts must be submitted. 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/.

How to Apply: Please read the entire announcement and all the instructions before you begin an application. To apply for this position, you must complete the initial online application, to include the initial online questionnaire and submission of the required documentation specified in the How to Apply and Required Documents section. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on the closing date of the announcement to receive consideration. To preview the application questionnaire, click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12943927. The application process is as follows: 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. Answer the questions presented in the application and attach all necessary supporting documentation. Click the Submit Application button prior to 11:59 PM (ET) on the announcement closing date, 05/06/2026. If you are required to complete any USA Hire Assessments, you will be notified after submitting your application. The notification will be provided in your application submission screen and via email. The notification will include your unique assessment access link to the USA Hire system and the completion deadline. Additionally, in USAJOBS you can click "Track this application" to return to your assessment completion notice. Access USA Hire using your unique assessment link. Access is granted through your USAJOBS login credentials. Review all instructions prior to beginning your assessments. You will have the opportunity to request a testing accommodation before beginning the assessments should you have a disability covered under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended. Set aside at least 3 hours to take the USA Hire Assessments; however, most applicants complete the assessments in less time. If you need to stop the assessments and continue later, you can re-use your unique assessment link. NOTE: Your responses to the USA Hire Assessments will be reused for one year (in most cases) from the date you complete an assessment. If future applications you submit require completion of the same assessments, your responses will be automatically reused. Visit the USA Hire Applicant Resource Center for practice assessments and assessment preparation resources at https://support-usahire.opm.gov/hc/en-us. To update your application, including supporting documentation: During the announcement open period, return to your USAJOBS account, find your application record, and click Edit my application. This option will no longer be available once the announcement has closed. To view the announcement status or your application status: https://help.usajobs.gov/how-to. Your application status page is where you can view your application status, USA Hire assessment completion status, and review your notifications sent by the hiring agency regarding your application. 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

Application Deadline: 2026-05-06