Program Support Assistant

Program Support Assistant

Department: Department of Veterans Affairs

Location(s): Portland, Oregon

Salary Range: $48927 - $63605 Per Year

Job Summary: Serves as program support assistant for Anatomic Pathology, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Service (P&LMS), Veterans Affairs Portland Healthcare System. The incumbent will act as an administrative support coordinator for anatomic pathology. The anatomic pathology section is responsible for providing all surgical pathology, cytopathology, and hematopathology reports at this medical center.

Major Duties:

• Major duties include, but are not limited to: Establishes priorities for accomplishing the various responsibilities within a multidisciplinary department, while handling multiple, varied interruptions and unpredictable day-to-day work assignments. Must be an authority on current VA regulations governing patient reports and intra- and inter-service written communications. There must be thorough knowledge of medical terminology, including specialized terminology used in surgical pathology, cytology, bone marrow, autopsy reports, and Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine (SNOMED) codes. Must be able to analyze the workflow of Anatomic Pathology and distribute the workload to complete necessary tasks in a timely manner, establishing priorities and making adjustments, such as using alternative procedures when the hospital computer system is down or the department is short-staffed. Aids in the collection and interpretation of data for the anatomic pathology QA program. Receives requests for statistical or informative material concerning the program, which can be assembled from the records; advises when the material can be furnished and prepares it personally or follows up to see that it is prepared by the staff within the specified time. Much of the material processed is considered confidential and/or urgent, necessitating immediate attention without disrupting the regular work routine. Assists with the administrative preparation of the surgical, cytology, and autopsy work areas and manuals for inspection by accrediting agencies and participates in the inspection process as required by the supervisor. Performs tasks independently and must demonstrate good judgment in determining priority. Must use initiative in carrying out assignments without specific instruction and refer deviations, problems, and unfamiliar situations to the supervisor. The supervisor provides additional specific instructions for new or unusual procedures. The work is reviewed by the supervisor for accuracy and timeliness through systematic quality assurance reviews. The supervisor is available for assistance with unusually difficult problems. Procedures for doing the work have been established, and several specific guidelines are available. The number and similarity of guidelines and work situations require the employee to use judgment in locating and selecting the most appropriate guidelines, references, and procedures for application and in making minor deviations to adapt the guidelines in specific cases. At this level, the employee may also determine which of several established alternatives to use. Situations to which the existing guidelines cannot be applied, or for which significant proposed deviations from the guidelines are proposed, are referred to the supervisor. The personal contacts are with pathologists, technologists, physicians, occasionally patients or patients' families, and personnel in other services or other agencies. Contact is generally engage in different functions, missions, and types of work, e.g., representatives from various levels within the agency, such as headquarters, regional, district, or field offices, or other operating offices on the immediate installation. The purpose is to obtain, clarify, or give facts or information regardless of the nature of those facts, i.e., the facts or information may range from easily understood too highly technical. Such contacts might include solving problems, following up on commitments, or arranging meetings. Work Schedule: Monday to Friday; 6:00 am - 2:30 pm or 7:00 am - 3:30 pm PST Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Program Support Assistant/PD21850A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Qualifications: To qualify for this position, applicants must meet specialized experience requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 05/14/2026. 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-5 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Print, scan, and route pathology reports including reference lab results; assist with coding and review reports for coding accuracy; maintaining pending lists, printing/scanning reports, and accessioning; preparing samples for testing; coordinate release of information; coordinate send-out testing, package specimens, and tracks chain of custody; maintains electronic logs on tissue to released labs and transcribe results into report. Note: Experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month & year starting and year ending dates AND hours worked per week. 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/12949505. 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, 05/14/2026. 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: 2026-05-14