This position is located within Quality and Patient Safety at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center in Kansas City, MO. The primary purpose of this position is to implement a Performance Improvement program at the Health Care System level by using a broad array of program and services throughout the Medical Center to include Lean, Six Sigma, Coaching, Project Management, and Training.
To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 09/16/2025. Health System Administration Series, 0671 Individual Occupational Requirements (IOR): Undergraduate and Graduate Education: Major study -- hospital administration, public health administration, or related fields such as business or public administration with course work in health care administration. OR Specialized Experience: 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: 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. OR Special Provision for In service Placement: Successful completion of an agency-sponsored on-the-job training program may be substituted for qualifying experience, provided it included a formal individualized training plan. Such a training program must have been conducted in an operating health care system and included: Assignments providing a knowledge of basic health system administration philosophies, practices, and procedures, and basic government administrative policies and requirements; Practical assignments providing an opportunity to apply health system administration skills and principles (as the individual progresses, work assignments must be characteristic of the grade level to which he or she is assigned); and Oversight by an experienced health system administrator with periodic evaluation of the individual's progress and appropriate adjustment of the training program. In addition to meeting the IOR you must also meet: GS-11: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-9 level. Specialized Experience is defined as experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Assists in developing solutions to problems based on review of data, and assessment of the effect on quality and productivity of services provided. Uses sound judgment in determining applicable guidelines to be used and how they are to be adapted and/or interpreted in relation to the facility needs. Plans and carries out routine work, making minor adaptations to procedures and accepted practices, and handling unexpected conditions arising in the normal course of the work. OR Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have Undergraduate and Graduate Education: have a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 years of progressively higher lever 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). OR Combination of education and experience: Possess a combination of successfully completed graduate 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). GS-12: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-11 level. Specialized Experience is defined as experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Organizes, directs, controls, and coordinates group activities in a timely and effective manner; Leads project teams through designed brainstorming sessions to develop solutions towards a specific deliverable or goal during a project; Leads a team of subject matter experts, front line staff and leadership through a rigorous and defined project management process utilizing multiple tools from Lean Six Sigma and other performance improvement disciplines to further define the current state of the process; Leads project teams through designed brainstorming sessions to develop solutions towards a specific deliverable or goal during a project; Provides consultation to executive, service line, and program leadership by leveraging VA data analytics resources; Develops statistical, graphical, and narrative reports, and communicates these studies to medical center executive leadership, service chiefs, supervisors and other staff. 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-9. 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 will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Critical Thinking Customer Service Education and Training Organizational Performance Analysis Planning and Evaluating 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. 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/.
The primary purpose of this position is to deliver Performance and Process Improvement techniques to a broad array of programs and services throughout the Medical Center. Methodologies include Lean, Six Sigma, Coaching, Project Management, and Training. Additional functions of the position involve advising leadership in the formulation of planning complex facility wide Strategic Plans and projects in the execution phase of Strategic Planning. Major duties include, but are not limited to: Participates in and facilitates transformative quality, safety, effectiveness, and efficiency improvement efforts; Acts as the project lead for healthcare and operational improvement projects impacting patient care delivery systems and functions throughout the medical center; Facilitates, coaches, and trains audiences at all levels of the organizations throughout the lifecycle of a performance improvement project; Defines a project scope and goals through a collaborative process with subject matter experts and leadership at the facility, service line or program, or unit level; Uses sound judgment in determining the relationship between the guidelines and organizational efficiency or program effectiveness; Conducts extensive work in analyzing data and conducting background research on the issue; Provides consultation to executive, service line, and program leadership by leveraging VA data analytics resources; Prepares complete and fully documented studies for review of work teams, Hospital Committees and top management; Delivers classroom instruction about Lean, Lean Six Sigma, Systems Redesign or other improvement methodologies tools and techniques to all levels of the organization; Assists in developing solutions to problems based on review of data, and assessment of the effect on quality and productivity of services provided; Responsible for leading the team through development of control strategies, to ensure project solutions are sustained after the project lifecycle; Aligns appropriate performance improvement teams and resources, project scopes, and value streams, strategic and operational plans; Performs other related duties as assigned. Promotion Potential: The selectee may be promoted to the full performance level without further competition when all regulatory, qualification, and performance requirements are met. Selection at a lower grade level does not guarantee promotion to the full performance level. Work Schedule: 7:30am - 4:00pm, Monday - Friday Telework: ADHOC Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Health System Specialist (Systems Redesign Specialist)/PD10108-A and PD10109-A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): No approved Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized Physical Requirements: See Directive and HANDBOOK 5019, Employee Occupational Health Service for requirements. Preferred Experience: Experience in healthcare project management, Lean, Six Sigma, Agile, or other performance and process improvement methods.