Supervisory Health Systems Specialist

This position is located at the William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital (Madison VA), a Level 1 b Complexity VHA Facility, reporting directly to the Chief of Staff. The primary purpose of this position is to provide executive-level leadership, technical and data program oversight, strategic partnership management, education and change management, and direct supervision of the Health Informatics Service.

Major duties

The Supervisory Health Systems Specialist serves as the Manager of Organizational Improvement (OI) for the William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital. This position is responsible for providing leadership and guidance to develop, implement, refine and maintain a comprehensive program at the hospital-wide level to evaluate the quality of patient care, improve the quality of patient care, evaluate the appropriateness and timeliness of services, and meet all accreditation standards or other requirements from Joint Commission, the Inspector General and other external and internal oversight/accreditation organizations. The Supervisory Health Systems Specialist provides in-depth reports to top management and other high level meetings. This position functions very independently and must demonstrate the ability to coordinate activities with a wide diversity of high level employees such as service chiefs, physicians, nurses, and administrative officials, both within the facility and outside the facility. The Supervisory Health Systems Specialist supervises the Organizational Improvement Section which is responsible for directing all services throughout the hospital in the planning and coordination of PI programs. The OI Manager has the clinical expertise and knowledge of health care programs to establish ongoing, integrates programs to meet VHA Directives, IG and Joint Commission requirements in the following Quality Management and Performance Improvement program areas.

• Advises Chief of Staff on peer review issues and oversees tracking of committee action items, reporting and compliance with all JC and VHA standards and directives.
• Assures monitoring and analysis of patient safety incidents.
• Regularly communicates with and provides information to National offices, VA Headquarters, VISN office.
• Oversees tracking, reporting, and resolution of all risk management activities.
• Evaluates and determines appropriateness of medical care services to ensure proper use of resources.
• Makes recommendation to leadership for improvement.
• Oversees a comprehensive infection control program.
• Provides ongoing monitored and early identification of infection control concerns to leadership.
• Provides ongoing oversight to numerous required clinical procedures areas to assure compliance with all standards.
• Oversees systematic review of the quality of entries into patient's medical records.
• Assures full compliance by all hospital departments, process and services with requirements of a wide group of external accrediting bodies.
• Provides staffing to assist departments with accreditation compliance.
• Provides training to hospital staff, and coordinates all accreditation and external review visits for the hospital.
• Monitors the follow-up to recommendations from accreditation bodies and formulates communication.
• Oversees the creation and maintenance of all hospital policies and processes.
• Assures proper functioning and reviews conducted by various quality and performance improvement committees to maintain compliance with all required standards and directives.
• Provides ongoing monitoring and improvement efforts in all hospital areas.
• Gather and critically analyze data and comparing data analysis results.
• Forecasts requirements necessary to improve program areas.
• Identifies statistical deviations or variances which affect quality improvement efforts.
• Monitors overall OI Program for compliance with policy.
• Ongoing participation in and leadership of VISN and/or National committees/teams.
• Monitors the facility performance on National Performance Measures and coordinates hospital initiative to improve performance to meet levels.
• Provides authoritative advice to top management and all services on requirements to assure high quality of care and compliance with requirements.
• Researches, interprets, identifies, develops, and presents educational programs for hospital staff.
• Directly supervises clinical and administrative staff to assure that all components of technical oversight and review are accomplished for the hospital.
• Evaluates workload and productivity of staff, sets priorities, provides guidance and expertise.
• Supervises, reviews, and evaluates works of employees.
• Performs ongoing assessment of staff abilities and skills and provides ongoing training and development.
• Performs other related duties as assigned.

Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 7:30a to 4:00p Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Supervisory Health Systems Specialist/PD253500 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not approved Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 10/01/2026.

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-14 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-13. 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:

BASIC REQUIREMENTS: You must have one of the following: EDUCATION: Undergraduate or Graduate Education with a major study in hospital administration, public health administration, or related fields such as business or public administration with course work in health care administration. OR, 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.

GS-14 GRADE REQUIREMENTS: You must have one full year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade (GS-13) that equipped you with the knowledge, skills and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the duties of this position. Examples of Specialized experience are:

• Knowledge related to Quality Management, Performance Improvement/System Redesign, Patient Safety, Patient Satisfaction, and Risk Management.
• Knowledge of management analysis, resource management, human resources management, and program analysis methods.
• Provide supervision of managing a workforce of subordinates to accomplish the work required to operate multiple significant programs and organizational functions.
• Possess a thorough understanding of both clinical and administrative programs on a hospital-wide basis.
• Knowledge to gather information, identify and analyze issues and develop recommendations to resolve problems and implement improvements to hospital and VISN operations.
• Ability to demonstrate an appropriate combination of judgment, patience, persistence and highly developed communication and customer service skills.
• Provide supervision and oversight requiring exceptional coordination and integration of a number of programs of professional, scientific, technical, managerial and administrative work.
• Comprehensive knowledge of the VHA healthcare management system and the ability to proactively implement systems that are in concert with the vision and strategic plan of the hospital and VISN.

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

• Conflict Management
• Influencing/Negotiating
• Manages Resources
• Partnering
• Planning and Evaluating
• Data Management
• Strategic Thinking
• Oral Communications
• Administrative and Management
• Education and Training
• Analytical Thinking
• Human Factors
• Health Informatics
• Technology Management

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 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited based on time 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 work is mostly administrative in nature and to a large degree is accomplished within an office setting, at a desk or computer terminal. Work duties also entail a significant degree of mobility to patient wards, clinics and outlying buildings for patient care studies and participation in meetings. The work also involves occasional travel. 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/.

Education

There is no educational substitution at this grade level. A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education. Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

Requirements

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• Subject to background/security investigation
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process.
• Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents).
• Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP)
• As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period or 2-year trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider: your performance and conduct; the needs and interests of the agency; whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service. Upon completion of your probationary period or trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.