Program Analyst

Summary

This position is located at VISN 12 VA Great Lakes, in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The primary purpose of the position is to improve the quality, efficiency, and effectiveness of health care by integrating clinical and information processes necessary to achieve successful adoption and application of new technologies throughout the VHA. A significant part of the position is the management of User Role Assignments within the health record.

Duties

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Duties:

The incumbent serves as a Program Analyst (Health Informatics) located at the medical centers, in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The primary purpose of the position is to improve the quality, efficiency, and effectiveness of health care by integrating clinical and information processes necessary to achieve successful adoption and application of new technologies throughout the VHA.

Duties include, but may not be limited to the following:

• Uses communication, education, and leadership to support comprehension of and adaptation to organizational updates.
• Provides communication channels to clinical and business teams to support deployment, sustainment, and optimization efforts.
• Cultivates a healthy working relationship between the Office of Information and Technology (OIT) and Health Informatics, allowing for routine dialog to enable the sustainment and optimization of our health information technology (IT) solutions and workflows, for the benefit of all staff and Veterans.
• Leads meaningful and coordinated use of subject matter experts to support decision-making among informatics functions to optimize the healthcare system and the tools that support the business.
• Evaluates content quality and assure access to knowledge resources, eliminating redundancy in duplicate data sources, and improving information interoperability across the organization.
• Applies statistical, machine learning, visualization, inferencing and other techniques to enable decision support ranging from the point of care to enterprise-wide population management with the goal of transforming practices and improving system health.
• Develop reports and information tools using a variety of methods and tools such as Structured Query language (SQL), SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) from the VISN and the VA Corporate Data Warehouse.
• Enables healthcare capabilities and the evolution of technology adjoined to the electronic health record (EHR) to deliver quality care by developing, implementing, monitoring, maintaining, and optimizing informatics tools and access to them.
• Supports the thorough analysis of a workflow to consider opportunities for the potential improvement or optimization of the behavior of people, systems, information, and tools.
• Ensures the VHA EHR operates in a way that improves patient care, ensures patient safety, and meets the needs of providers through continuous evaluation, testing, and improvement of the system.
• Applies a true end-to-end process to evaluate workflows, identify issues, develop solutions based on best practice guidelines, and resolves and communicates changes to maintain and optimize processes that deliver Health Information Technology (HIT) solutions.
• Uses communication, education, and leadership to support comprehension of and adaptation to organizational updates.
• Performs activities that support the management and delivery of educational experiences using information solutions and technology in all areas of healthcare.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Work Schedule: Monday- Friday 8:00am- 4:30pm

Telework: Not Available

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Functional Statement #: 99372S

Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized

Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job.
• All applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English.
• 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 dentification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• Must pass pre-employment physical evaluation.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).
• Complete all application requirements detailed in the "Required Documents" section of this announcement.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1 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 trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Qualifications

Basic Requirements:

• United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.

Grade Determinations:

You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below:

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 Program Analyst - Informatics. Qualifying specialized experience includes communicating among stakeholders to facilitate and support organizational change; applying a wide range of established practices, theories, and emerging information in relation to health care delivery, informatics, and applications; independently completes analytical projects related to process improvement; experience with data life cycle to include data design, collection, and management to input, retrieve, analyze, summarize, and present information; and knowledge and use of national database architecture and file structure.

~OR~

Education: Successfully completed a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree, or three (3) full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree, or an LL.M. if related, that demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of this position. NOTE: Transcripts must be submitted with application. Education cannot be credited without documentation.

~OR~

Combination: Equivalent combination of successfully completed education and specialized experience directly related to the work of the position as outlined above that meets the requirements of the position. Only education in excess of a master's or equivalent graduate education may be used to qualify applicants for the GS-11 level. NOTE: If using education combined with specialized experience to qualify, a copy of your transcript is required.

NOTE: One (1) 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.

Preferred Experience- Technical proficiency with EHR software, strong attention to detail for data accuracy, and a deep understanding of medical terminology and coding. Other important skills are strong communication for interacting with healthcare staff, and knowledge of data privacy and regulatory compliance, such as HIPAA.

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.

The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-11. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is a GS-11.

Physical Requirements and Work Environment: The work is usually sedentary, but it requires periods of walking, standing, bending, or climbing, and employees may carry light items such as books, instruments, laptops, and other similar materials. The work is conducted in office, conference room, and clinical/hospital patient care settings. Typically, the work is hazard-free, not requiring any special equipment or clothing. The employee is in on-call status as needed and works flexible hours to meet the needs of the facility end user.

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/.

Additional information

Receiving Service Credit or Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave: Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior work experience or military service experience. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed.

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.

This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.

This position is in the Excepted Service and does not confer competitive status.

VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply. The health-related positions in VA are covered by Title 38, and are not covered by the Schedule A excepted appointment authority.

If you are unable to apply online or need an alternate method to submit documents, please reach out to the Agency Contact listed in this Job Opportunity Announcement.

Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer. For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act.

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

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