Supervisory Dietitian (Service Chief)

The Chief, Nutrition and Food Service (N&FS) is the director of the department at a large medical center. The Chief is responsible for the provision of high-quality food production, service and effective nutrition therapy to the veteran population served. Incumbent has full and final technical, professional and administrative responsibility for planning, developing, organizing, staffing, implementing, and evaluating a functionally comprehensive Nutrition program.

Duties for this position include but are not limited to:

• The AMSA works collaboratively in an interdisciplinary coordinated care delivery model (i.e., PACT, Specialty Clinics, Mental Health, Community Care) and performs clerical duties, customer service and other duties as assigned for the proper and timely treatment of patients.
• Clerical duties: maintains appointment schedules for Community Care, communicates with Community Care providers to ensure they accept VA patients and payments, prepares any required pre-appointment documents, schedules the appropriate level of care and documents the schedule in the appropriate consult.
• Obtains medical documentation from community providers, scans to appropriate consult within the Computerized Patient Record System (CPRS) and alerts VA providers for continuity of care.
• Coordinates internal and external care between customers and providers. Processes consults following Office of Community Care procedures and guidelines and enters appropriate authorizations, if required, utilizing the correct Fund Control Point (FCP)/Obligation number and correct cost estimations
• Supports patient safety standards using the correct Veterans Affairs identification of all patients using two forms of identification, name and Social Security Number.
• The patient may also present the Veterans Healthcare Identification Card (VHIC) for identification.
• He/she must use each interaction with the patient to validate and update patient demographic information, either in person during check-in or over the phone, to decrease the incidence of returned mail due to incorrect addresses and inability to contact patient by phone due to incorrect number.
• Works under the supervision of the Community Care Manager who makes work assignments and assists the employee with unusual situations that do not have clear precedents.
• Must be flexible and able to accomplish other duties as assigned by the Supervisor.
• Routinely communicates with physicians, case managers and other allied health professional staff using sound interpersonal skills and remains consistently aware of sensitive information.
• Performance is judged in terms of overall effectiveness of the operation through broad general objectives, the adequacy and accuracy of the work, timeliness, and conformance to established procedures, policies, and instructions.
• Supervision is generally limited to review of overall results on daily scheduling reports and standards of performance, as well as feedback from the clinical team to ensure mission is carried out

Work Schedule: 07:00am- 03:30pm
Telework: May be authorized at service line discretion
Virtual: Not Authorized

BASIC REQUIREMENTS
a. Citizenship.
(1) Be a citizen of the United States (U.S.). Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with 38 U.S.C. § 7407(a).

b. Registration.
(1) All applicants must hold the RDN credential from the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR) the credentialing agency of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Note: Applicants who hold the RDN credential have met the education requirement (e.g. bachelor's degree or higher) of CDR, as such this occupation is considered professional and scientific with a positive education requirement and the procedures in Part I, Chapter 4 of this Handbook will be followed when applying Veteran's preference.

Supervisory Dietitian (Chief, Nutrition and Food Services), GS-14.
(1) Experience. One year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level.
(2) Knowledge, Skills and Abilities. In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs:
(a) Knowledge of security measures within food operations to ensure patient and staff safety.
(b) Knowledge of organizational structure to assess impact on program operations.
(c) Skill in ensuring regulatory requirements are met.
(d) Skill in leading a group of professionals to facilitate collaboration and organizational development.
(e) Skill in leading managers to establish strategic goals.
(f) Ability to oversee the planning of new initiatives addressing patient care delivery systems and system reorganizations.
(g) Ability to lead efforts in business administration to include budgeting, contracting and purchasing

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

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/.

• 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 identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• Must pass pre-employment physical examination.
• 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.