Health System Specialist

This position serves as the Integrity and Compliance Officer for the VA St. Louis Health Care System. The primary purpose of this position is to provide leadership, strategic direction, and oversight of the compliance activities for the medical facility and to ensure a standardized and effective approach to compliance using the compliance framework, compliance and integrity standards, processes, and resources set forth under the compliance program national guidelines.

***This announcement closes 06/24/2026 -OR- once it reaches 25 applicants***

Major duties include but are not limited to:

• Develop, recommend and implement Compliance and Integrity program goals for operational units within the local health care system.
• Assist front line operational units in developing their Compliance and Integrity activities using the compliance framework established by national program guidance and policy.
• Develop detailed plans, tasks, milestone dates and schedules to ensure proper sequencing of events and tracking of processes and costs throughout the life cycle of the programs/projects.
• Review programs/projects to determine how they can be accomplished with the least disruption to workers and mission operations and ensure directions and schedules are accomplished in a timely manner.
• Exercise oversight of implementation of the Compliance and Integrity program within the local health care system to ensure it is effective; such oversight shall include taking appropriate corrective action, recommending remediation or disciplinary measures to immediate supervisor or appropriate management official when Compliance and Integrity goals are not achieved or when operational management fails to take reasonable steps to prevent or detect behavior which is noncom pliant or not consistent with high standards of business integrity.
• Establish program objectives and units of measure for determining when objectives have been met; alert local health care system's leadership of any material noncompliant or unethical activity detected.
• Implement national Compliance and Integrity controls, solutions, and programs at the local health care system.
• Develop and implement internal controls and solutions in partnership with risk owners to manage and mitigate key risks that may adversely impact local health care system objectives, compliance with regulations, or overall reputation within the local, VISN, or national landscape of the agency health care system.
• On a periodic basis, perform local health care system-wide reviews of internal controls over prioritized risk areas and determine adequacy in preventing compliance failures; plan and initiate a comprehensive evaluation system for review and analysis of proposed costs, program development, and performance.
• Participate in meetings with internal staff and representative operational units within the local health care system to determine compliance program status, major milestones, and coordination of each to detect in advance potential slippage or increased costs; and to ascertain appropriate action required to maintain or improve program or project schedules.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday from 8:00am - 4:30pm
Telework: Not authorized
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Health System Specialist/PD99467-S
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 06/24/2026.

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-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.

Individual Occupational Requirements:

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: (for positions above GS-5): 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.

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.

AND, you may qualify based on your experience as described below:

• Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade (GS-11) in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: 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.
• NOTE: 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/.

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/.

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• To be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. In addition to the application and questionnaire, this position requires an online assessment. The online assessment measures critical general competencies required to perform the job.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• Physical Requirements: The work required does not inherently include any physical requirements essential for successful job performance that could not otherwise be performed with accommodation or workplace adjustment. A pre-placement physical examination is not required.
• 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, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.