Health System Specialist (Group Practice Manager)

This position serves as the VISN 15 Ambulatory Care Operations Director - Group Practice Manager, providing staff assistance under the supervision of the VISN Business Implementation Manager. The primary responsibility of the incumbent is to provide oversight of the Group Practice Managers and ambulatory care services within VISN 15 Medical Centers and associated Community Based Outpatient Clinics, while integrating all aspects of ambulatory care into the care delivery structure.

Duties include but not limited to:

• Provides and maintains programmatic oversight for VISN 15 Ambulatory Care Operations to improve clinical practice management and standardize access improvement across the VISN.
• Serves as the primary VISN-level contact for facility Group Practice Managers (GPMs).
• Leads VISN-wide planning and execution of VHA-approved clinic practice management programs and national guidelines.
• Works independently with VISN leadership and staff at VAMCs, CBOCs, and other facilities to implement national and VISN standards.
• Identifies and addresses administrative process and system issues that impact access and clinical practice management.
• Provides solutions and guidance to facilities struggling to meet or sustain VA access initiatives.
• Leads and manages VISN 15 GPM project teams using structured project management tools such as Lean Six Sigma and Advanced Principles and Strategies for Access Improvement.
• Guides GPMs in identifying strategies to reduce clinic backlogs.
• Oversees and monitors consult management issues and information technology utilization, offering guidance as needed.
• Coordinates with the Compliance and Business Integrity Office to improve or develop audit criteria.
• Develops and executes audits of VISN 15 medical center processes to ensure compliance with policy and effective clinical practice management.
• Briefs medical center leadership on audit findings and recommendations and prepares written reports for VISN and medical center leadership.
• Ensure alignment and shared understanding of program goals with the compliance office.
• Initiates, develops, implements, and evaluates policies, procedures, and systems to monitor utilization of healthcare services.
• Recommends and implements changes to policies and systems to improve quality, effectiveness, and efficiency.
• Establishes evaluation criteria and develops analytical methods based on management principles.
• Coordinates with clinical and administrative activities on matters affecting costs, program performance, and healthcare delivery standards.
• Recommends and executes improvement plans related to quality of care, cost reduction, access, operations, and administrative support.
• Establishes priorities for program implementation based on clinic needs and operational goals.
• Ensures integration and coordination of operational components with input from appropriate stakeholders.
• Leads and develops initiatives that foster a team-based improvement culture focused on patient-centered care and timely access.
• Applies leadership, negotiation, interpersonal, and influencing skills to guide outpatient clinic management and enhance Veteran experience.
• Develops long- and short-term policies and plans for VISN 15 ambulatory care operations.
• Ensures ambulatory care administrative needs are incorporated into the VISN's annual budget and operating plans.
• Improves care delivery by identifying emerging needs, issues, and potential barriers.
• Provides guidance on operational flexibilities and cost-effective approaches to maximize Veteran and employee satisfaction.
• Advice on the use of technologies and practices that improve clinic operations, including care request management software, new care delivery modalities, and self-scheduling tools.
• Directs guidance to GPMs, facility leadership, or VISN leadership based on program intent and technological or operational needs.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00am - 4:30pm
Telework: This position may be authorized for ad-hoc telework, at managers discretion.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Health System Specialist (Group Practice Manager)/PD094350
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, 06/23/2026.

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:

Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR): An IOR is a basic requirement that must be met in order to qualify for entry into this job series and it is something that can't be waived. To qualify for the GS 0671 occupational series, applicants MUST possess one of the following:

• Undergraduate and Graduate Education: Undergraduate or graduate education in a major field of study hospital administration, public health administration, or related fields, such as business or public administration, with course work in health care administration. (A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing your qualifications on education). 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 Inservice Placement: Completion of an agency-sponsored on-the-job training program, which included a formal individualized training plan. The training program should have been performed 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 may qualify based on your specialized experience as described below:

• Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-13 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.

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/.

There is no educational substitution for the GS-14 Specialized Experience.

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.