Health System Specialist

This position is located at the Long Beach VAMC in the Quality &Patient Safety Service (QPS). The incumbent serves as the System Redesign & Improvement Specialist and is responsible for delivering Performance Improvement techniques to a broad array of program and services throughout the Medical Center, including Lean, Six Sigma, Coaching, Project Management, and Training.

Welcome to VA Long Beach

Tibor Rubin - History

Duties include but are not limited to:

• Define scope - Defines a project scope and goals through a collaborative process with subject matter experts and leadership at the facility, service line, program, or unit level.
• Research & interpret context - Reads and interprets required hospital operations, policies and procedures, and VA regulations, policies, and program guidelines.
• Analyze current state - Conducts extensive work analyzing data and conducting background research on the issue and identify metrics. Root cause analysis - Pulls, isolates, and manipulates data to identify root causes of a performance issue; develops statistical models to measure success of performance improvement actions.
• Data transformation/visualization - Converts data into numerous formats using advanced statistical models, including SPC charts, histograms, Pareto charts, and more.
• Lead the team - Leads a team of subject matter experts, front-line staff, and leadership through a defined project management process using Lean, Lean Six Sigma, System Redesign and other tools to further define the current state.
• Generate solutions - Leads project teams through designed brainstorming sessions to develop solutions toward a specific deliverable or goal.
• Prioritize solutions - Identifies solution approaches and, when necessary, leads prioritization exercises using tools like affinity diagrams, PICK charts, and multi-voting.
• Design experiments - Creates designs of experiments aligned to project goals and team-developed solutions, with process measurement in mind; monitors these iterative hypotheses for effectiveness or failure.
• Develop standard work - Develops processes by consulting with subject matter experts to develop standard work, incorporating mistake-proofing techniques to design processes that cannot be performed in error, and building in sustainability measures to ensure solutions are maintained after the project lifecycle
• Document and report findings - Develops statistical, graphical, and narrative reports and communicates studies to medical center executive leadership, service chiefs, supervisors, and staff; prepares complete and fully documented studies for review by work teams, hospital committees, and top management.
• Organize/coordinate - Organizes, directs, controls, and coordinates group activities in a timely and effective manner.
• Train and mentor - Provides instruction on Lean, Lean Six Sigma, Systems Redesign, or other improvement methodologies through formal classroom instruction and mentoring; develops written and verbal teaching material; delivers classroom instruction and training curricula covering advanced practices of project management, statistics, coaching, facilitation, and leadership.

Promotion Potential: The selectee may be promoted to the full performance level without further competition when all regulatory, qualification, and performance requirements are met. Selection at a lower grade level does not guarantee promotion to the full performance level.

Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 7:00AM - 3:30PM
Compressed/Flexible: At Management's Discretion
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Health System Specialist/PDS0012A
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 10/16/2026.

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-9 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-7. For a GS-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-9. 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.


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

Health System Administration Series, 0671 Individual Occupational Requirements (IOR):

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: 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: knowledge and ability to apply skills related to health care service administration; quality improvement; data analysis; planning, and other administrative support functions.

OR

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.

In addition to meeting the TIG and IOR you must also meet:

Specialized Experience GS-9: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-07 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: knowledge and ability to apply skills related to health care service administration; quality improvement; data analysis; planning, and other administrative support functions.

Specialized Experience GS-11: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-09 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: knowledge and ability to apply skills related to health care service administration; quality improvement; data analysis; planning, and other administrative support functions.
Specialized Experience GS-12: 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: knowledge and ability to apply skills related to health care service administration; quality improvement; data analysis; planning, and other administrative support functions.


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.