Health System Specialist

Description:

The Health System Specialist (HSS) is located in the Office on Nursing Service a the Tennessee Valley Health Care System (TVHS). Serves as the coordinator, analyst, and facilitator for the delivery of health care services for the purpose of administrative coordination and nursing support. The Health System Specialist has the responsibility to assist Chief of Nursing Clinical Operations by fulfilling administrative functions

Requirements:

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 02/11/2026.

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-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-09.

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.

• Examples of appropriate SF-50s include:
  • Within grade increases at the highest grade held; or
  • Promotions with an effective date more than one year old; or
  • SF-50s at the highest grade held with an effective date more than one year old.

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.

This occupation also has Individual Occupational Requirements (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. The education must be accredited by an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education at the time the degree was obtained. To qualify for this occupational series, applicants MUST have one of the following listed below.

INDIVIDUAL OCCUPATIONAL REQUIREMENT : Positions in the occupational series 0671 MUST MEET one of the following:
Possess an Undergraduate or Graduate degree with a major field of study in hospital administration, public health administration, or related fields such as business or public administration with course work in health care administration.

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

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 Inservice 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 the Individual Occupational Requirement and Time-in-Grade requirement, applicants must have the specialized experience as described below:

GS-11 SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE AND/OR EDUCATION REQUIREMENT: 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. Specialized experience is defined as: Contributing to efficient operation of the service by providing accurate identification, reporting, trending, and education to protect the organization's resources; preparing correspondence to local and national inquiries; coordinating activities involved in administrative investigations; assisting in preparation of organizational charts; participating in the submission of the annual budget; overseeing service contracts and equipment purchases; providing support on various issues and concerns; and acting as a liaison for the service when leadership is unavailable. OR

• Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have PH.D. or equivalent doctoral degree OR 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree. (TRANSCRIPT MUST BE PROVIDED) OR
• Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education beyond undergraduate education. (TRANSCRIPT MUST BE PROVIDED)

Preferred Experience:
Masters degree in Health Administration, Public Health, Business, Nursing, or related field.
Healthcare operations experience such as hospital or outpatient clinic operations, service line or program management, and/or clinical operations support (e.g., nursing, medical, ancillary services).
Experience with data & performance analytics such as interpreting dashboards, scorecards, and metrics, experience with healthcare quality indicators or operational metrics, and/or ability to translate data into executive-level summaries.
Policy, compliance, and regulatory knowledge such as familiarity with federal or healthcare regulations, experience reviewing or drafting SOPs, policies, or guidance documents, and/or understanding of accreditation standards.

***PLEASE NOTE: A 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 must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment.

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position:

• Analytical Reasoning
• Communications
• Planning and Evaluating

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS: This position requires mobility within the TVHS environment and occasional travel to other cities for meetings and conferences. The position requires that the incumbent work occasionally at both campuses when necessary to collaborate with other TVHS staff on projects. The position may require flexible duty hours to accomplish program objectives.

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-qualificat