Program Analyst

at Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration in Chicago, Illinois, United States

Job Description

Summary This Program Analyst (informatics) position is organizationally aligned under the Office of the Chief of Staff at the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center. The primary purpose of the position is to improve the quality, efficiency, and effectiveness of health care by integrating clinical and information processes necessary to achieve successful adoption and application of new technologies. Responsibilities Major Duties: Duties include: -Consults, advises and educates employees including the highest levels of management, on methods and means to make health care operations more effective and efficient. -Integrates knowledge of clinical and information processes to achieve successful adoption and application of new technologies to support health care operations and systems. -Initiates, develops and executes projects that support veterans’ health care needs. -Assists clinical business end users in reengineering business processes for clinical efficiency and documentation. -Develops educational programs and instructional materials and tools to educate the users and support staff at all levels of the organization. -Oversees the development of information related to patient care, such as patient registries to allow the Clinical Team to track management of patient illnesses. -Uses data to assess treatment impacts such as clinical endpoints, health status outcomes and utility estimates, estimated usage, characteristics of treating designated populations, and evaluating patterns of substitution against other products. -Formulates and support new or revised major administrative and clinical policies and directives for clinical software packages in accordance with VHA regulations. -Advises those in the Informatics organizational structure of programmatic ( formal and informal methods) and security requirements for data access, and advises staff members on directives, policies, and best practices for making requirements operational. -Applies statistical analyses and interprets their significance, including validity of measures used to generate outcomes related to patient management systems. -Develops and presents recommendations for improving clinical data-management methods, follow-up procedures, and compliance with regulatory guidelines. -Improves efficiency and effectiveness of processes by utilizing knowledge of human factors, usability of redesigned health information systems (i.e., software and hardware), and physical and psychological barriers to usability. -Conducts tests to analyze usability, sequencing, flow, minimum keystrokes, and comfort level of the user to ensure adaptability of the process to the workflow. -Provide direct feedback to national developers to ensure that usability issues are addressed in actual and anticipated changes in software. -Develops and oversees databases related to patient management systems, and actively participates in or leads the development of clinical decision-support systems. -Serves as a leader in change management, analyzing and evaluating clinical and administrative processes related to information flow. -Provides advice and guidance to assist in revisions of operational procedures and clinical processes. -Develops implementation plans for new software releases/applications and updates. -Performs other related duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM. Tours can be negotiated. Telework: Authorized. Schedule will be discussed at interview. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Program Analyst/PD21097A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required Requirements Conditions of Employment 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 You may be required to serve a probationary period Subject to background/security investigation Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP) Participation in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination program is a requirement for all Veterans Health Administration Health Care Personnel (HCP) – See “Additional Information” below for details. Qualifications To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 08/01/2024. 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. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: Specialized Experience: One (1) full year of specialized experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skill, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the Program Analyst and is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled. To be creditable, specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the next lower grade level in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization (GS-11). Examples of specialized experience include: Experience in positions that required knowledge and skill in applying a wide range of practices, theories, and emerging information in health care delivery, Informatics and applications; working knowledge of clinical software packages, VHA operations, and national databases; working knowledge of the clinical environment, including practices, procedures, and policies to use data to track and manage patient care; working knowledge of automation and software systems and options that effect clinical practice; working knowledge of the data life cycle including data design, collection and management to input, retrieve, analyze, summarize and present information; and skill in communicating both orally and in a variety of written media with all levels of end users, management and OIT personnel. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Analytical Reasoning Computer Skills Data Management Planning and Evaluating 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. 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 wishing to receive credit for such experience must i