Health System Specialist- Executive Assistant

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; Salem (VA); On-site; USD 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs at the Salem VA Medical Center in Salem, Virginia seeks an experienced Health System Specialist - Executive Assistant to support the Associate Director, Patient Care Services.

The role involves strategic planning, budget oversight, and coordination of administrative activities across service lines. It requires close collaboration with hospital leadership and a strong grasp of health-care operations.

Qualifications

• Time-in-grade and federal service requirements apply for GS-11.
• Specialized health-care administration experience preferred.
• Ability to run reports and analyze data across platforms.

Responsibilities

• Support strategic planning and administrative functions for all service lines reporting to ADPCS.
• Assist ELT with planning, organizing, evaluating, and coordinating activities.
• Advise on policies and resource allocation; prepare daily, weekly, and annual reports.
• Prepare briefs for VA leadership and coordinate communications.
• Schedule events and manage special projects; draft written responses.

Skills

Independent decision making

Critical thinking

Multitasking

Data analysis

Education

Hospital administration degree

Job description

Summary

This position is situated within the Department of Veterans Affairs and operates under the Veterans Health Administration as part of the Mid Atlantic Health Care Network. It is based at the Salem VA Medical Center in Salem - Virginia and aligned within the Associate Director - Patient Care Services a role central to supporting patient-care operations across the facility. This organizational placement reflects the broader VHA mission to deliver coordinated - high-quality health services to Veterans.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position - applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement - 10/14/2026. 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. 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 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. (TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED) OR -Possess 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 - 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. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: Specialized Experience: 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 responsible analytical or administrative - budgetary - or clinical 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 - Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have successfully completed a Ph.D. or equivalent graduate degree or 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.M. if related. Degree must be relevant to the position to be filled. OR - Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education beyond 2 years of graduate level education may be used to qualify applicants for positions at grades GS-11. The education and experience must be directly related to the work of the position to be filled. 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 indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment. Preferred Experience: Ability for Independent decision making; Critical thinking skills; multitasking and maintaining data input over multiple platforms. Run reports on specific areas with the ability to analyze data produced. Physical Requirements: The position is primarily sedentary - and requires sitting - walking - standing - and bending. The candidate is required to respond with time- sensitive reports while balancing multiple competing demands. Work is typically performed in an adequately lighted and climate-controlled office and/or home space. 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/.

Duties

• Major duties include - but are not limited to: The candidate is an executive level administrator responsible for supporting the strategic planning and direction - budgetary oversight - and the administrative functioning of all service lines that report through the Associate Director of Patient Care Services (ADPCS/Nurse Executive)
• Assists the assigned Executive Leadership Team (ELT) member in planning - organizing - evaluating - advising and coordinating administrative activities
• Advises top management on matters impacted by programmatic/policy changes
• Advises on - and formulates policies and procedures-adapting existing policies and procedures and/or formulating new policies and procedures
• Analyzes program development proposals to ensure the best use of resources
• Guides Service leadership in reviewing their current programs and assists with the use of managerial - analytical - and reporting techniques to develop recommendations and outcome measurements
• Makes appropriate recommendations to top management based on data analysis and findings
• Assists the ELT member in the preparation of a variety of daily - weekly - monthly and annual reports
• Performs administrative duties such as event scheduling - special projects - program development and preparation of written reports and responses
• Prepares issue Briefs which are designed to inform the the HSA (Health Service Area) and VA Central Office (VACO) of significant issues/events
• Ensures timely follow-up on issues raised during Director's Morning Report meetings
• Prepares documents for ELT members signatures - prepares presentations in a variety of formats for the ELT and other management individuals
• Recognizes and uses correct English grammar - punctuation - and spelling
• Communicates information such as facts - ideas or messages in a succinct and organized manner
• Performs other duties as assigned
• Work Schedule: Monday-Friday - 7:45 am - 4:30 pm Virtual: This is not a virtual position
• Position Description/PD#: Health System Specialist- Executive Assistant/PD503050 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized PCS Appraised Value Offer (AVO): Not Authorized