Pharmacist (Facility Program Manager)

Veterans Health Administration; St. Louis (MO); On-site; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Veterans Health Administration seeks a Pharmacist Facility Program Manager, Pharmacy Informatics/EHRM Liaison to standardize informatics practices and support core clinical pharmacist functions.

Applicants must meet ACPE education requirements and have an active pharmacy license; foreign graduates require FPGEC certification. The role emphasizes program management and cross-facility coordination within the VA system.

Qualifications

• Graduate of ACPE-accredited College or School of Pharmacy with a BS Pharmacy or PharmD.
• Foreign grads must provide FPGEC certification (FPGEE and TOEFL iBT).
• Full, current and unrestricted license to practice pharmacy in a U.S. state, territory, DC, or Puerto Rico.

Responsibilities

• Advise the Integrated Health Informatics Service to standardize pharmacy informatics practices across the facility.
• Manage Program Manager duties including policy development, quality resources and budget considerations.
• Coordinate pharmacy informatics initiatives across multiple facilities and VISNs; lead EHR change management efforts.

Skills

Oral/written communication

Regulatory knowledge

Problem solving

Clinical pharmacy expertise

Drug therapy monitoring

Education

BS Pharmacy or PharmD

FPGEC Certification (foreign grads)

Job description

The Pharmacist Facility Program Manager, Pharmacy Informatics/EHRM Liaison serves as the primary advisor to the Integrated Health Informatics Service and other key officials to achieve standardization of pharmacy informatics best practices across the facility. In addition, performs core clinical pharmacist functions.

Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met.

Basic Requirements

United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.

• Education (1) Graduate of an Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) accredited College or School of Pharmacy with a baccalaureate degree in pharmacy (BS Pharmacy) and/or a Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) degree. Verification of approved degree programs may be obtained from the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education, 20 North Clark Street, Suite 2500, Chicago, Illinois 60602-5109; phone: [phone], or through their Web site at: http://www.acpe-accredit.org/. (NOTE: Prior to 2005 ACPE accredited both baccalaureate and Doctor of Pharmacy terminal degree program. Today the sole degree is Doctor of Pharmacy.)
• Education (2) Graduates of foreign pharmacy degree programs meet the educational requirement if the graduate is able to provide proof of achieving the Foreign Pharmacy Graduate Examination Commission (FPGEC) Certification, which includes passing the Foreign Pharmacy Graduate Equivalency Examination (FPGEE) and the Test of English as a Foreign Language Internet- Based Test (TOEFL iBT).

Licensure

Full, current and unrestricted license to practice pharmacy in a State, Territory, Commonwealth of the United States (i.e., Puerto Rico), or the District of Columbia. The pharmacist must maintain current registration if this is a requirement for maintaining full, current, and unrestricted licensure. A pharmacist who has, or has ever had, any license(s) revoked, suspended, denied, restricted, limited, or issued/placed in a probationary status may be appointed only in accordance with the provisions in VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Chapter 3, section B, paragraph 16.

English Language Proficiency

Pharmacists must be proficient in spoken and written English as required by 38 U.S.C. 7402(d), and 7407(d).

Grade Determinations

GS-13 Facility Program Manager Experience. In addition to the GS-12 requirements, must have 1 year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level. Pharmacists assigned to this position must demonstrate the following KSAs:

• Ability to communicate orally and in writing to persuade and influence clinical and management decisions.
• Expert understanding of regulatory and quality standards for their program area.
• Ability to solve problems, coordinate and organize responsibilities to maximize outcomes in their program area or area of clinical expertise.
• Expert knowledge of a specialized area of clinical pharmacy practice or specialty area of pharmacy.
• Advanced skill in monitoring and assessing the outcome of drug therapies, including physical assessment and interpretation of laboratory and other diagnostic parameters.

Facility Program Manager

Manages all aspects of a distinct program to include policy development, quality resources and specialty functions unique to the program to optimize cost effectiveness (budget) and patient outcomes. Coordinates a single program area of a complex pharmacy operation, or multiple program areas within a facility to develop, organize, manage, and control complex pharmacy programs. Develops, organizes, coordinates and manages single or multiple program areas within the medical facility; this may include a single program area at multiple facilities.

The Program Manager title is reserved for those individuals who have one or more of the following: supervisory responsibilities for various sections within Pharmacy Service; a complex program requiring coordination of multiple locations such as medical center care facilities, Community Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs), rural health, telemedicine, etc.; specialized areas of a complex nature such as nuclear pharmacy, quality assurance, pharmacy informatics, clinical applications coordinator, Home Based Primary Care, pharmacoeconomist or liaison pharmacist duties requiring the coordination of processes with other medical facilities or VISNs. Pharmacists assigned to this position must demonstrate the KSAs identified in subparagraph 3b(3)(b)1 above.

Preferred Experience

• Experience leading change management efforts for large-scale organizational EHR change or new EHR deployment, including implementation, upgrades, or system transitions.
• Experience supervising or managing pharmacy or informatics staff.
• Experience engaging with executive and senior facility or VISN leadership, including briefing leadership on program initiatives, risks, or status.
• Experience commun