Health System Specialist

This position is in the Ann Arbor VA Medical Center, Ann Arbor, MI, Research and Development (R&D) Service. The position is fully responsible to manage regulatory committees and provide subject matter expertise regarding the underlying regulations in ensuring compliance in research. The position provides high level analytical and procedural support of projects in a comprehensive research setting, providing day-to-day support for the VA Research Program.

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 11/03/2026.

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-09 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-07.
• 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.

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.

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,

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;
• Government-wide, agency, and facility systems and requirements in various administrative areas such as budget, personnel, and procurement.

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 Requirements, you MUST also meet the specialized experience requirements.

• GS-9 Specialized
  
  Experience:
  
  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:
  • Applies working knowledge of core regulatory frameworks (21 CFR Parts 11/50/56, 45 CFR Part 46, HIPAA Privacy Rule, applicable VHA Handbooks) to routine protocol review and committee support tasks.
  • Under general supervision, analyzes research project submissions for compliance with Federal and VA regulations (FDA, OHRP, ORO, USDA, OLAW, AAALAC), referring novel or precedent-setting compliance questions to the supervisor.
  • Assists in maintaining required federal-wide assurances and program…