Biomedical Equipment Support Specialist Information; Information Systems

A Biomedical Equipment Support Specialist (BESS) specializes in information systems within a Healthcare Technology Management (HTM) Section of Facilities Management Service at the Salem VA Health Care System. Works in support of the medical equipment management program. In addition to duties, the BESS maintains medical servers and networks, diagnostic software, virtual platforms, clinical applications software and other facility servers and software systems not managed by OIT.

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.

• United States Citizenship
  :
  Be a citizen of the United States (U.S.). Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens according to 38 U.S.C. § 7407(a).
• Education, Experience, or Certification: Associates or higher degree in the biomedical technology or biomedical engineering field;
  OR
• Associates or higher degree in electronics, a field of information technology, or engineering (other than biomedical engineering) AND 1 year of creditable experience;
  OR
• Completion of the Department of Defense (DOD) biomedical equipment technician training program;
  OR
• Completion of a DOD training program in repair and maintenance of electronic systems or information technology AND 1 year of creditable experience;
  OR
• Completion of a biomedical engineering technician or Healthcare Technology Management (HTM) certificate program that included an internship or apprenticeship;
  OR
• Completion of biomedical engineering technician or HTM certificate program that did not include an internship AND 1 year of creditable experience;
  OR
• Hold or having ever held certification as a Certified Biomedical Equipment Technician (CBET), Certified Radiology Equipment Specialist (CRES), Certified Laboratory Equipment Specialist (CLES), or Certified Healthcare Technology Manager (CHTM). Continuous maintenance of certification is not required throughout VHA employment.

May qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision as described in the VA Qualification Standard for this occupation (only applicable to current VHA employees who are in this occupation and meet the criteria).

GS12
: Experience
. One year of creditable experience equivalent to the next lower grade.

In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs:

• (a) Knowledge of Health Level 7 (HL7) and Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) standards.
• (b) Knowledge of advanced testing methods to troubleshoot networked medical equipment and clinical system interfaces.
• (c) Skill in maintaining computer and server based medical equipment, databases, and software.
• (d) Skill in managing medical equipment and clinical system projects that interface with an electronic health record or other information systems.
• (e) Skill in applying cybersecurity standards to medical devices and clinical systems such as Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA), and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) guidelines.
• (f) Ability to apply information security tools including virus protection, software updates, and operating system patches.
• (g) Ability to establish a medical network including VLAN configuration, Internet Protocol addressing, and network security.

For all assignments above the FPL, the higher-level duties must be of significant scope, administrative independence, complexity, and range of variety, as described in this standard at the specific grade level and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time. At the advanced level, the BESS, in addition to the duties at the FPL, manage medical servers and networks, diagnostic software, virtual platforms, and clinical applications software.

They manage projects for medical equipment and clinical systems that interface with the electronic health record or other information systems. BESSs (Information Systems) manage virtual and physical hardware components including storage, memory, processing, graphical, and network interfaces. They facilitate operating system updates, upgrades, and virus protection. BESSs (Information Systems) perform maintenance for networked systems. They leverage resources and knowledge to minimize the need for unit and intermediate-level service contracts and manufacturer or vendor expenditures for tasks that can be completed in-house.

BESSs (Information Systems) identify and troubleshoot issues related to networked medical equipment and clinical systems. They evaluate compatibility and adaptability of biomedical devices for integration to the electronic health record. BESSs (Information Systems) regularly review, coordinate, and implement available software patches, updates, and system or data backups with other BESSs, manufacturers, informatics, and IT staff.…