Lead Pharmacy Technician

Clarification from the agency

This job is open to current permanent employees of the facility, Nebraska-Western Iowa VA Health Care System. Area of Consideration - Eligible applications will be reviewed and referred in the following order: 1. Current permanent VA employees of the facility.

Major duties include, but are not limited to the following:

• Electronic Health Record (EHR) Management/Pharmacy Administration: The Pharmacy Lead Technician performs a wide variety of administrative, management, and coordinating duties in support of pharmacy programs.
  • Coordinating personnel actions with Human Resources and utilizing HR platforms, prepares appropriate forms (e.g. SF52's) for pharmacy personnel actions.
  • Serving as the administrative timekeeper for Pharmacy Leadership and as a backup timekeeper for the individual pharmacy T&Ls and their timekeepers.
  • Coordinates travel requests for Pharmacy Service with the traveler and the Travel Office utilizing online travel system.
  • Coordinates equipment procurement process for Pharmacy Service with Pharmacy Leadership and the Equipment Committee.
  • Prepares agendas and minutes for the Pharmacy and Therapeutics (P&T) Committee and the Executive Summary of the P&T Committee meeting for the Executive Committee of the Medical Staff.
  • Educates pharmaceutical representatives on Health Care System Policies and Procedures for pharmaceutical representatives and utilizes O.R. Trax for managing appointment requests with Pharmacy Leadership.
  • Serves as administrative liaison with Academic Affiliates for Pharmacy Service to coordinate processing and scheduling of student practice experiences in compliance with all OAA/VHA regulations and requirements in conjunction with the Pharmacy Manager and ACOS-Education.
  • Serves as the Pharmacy Week Liaison and is responsible for planning, coordinating, and executing Pharmacy Week activities, This includes organizing team-building events, recognition activities, and communication initiatives that support departmental morale and staff engagement.
  • Addresses and attempts to resolve complaints from employees, patients, and healthcare providers, referring more serious unresolved complaints to Pharmacy Management Team.
  • Assists the Pharmacy Program Manager - Quality Management/Research with the receipt, storage, and record keeping for investigational drug protocols.
  • Assists the Pharmacy Program Manager - Quality Management/Research with managing the pharmacy-controlled substance program to ensure the program operates in a manner that is consistent with all regulatory requirements.
  • Collaborate with the Pharmacy Program Manager - Inventory/Procurement on completion of patient notification and documentation for patient level medication recalls.
• Pharmacy ADPAC Program: The Pharmacy Lead Technician performs technical duties involving user accounts, security, and access.
  • Collaborating and coordinating with the Pharmacy Manager to obtain, modify, and update user accounts using the Electronic Permission Access System (ePAS).
  • Serving as a Pharmacy Service Personal Identity Verification (PIV) Sponsor, following all applicable HSPD-12 regulations while assisting pharmacy employees with the PIV process.
  • Drives the onboarding and out-processing processes for new or departing staff, students, and residents.
  • Serves as an expert resource of pharmacy EHR information for NWI pharmacy staff and mentor facility pharmacy technician staff to elevate local expertise and abilities.
• Clinical Program: The Pharmacy Lead Technician performs technical tasks involving clinical quality improvement projects and drug conversions.
• Pharmacy Dispensing/Distribution Services: The Pharmacy Lead Technician will be involved in assuring appropriate, safe, and accurate medications are dispensed to veterans in an efficient manner. The lead technician will provide a range of medication management and administrative services.

Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional
Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 7:00am-3:30pm
Recruitment/Relocation Incentives (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized
Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not Authorized
Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases.
Paid Time Off: 37-50 days of annual paid time offer per year (13-26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, 11 paid Federal holidays per year).
Parental Leave: After 12 months of employment, up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave in connection with the birth, adoption, or foster care placement of a child.
Child Care Subsidy: After 60 days of employment, full time employees with a total family income below $144,000 may be eligible for a childcare subsidy up to 25% of total eligible childcare costs for eligible children up to the monthly maximum of $416.66.
Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA
Insurance: Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement)
Telework:
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 000000
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

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.
• NOTE: The 2-page Resume requirement does not apply to this position. For more information, refer to Required Documents below.
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English.
• Subject to background/security investigation.
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).
• Complete all application requirements detailed in the "Required Documents" section of this announcement.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1 or 2-year trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:

• your performance and conduct;
• the needs and interests of the agency;
• whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
• whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Upon completion of your trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Qualifications

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.
• English Language Proficiency: Pharmacy Technician candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f).
• Certification: For positions above the full performance level, the employee must pass a national certification exam and hold an active national certification through either:
  • Pharmacy Technician Certification Board (PTCB), Certified Pharmacy Technician (CPhT). OR
  • National Healthcareer Association (NHA), Certified Pharmacy Technician (ExCPT).
• Education or Experience:
  • None required.
  • For all grade levels and positions that accept both education and experience to qualify, equivalent combinations of qualifying education and experience that total at least 100% are qualifying. The combined percentage is determined by adding total qualifying experience as a percentage of the experience required for the grade level to the education as a percentage of the education required for the grade level.

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).

Grade Determinations:

Lead Pharmacy Technician, GS-08:

• Experience: Candidates must possess one year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level (GS-7) and demonstrate the KSAs below.
  • GS-7 level experience requires the below
    • Knowledge of pharmacy technician principles, practices, concepts and theories providing for sound independent work.
    • Knowledge of the computerized prescription process and input of prescriptions and medication orders or electronic equivalent.
    • Ability to resolve pharmacy/medication issues with other members of the healthcare team, Veterans and external customers.
    • Ability to train developmental pharmacy technicians and students.
    • Ability to dispense medication or sterile products following all regulations, policies and procedures to ensure safe medication distribution.
    • Ability to troubleshoot automated dispensing equipment (ADE) or technology platforms/databases.
• Certification: For positions above the full performance level, the employee must pass a national certification exam and hold an active national certification through either:
  • PTCB as a CPhT. OR
  • NHA as a ExCPT.
• Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSAs): In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs for all GS-08 assignments and meet any additional KSAs for the assignment, if indicated:
  • Comprehensive knowledge of concepts, principles, methodology and policies in a specialized area or section of pharmacy (such as sterile compounding, controlled substances, automation, clinical pharmacy, contact center, etc.)
  • Skill in training and orienting new and existing pharmacy facility employees and students on proper policies and procedures.
  • Ability to evaluate, analyze and coordinate workflow and work activities within a specialized area or section of the pharmacy.

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.

The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-8. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is GS-8.

Physical Requirements: You will be asked to participate in a pre-employment examination or evaluation as part of the pre-employment process for this position. Questions about physical demands or environmental factors may be addressed at the time of evaluation or examination.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE MAY NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Your application, resume, C.V., and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect consideration for employment.

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.

This job is open to current permanent employees of the facility, Nebraska-Western Iowa VA Health Care System.

Area of Consideration - Eligible applications will be reviewed and referred in the following order:
1. Current permanent VA employees of the facility.

The Department of Veterans Affairs performs pre-employment reference checks as an assessment method used in the hiring process to verify information provided by a candidate (e.g., on resume or during interview or hiring process); gain additional knowledge regarding a candidate's abilities; and assist a hiring manager with making a final selection for a position.

It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment.

Veterans and Transitioning Service Members: Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members.

To apply for this position, you must provide a complete Application Package which includes:

• Professional Certification
• Resume
• SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action

Special Note for Applications: To complete your application, please use the following link https://vacareers.va.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/Resume.docx to download the standard Clinical Resume Document. This one-page document does not need to be modified and must be uploaded into the two-page restricted 'Resume' document upload field.

Your full resume/CV may be uploaded without page limitation into the 'Other' document upload field.

The following documents are accepted, and may be required if applicable to your eligibility and/or qualifications for this position. Please ensure you have included all documents required for your application, such as a copy of your transcript (if using education to qualify), SF-50's (current/former Federal employees), etc.

• Cover Letter
• DD-214/ Statement of Service
• Disability Letter (VA)
• License
• Other (1)
• Other (2)
• Performance Appraisal
• Professional Certification
• Resume
• SF-15
• SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action
• Transcript

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