Medical Administrative Specialist

Clarification from the agency

This announcement is open to current and permanent employees the Wilkes-Barre VAMC.

• Provides administrative authority, guidance, advice, and assistance to the Medical Officer of the Day (MOD), the Psychiatric Officer of the Day (POD), and the Nursing Care Coordinator (NCC), and all other clinical and administrative staff concerning administrative matters necessary for the operation of the medical center during WHEN hours and other than normal tours.
• Interprets VA rules and regulations relating to determining legal entitlements to benefits relating to hospital admission, nursing home, dental, fee basis, outpatient care, prosthetic appliances, patient transfer and beneficiary travel. Provides orientation and situational technical advice to physicians and staff regarding VA.
• Processes and resolves to the maximum extent possible administrative issues relevant to beneficiary death, seriously ill cases, developments, suicides, assaults, deaths on arrival (DOA's), homicides, medical emergencies, cost recovery matters, and disasters at the facility or surrounding community.
• Prepares and maintains daily Gains and Losses Sheet and other related statistical reports.
• Directly intervenes when problems regarding patient activity occur, and advises clinical staff of appropriate administrative action according to medical center policy and procedures.
• Authorized as a Certifying Officer to certify documents pertaining to the administration of laws concerning VA.
• Ensures the VISTA (Veterans Information Systems and Technology Architecture) system, and other Health Information Systems are operational, and evaluates and initiates actions to resolve computer related problems.
• During regular hours, may be assigned as acting section chief or to perform additional medical administrative duties.
• Oversees the process for determining applicants' eligibilities; obtains income and insurance information from appropriate applicants; counsels appropriate applicants and Veterans to help determine their ability to defray costs of medical care; determines extent of release of medical or social data from patient records; safeguards and ensures the rights of patients; and serves and functions as Patient Advocate, Representative, and Ombudsman during tour of duty.

Promotion Potential: The selectee may be promoted to the full performance level without further competition when all regulatory, qualification, and performance requirements are met. Selection at a lower grade level does not guarantee promotion to the full performance level.

Work Schedule: Rotating shifts including nights, weekends and holidays
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Medical Administrative Specialist/PD99385S

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
• 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)

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period 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 probationary period or trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 08/24/2026.

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-7 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-5. 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.


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-5 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: experience that demonstrated the ability to work and communicate with clients and customers to satisfy their expectations and committed to quality services; uses computers, software applications, databases, and automated systems to accomplish work; uses logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems; and, applies the process of discovery that involves the diagnosis of a problem or issue, identification and gathering of relevant information, formulation and evaluation of alternative solutions or courses of action, and selection or recommendation of the preferred solution or course of action..

OR,

Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have one full year if graduate level education or superior academic achievement.

You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position:

• Analysis and Problem Solving
• Attention to Detail
• Computer Skills
• Critical Thinking
• Customer Service (Clerical/Technical)
• Decision Making
• Flexibility
• Integrity/Honesty
• Interpersonal Skills
• Reading Comprehension
• Reasoning
• Self-Management
• Stress Tolerance

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.

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.

Physical Requirements: The work requires much walking through the medical center with occasionally the requirement to lift objects such as suitcases, clothing or medical charts. Work is accomplished in a busy, generally congested area. The AOD routinely goes to most sections of the building, including offices, clinics, wards, laboratories and the morgue.

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/.

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 WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE.

Narrative responses are not required at this time. If you are referred for consideration, you may be asked to submit additional job related information, which may include, but not limited to; responses to the knowledge, skills and abilities; completion of a work sample, and/or contact for an interview. Your resume and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating or consideration for employment.

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.

For more information on the "Who may apply" eligibility requirements, please refer to the OHRM Status Candidates and Other Candidate Definitions document.

Placement Policy: The posting of this announcement does not obligate management to fill a vacancy or vacancies by promotion. The position may be filled by reassignment, change to lower grade, transfer, appointment, or reinstatement. Management may use any one or any combination of these methods to fill the 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:

• Resume
• SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action

The following documents are accepted, and may be required if applicable to your eligibility and/or qualifications for this position. Please make sure you have included other documents required for your application, such as a copy of your transcript (if using education to qualify), SF-50's (current/former Federal employees), documentation to support Veterans Preference claims, or ICTAP/CTAP documentation (for displaced Federal employees). You will not be contacted for additional information.

• Other (1)
• Resume
• SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action
• Transcript

SF-50, Notification of Personnel Action (if applicable for Time in Grade and/or Eligibility):

• Most recent SF-50 if you are a current or former Federal employee
• An SF-50 showing 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
• Award 50's do not provide sufficient information and will not be accepted for the purpose of verifying time-in-grade.
• Examples of appropriate SF-50's include:
  • Within grade increases at the highest grade held; or
  • Promotions with an effective date more than one year old; or
  • SF-50's at the highest grade held with an effective date more than one year old.

Next steps