Clarification from the agency

This position is open to current, permanent employees of the Washington VA Medical Center only.

Duties include, but not limited to:

• Advises Veterans and their Next of Kin (NOK) of burial benefits. Helps Veterans and NOK prearrange burial, interment, cremation, as desired by Veteran. Advises surviving relatives about burial benefits and other potential benefits provided by VA. Reviews eligibility and entitlement of burial and death allowances and advises on the process for applying for those benefits. Refers surviving relatives with specific benefit inquiries to a VBA point of contact, not the toll-free telephone number.
• Informs Veteran, caregiver and NOK of available supportive services within the medical facility, such as Chaplaincy, and Social Work, to provide support at end of life and immediately following death.
• Reviews daily death notifications. Submits completed death certificates to designated Funeral Director and County Registrar's Office.
• Ensures Veterans with no relatives (unclaimed remains) are provided a dignified funeral and burial at VA (contract or purchase order) expense. Collaborates with VA offices to locate NOK when not readily known.
• Views, as required, the deceased Veteran's unclaimed body and/or remains to confirm VA funds are executed as intended in the burial purchase.
• Requests any clinical staff involved with care prior to death contact the survivor within 24 hours of the pronouncement of death.
• Identifies, in collaboration with designated facility staff, a responsible funeral home for the unclaimed remains and prepares a purchase order and/or contract to this effect.
• Completes required VA authorizations to release personal effects and any remaining funds in the patient's account to NOK or designated party.
• Records and transcribes providers' requests for permission from the legal next of kin or other designee by law to conduct an autopsy.
• Coordinates with VA physician and NOK/legal designee in obtaining signed consent in the event the family is not present to sign, or the death occurred outside of normal business hours.
• Coordinates release of remains with appropriate services/outside agencies in the event of autopsy, or organ/tissue/body donation. Establishes and/or follows local procedures for whole body donation.
• Collaborate with Patient Aligned Care Team (PACT), Pharmacy and Prosthetics to cancel all appointments to include orders.
• Coordinates with Pathology Services to complete all forms and paperwork required to release the deceased remains to selected funeral home.
• Prepares and provides military information forms to the funeral home representative.
• Requests death certificates from the County Registrar's Office for all external notifications of a Veteran's death and updates records as appropriate within VA system.
• Coordinate the disposition of personal funds and effects with the Office of General Council for Veterans that have been adjudicated as incompetent. This may require the position to appear in-person at county court houses.
• Collaborates with palliative care to promote quality end-of-life care by assisting in developing action plans and process improvements related to quantitative and qualitative reporting from the Bereaved Family Survey.
• Implements information systems to track service activities including visits, referrals, demographics and outcomes.
• Investigates and analyzes adverse quality trends or conditions and initiates corrective action. Consults with staff and managers to identify opportunities for quality improvement. Facilitates quality management plan development and implementation.
• Collects, analyzes, and reports program data to local management, the designated VISN POC and the National SAMS Program. Evaluates program progress and outcomes using data to modify and improve the facility program and processes.
• Maintains and monitors performance measure requirements established by VHA, Assistant Under Secretary for Health for Operations (AUSHO), VISN and/or facility leadership.
• Uses agency, department and program knowledge to determine essential data collection and provide program assessment and analysis.
• Maintains proficiency in using local, regional and national databases. Conducts appropriate queries to answer questions about trends in patient care. Collects and manages new data about current practices in the department and across sites of care.
• The position collaborates with Fiscal office to financially support SAMS operations. Assesses past budget requirements, projects future budget needs, submits budget requests and manages program budget.
• Serves as the fund control point clerk, purchase card official and Contracting Officer Representative for SAMS contracts.
• Conducts quarterly audits of patient fund accounts to identify any deceased patient fund accounts in accordance with VA policies and local procedures. Initiates disposition of funds when deceased patient fund account balance is identified.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 8:00am - 4:30pm
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• To be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. In addition to the application and questionnaire, this position requires an online assessment. The online assessment measures critical general competencies required to perform the job.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• Physical Requirements: The work required does include physical requirements essential for successful job performance that could not otherwise be performed with accommodation or workplace adjustment. A pre-placement physical examination is required.
• 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)

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 11/28/2025.

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-9 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-7. 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.

Note: 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.

You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below:

• GS-9: You must have one year (1) of specialized experience equivalent to at least 52 weeks at the next lower grade GS-07 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization.
  • Specialized Experience: Specialized experience includes, but not limited to:
    • Manages and/or prepares responses to correspondence with Veterans and their Next of Kin (NOK) of burial benefits and other potential benefits for the organization;
    • Acts as a liaison with persons and/or groups within and outside of the organization;
    • Reviews daily death notifications, ensure timely completion of death certificates, coordinates with Funeral Directors and County Registrar's Offices as appropriate;
    • Collaborates with Fiscal office to financially support SAMS operations;
    • Serve as the initial point of contact for all telephone and personal contacts;
    • Serves as the fund control point clerk, purchase card official and Contracting Officer Representative for SAMS contracts.
  • OR Substitution of Education for Experience (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED): Do you possess a master's or equivalent graduate degree or 2 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.B. or J.D., if related. Such education must demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work.
  • OR Combination of Education and Experience (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED): Do you possess Equivalent combinations of successfully completed graduate education and specialized experience directly related to the work of the Human Recourses position, may be substituted to meet the experience requirements for GS-09 position. For example, an applicant with 6 months of appropriate specialized experience equivalent to GS-07 (50 percent of the experience requirement for GS-09) and 1 year of successfully completed graduate education (18 semester hours), as is describe above, (50 percent of the education requirement for the GS-09) would qualify for a GS-09 position.

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.

Your qualifications will be evaluated based on your application materials (e.g., resume, supporting documents), your responses on the application questionnaire, and your responses to all assessments required for this position. You will be assessed on the following Competencies for this position:

• Attention to Detail
• Customer Service
• Decision Making
• Flexibility
• Integrity/Honesty
• Interpersonal Skills
• Learning
• Reading Comprehension
• Reasoning
• Self-Management
• Stress Tolerance
• Teamwork

Your experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month and year start/end dates AND hours worked per week. 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. IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Overstating your qualifications and/or experience in your application materials or application questionnaire may result in your removal from consideration. Cheating on the online assessment may also result in your removal from consideration.

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; 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.

During the application process you may have an option to opt-in to make your resume available to hiring managers in the agency who have similar positions. Opting in does not impact your application for this announcement, nor does it guarantee further consideration for additional positions.

Special Employment Consideration: VA encourages all persons to apply, including those eligible for hiring under 5 CFR 213.3102(u), Schedule A, Appointment of persons with disabilities [i.e., intellectual disabilities, severe physical disabilities, or psychiatric disabilities], and/or Disabled veterans with a compensable service-connected disability of 30% or more. Contact the Agency Contact for information on how to apply under this appointment authority via the Selective Placement Coordinator.

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.

• Cover Letter
• Resume
• Separation Notice (RIF)
• 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.

Veterans' Preference: When applying for Federal Jobs, eligible Veterans should claim preference for 5pt (TP), 10pt (CP/CPS/XP), or for Sole Survivor Preference (SSP) in the questionnaire. You must provide a legible copy of your DD214(s) which shows dates and character of service (honorable, general, etc.). If you are currently serving on active duty and expect to be released or discharged within 120 days you must submit documentation related to your active duty service which reflects the dates of service, character of service (honorable, general, etc.), and dates of impending separation. Additionally, veterans and others eligible for 10-point preference (such as widows or mothers of eligible Veterans) must also submit an SF-15 "Application for 10 Point Veteran Preference" with required proof as stated on the form. Documentation is required to award preference. For more information on Veterans' Preference, please visit Feds Hire Vets - Veterans - Job Seekers - Veterans' Preference.

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.

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

NOTE: Participation in the seasonal influenza program is a condition of employment and a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP). It is a requirement that all HCP to receive annual seasonal influenza vaccination or obtain an exemption for medical or religious reasons. Wearing a face mask is required when an exemption to the influenza vaccination has been granted. HCP in violation of this directive may face disciplinary action up to and including removal from federal service. HCP are individuals who, during the influenza season, work in VHA locations or who come into contact with VA patients or other HCP as part of their duties. VHA locations include, but are not limited to, VA hospitals and associated clinics, community living centers (CLCs), community-based outpatient clinics (CBOCs), domiciliary units, Vet centers and VA-leased medical facilities. HCP include all VA licensed and unlicensed, clinical and administrative, remote and onsite, paid and without compensation, full- and part-time employees, intermittent employees, fee basis employees, VA contractors, researchers, volunteers and health professions trainees (HPTs) who are expected to perform any or all of their work at these facilities. HPTs may be paid or unpaid and include residents, interns, fellows and students. HCP also includes VHA personnel providing home-based care to Veterans and drivers and other personnel whose duties put them in contact with patients outside VA medical facilities.

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.

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