Social Worker (Program Coordinator) - Veteran Directed Care

Clarification from the agency

NOTE: The 2-page Resume requirement does not apply to this position. Open to all U.S. Citizens

Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional

Duties may include but not limited too:

• Responsible for the overall program development, management, operations, and evaluation of the Veteran Directed Care (VDC) program.
• Coordinates the work responsibilities of clinical and support staff assigned to the program. Ensures that staff understand and adhere to program directives, policies, and standards.
• Oversees the screening, approval, modification, and recertification of services for Veterans in the program and ensures that Veterans approved for services meet VA eligibility requirements. Tracks pending consults and ensures action is taken within the timeframes specified in the Lexington VAMC, VISN 9, and VHA consult management policies. Ensures recertification of services is completed in a timely manner.
• Establishes and maintains an effective working relationship with staff at the Area Agencies on Aging and Disability (AAAD) which provide VDC services to Veterans in the Lexington VAMC catchment area as well as any state agencies which provide oversight to the AAADs. Maintains continuous communication with AAAD staff to ensure appropriate services are provided to Veterans in the program. Establishes contact with other AAADs to expand the program to geographic areas not currently served. Acts as a liaison, as needed, between AAAD staff and other VA services (to include Community Care and Payment Operations Management) to ensure the program operates smoothly.
• Assists with establishing and maintaining the annual VDC budget.
• Collaborates with Payment Operations Management staff to ensure that payments to VDC agencies are made in a timely manner and in compliance with VA standards. Provides review, follow-up, and appropriate documentation of all complaints regarding the program. Tracks program data. Organizes and prepares reports for service leadership, the health system director, VISN 9 GEC Lead, and VA Central Office.
• Conducts outreach to Lexington VAMC staff to market the program. Provides formal and informal education to VA staff on any changes to VA or Lexington VAMC policy and procedures concerning the program.
• Attends and participates in monthly and quarterly conference calls and training programs related to the VDC program. Communicates with coordinators at other VA healthcare systems to exchange information and resources.
• Independently conducts psychosocial assessments of a wide variety of individuals from various socioeconomic, cultural, ethnic, educational, and other diverse backgrounds. Develops treatment plans in collaboration with the Veteran/family and with the interdisciplinary treatment team. Incumbent possesses the skills to offer psychosocial interventions and measures outcomes to interventions.
• Provides crisis intervention services, seeking to address the cause as well as the presenting complaint, coordinates family conferences, and serves as a liaison to family members.
• Establishes and maintains effective therapeutic relationships with Veterans and their families. Incumbent can independently work with patients and families who are experiencing a variety of psychiatric, medical, and social problems utilizing individual, group and family counseling and therapy skills.
• Independently identifies high-risk patients and provides case management services.
• Other duties as assigned

Work Schedule: Full-Time Monday - Friday 07:30am - 04:00pm or 08:00am - 04:30pm
Recruitment/Relocation Incentives (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized
Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not Authorized
Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases. When setting pay, a higher step rate of the appropriate grade may be determined after consideration of higher or unique qualifications or special needs of the VA (Above Minimum Rate of the Grade).
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)
Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior [work experience] or military service experience.
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: Eligible for Ad-hoc Telework
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 31390-F
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.
• 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.
• Must pass pre-employment physical evaluation/examination.
• 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

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.

Basic Requirements:

• Citizenship: Be a citizen of the United States. (Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with chapter 3, section A, paragraph 3g this part).
• English Language Proficiency: Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f).
• Education. Have a master's degree in social work from a school of social work fully accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE). Graduates of schools of social work that are in candidacy status do not meet this requirement until the School of Social Work is fully accredited. A doctoral degree in social work may not be substituted for the master's degree in social work. Verification of the degree can be made by going to http://www.cswe.org/Accreditation to verify that the social work degree meets the accreditation standards for a masters of social work.
• Licensure. Persons hired or reassigned to social worker positions in the GS-0185 series in VHA must be licensed or certified by a state to independently practice social work at the master's degree level. Current state requirements may be found by going to http://vaww.va.gov/OHRM/T38Hybrid/.

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: Social Worker (Program Coordinator), GS-12
Experience and Education Requirement: One year of experience equivalent to the GS-11 grade level. Experience must demonstrate possession of advanced practice skills and judgment, demonstrating progressively more professional competency. Candidate may have certification or other post-master's degree training from a nationally recognized professional organization or university that includes a defined curriculum/course of study and internship, or equivalent supervised professional experience.

Licensure Requirement: Individuals assigned as social worker program coordinator must be licensed or certified at the advanced practice level, and must be able to provide supervision for licensure.

Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: In addition to the experience above, you must demonstrate the following Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

(a) Knowledge of program coordination and administration which includes consultation, negotiation, and monitoring.
(b) Knowledge and ability to write policies, procedures, and/or practice guidelines for the program.
(c) Ability to supervise multidisciplinary staff assigned to the program.
(d) Skill in organizing work, setting priorities, meeting multiple deadlines, and evaluating assigned program area(s).
(e) Ability to provide training, orientation, and guidance within clinical practice.

Assignments:
For all assignments above the full performance level, the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, complexity (difficulty), and variety and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time. Program coordinators at the GS12 grade level are administratively responsible for a clinical program providing treatment to Veterans in a major specialty area, such as but not limited to: Spinal Cord Injury, Homeless Continuum Veteran Program, Hospice and Palliative Care Program, Suicide Prevention Program, Veterans Justice Outreach, Caregiver Support Program and Community Nursing Home Program. The program coordinator may be the sole practitioner in this specialty at the facility and typically provide direct patient care services in the program area. The program coordinator oversees the daily operation of the program, develop policies and procedures for program operation, and prepare reports and statistics for facility, VISN, and national use. They may be responsible for the program's budget, developing and monitoring staff compliance with practice, standards and guidelines on documentation, workload, data entry, ethical practice and service delivery. The program coordinator provides analysis and evaluation of clinical program data and computerized programs to identify system-wide trends and needs to enhance the quality of service. They may be responsible for, or contribute to, the program's resource and fiscal management, monitoring control points developing the annual budget, operating within that budget, and accounting for appropriated funds. The program coordinator is administratively responsible for the clinical programming and prepares reports and statistics for facility, VISN, and national use. They provide leadership, direction, orientation, coaching, in-service training, staff development, and continuing education programs for assigned staff. They initiate and conduct a variety of program or service audits and complete designated clinical practice audits and reports, including productivity assessments. They oversee program operations and evaluations, identifying areas for improvement, gathering relevant data, assessing the data, developing and implementing ideas for improvement and evaluating efficacy of improvement efforts.]

Preferred Experience: Prior experience with Care in the Community and care Coordination Veteran directed Care experience. Demonstrated experience working with interdisciplinary teams and community partners. Social work experience, preferably in health care or with veterans.

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-12.

Physical Requirements: The incumbent must be in overall good health, able to sit at a desk working at a computer, engage in light to moderate physical activity including sitting, walking, bending, and carrying supplies. The incumbent must be able to perform primarily light and sedentary duties with occasionally moderate physical demands with reasonable accommodation, if necessary, without endangering the health and safety of the social worker or others. Position requires walking throughout the clinic and/or Medical Center, standing for extended periods of time, involves sitting at a computer and in counsel and consultation with Veterans and interdisciplinary teams. Position may require travel to the community to meet with Veterans and caregivers, or with community agencies and partners who aid and/or help its Veterans, and caregivers. This position also requires close visual acuity to perform an activity such as: preparing and analyzing data and figures; transcribing; viewing a computer terminal; extensive reading; and repetitive motions of the wrists, hands, and/or fingers.

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.

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:



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)
• Long-form resume/Curriculum vitae (CV)
• Other Documents
• Performance Appraisal
• Professional Certification
• Separation Notice (RIF)
• SF-15
• SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action
• Transcript

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