Summary The incumbent serves as Deputy Chief (Inpatient) of the Business Office for the Washington DC VA Medical Center (DCVAMC). Incumbent reports directly to the Business Office Chief, providing leadership and managerial support for substantial operations to fulfill VA mission. The incumbent provides a high-level of leadership support to Business Office senior leadership and clinical services. Responsibilities Major Duties: Planning, direction, integration, and evaluation of all Business Office functions that support inpatient care delivery across the Health Care System. Providing Veteran-centered administrative and operational support and leading section chiefs and managers to ensure seamless, across the continuum of care. Emphasizing inpatient flow management, coordination of admissions, discharges, and transfers, and ensuring timely and accurate patient administration in compliance with VHA directives. Must be available for rotating shifts, weekends, and holidays, given inpatient service requirements, and serving as Acting Chief, Business Officer in the Chiefs absence. Providing operational direction, policy development, and program oversight to strengthen the quality, access, and efficiency of inpatient and outpatient care delivery. Serving as a principal advisor to the Chief, Business Officer and other executive leaders on inpatient business operations, access, and resource utilization. Providing a high degree of independence, sound judgment, and the ability to interpret and implement complex VHA policies in a manner that supports high reliability, stewardship of resources, and equity in access for all enrolled Veterans. Meeting mission requirements, may be required to adjust tours, including coverage during evenings, weekends, and holidays, to ensure continuity of critical inpatients business functions in support of Veteran care. Providing program level leadership for inpatient enrollment, eligibility, and benefits activities, ensuring that policies, procedures, and workflows consistently support accurate and timely eligibility determinations for admitted Veterans, including complex categories such as Other Than Honorable discharges, Military Sexual Trauma, and other special eligibility programs. Overseeing the design, implementation, and monitoring of processes that prevent, detect, and correct Business Office-related encounter and eligibility errors affecting inpatients, including development of performance metrics, routine trend analysis, and targeted staff education. Providing strategic oversight of inpatient administrative operations, including bed control, bed assignments and transfers, bed change letters, and ward administration, to ensure standardized process accuracy, real time tracking of patient location and status throughout hospitalization. Developing and monitoring program goals, performance indicators, and standard operating procedures related to admissions, transfers, and discharges, working closely with Nursing, Medicine, Mental Health, Social Work, and other services to optimize patient flow and minimize avoidable delays. Coordinating with Fiscal Service at the program level to maintain robust processes for Patient Funds and Agent Cashier activities, ensuring appropriate internal controls, reconciliation practices, and compliance with VA policy for all admitted patients. Overseeing the inpatient travel and transportation program as it relates to admitted and discharged Veterans, including establishment of policies and workflows for Beneficiary Travel eligibility determinations, authorization and documentation of approved travel. Ensuring that procedures governing interfacility transfers, specialty care travel, and discharge transportation are current, standardized across units, clearly communicated to staff, and routinely evaluated for effectiveness and compliance. Developing and maintaining monitoring systems and dashboards to track adherence to regulations for inpatient travel and transportation benefits, including timeliness, documentation completeness, and authorization accuracy, and uses findings to drive quality improvement initiatives. Monitors inpatient administrative workflows and travel/transportation processes across the medical center to ensure alignment with VA and VHA directives, identifying system level barriers and leading multidisciplinary efforts to improve efficiency, reduce delays, and enhance the overall Veteran experience. Exercising delegated authority to oversee the overall planning, direction and timely execution of a program, several program segments or comparable staff function, including development, assignments, and higher-level clearance of goals and objectives for supervisors or managers of subordinate organizational units or lower organizational levels. Evaluating subordinate supervisors or leaders and serving as the senior rater on evaluations of non-supervisory employees rated by subordinate supervisors. Reviewing and approving serious disciplinary actions involving non-supervisory subordinates. Performing other duties as assigned. Work Schedule: M-F, 07:30am - 4:00pm. May include holidays and weekends. Telework: Not Authorized Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Medical Administration Officer/PD269110 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Requirements Conditions of Employment You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job 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 may be required to serve a 1-year probationary 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, 06/01/2026. 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-13 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-12. 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. Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-12 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: 1)overseeing the full range of human resources and program requirements; 2)provides input in regards to the budgeting, contracting and financial management; 3)exercise responsibility for recommendations for budget formulation, presentation and execution of programs under area of responsibility; 4)interprets administrative policies, implementing local polices defining administrative requirements and/or providing recommendations to Management. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Administration and Management Analytical Thinking Leadership Organizational Awareness Problem Solving 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. 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: Primarily a sedentary position, but the work requires some walking, bending, stooping and carrying of light objects such as manuals, documents, etc. 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/. Education Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/. Additional Information Whole Health is an approach to health care that empowers and equips people to take charge of their health and well-being and live their life to the fullest. The VA is committed to Whole Health and values Veteran and Employee health and wellbeing. As a VA employee, you will practice Whole Health in an environment that supports personalized and proactive care. "OUR MISSION: To fulfill President Lincoln's promise "To care for those who have served in our nation's military and for their families, caregivers, and survivors" - by serving and honoring the men and women who are America's Veterans. How would you like to become a part of a team providing compassionate whole health care to Veterans? The DC Medical Center, located in sight of the Nation's Capitol, provides care to Veterans. Offering tertiary care in a Complexity Level IB hospital, allows the multidisciplinary staff to provide comprehensive primary and specialty care in medicine, surgery, neurology and psychiatry." The VA has adopted Core Values and Characteristics that apply universally across the Department. The five Core Values define "who we are," our culture, and how we care for Veterans, their families and other beneficiaries. The Values are Integrity, Commitment, Advocacy, Respect and Excellence ("I CARE"). As a VA professional, your opportunities are endless. With many openings in the multiple functions of VA, you will have a wide range of opportunities and leadership positions at your fingertips. Receiving Service Credit for Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave: Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior work experience or military service experience. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed. This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies. If you are unable to apply online or need an alternate method to submit documents, please reach out to the Agency Contact listed in this Job Opportunity Announcement. Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer. For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act.
