Communication Specialist

Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration

Communication Specialist

Coatesville ,

Pennsylvania

Apply Now

Summary The Communications Specialist position is under the Connected Care Service and supervised by the Connected Care Program Manager. The incumbent serves as the local facility My HealtheVet Coordinator (MHV) and Secure Messaging Administrator (SM). The incumbent serves as the facility champion and subject matter expert (SME), Annie POC, and leads facility teams to support existing and future Veteran communication initiatives. The incumbent also supports equipment and software for the program. Responsibilities Duties include but are not limited to: Oversees MHV's online presence and web content and leads innovations to keep the local facility's My HealtheVet Program on the cutting-edge. Establishes local MHV-related initiatives, strategies to meet goals, identifies responsible parties, tracks progress including monitoring activity status, and reports status/progress to Connected Care Program and Medical Center Management. Manages multiple projects by planning and organizing activities for My HealtheVet, Secure Messaging, social media, web page/site communication, and all other Connected Care projects. Responsible for establishing and managing communications plans that identify target audiences, appropriate messages, activities, and resources needed for effective communication, and effective communications plan for change management, incorporate multiple channels and manage expectations and disseminate project progress. Formulates a marketing strategy from research, reports, products and organizational data. Designs, conducts and evaluates innovative means to advertise and market products of the MHV and Social Media Program. Analyzes new or amended legislation, and develops policy affecting programs, activities, or functions for which the facility has responsibility. Establishes and manages the training plans and design and perform needs assessments within the project relative to functional and training needs and project effectiveness. Establishes, develops, and implements local MHV-related goals, strategies to meet goals, identifies responsible parties, tracks progress, including monitoring goals/activity status, and reports status/progress to medical center management. Formulates a marketing strategy from research, reports, products and organizational data. Analyzes functional clinical and business process changes or impact to clinical guidelines in terms of policies, procedures, and user behaviors. Manages multi-disciplinary teams comprised of professional, technical and support personnel to coordinate clinical and business functions for the MHV program. Analyzes new or amended legislation and develops policy covering programs, activities, or functions for which the facility has responsibility. Utilizes interpersonal communication skills to deal with Veterans who are difficult, hostile, or distressed, working with co-workers, supervisors, and high level management, and negotiating. Ensures the Business processes such as encounter tracking and workload credit, and development of the tools necessary to track encounters. Performs quality checks to confirm all Telehealth users have completed their Telehealth training per Office of Connected Care Policy Works with OI&T and Bio Med to maintain communications regarding ongoing technical support and will enter help tickets as needed Effectively monitor reports in VSSC and the VISN 4 Reports Center (such as orphan and workload reports, orders pending reports, consult pending reports, etc.).. Work Schedule: Full time Monday-Friday 8:00 to 4:30 pm Telework: VA supports the use of telework as a way to help attract and retain talented individuals in public service, increase worker productivity, and better prepare the agency to operate during emergencies. This position may be authorized for telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process. Position Description/PD#: Communication Specialist/PD02745 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not approved Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required 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 You may be required to serve a probationary period Subject to background/security investigation Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP) Participation in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination program is a requirement for all Veterans Health Administration Health Care Personnel (HCP) - See "Additional Information" below for details. Qualifications To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 04/10/2024. 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-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-9. 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: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-9 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Understanding of clinical and marketing guidelines; communicating to various audience types (written and oral); preparing outreach and marketing materials/presentations; analyzing/evaluating data to affect program effectiveness; proposing, developing or implementing strategic plans; using web-based platforms to conduct meetings/training sessions. OR Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have GS-11 Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.M., if related OR Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. Specialized experience as described above, but less than one year; and have at least two years of graduate education as described, but less than the required three years. Have computed the percentage of the requirements met, and the total is at least 100% (To compute the percentage, divide your total months of qualifying experience by 12. Then, divide your semester hours of graduate education beyond the second year (total graduate semester hours minus 36) by 18. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify.). (Note: You must attach a copy of your transcripts.) You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Creative Thinking Education and Training Problem Solving Technical Competence 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: Work is primarily sedentary, but may require periods of standing during presentations, briefings, speeches, health fair activities, etc., although some slight physical effort may be required. 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 Education can be used to qualify at the GS-11 level. See the qualification requirements. A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on 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 The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced Federal/VA competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified you must submit appropriate documentation (a copy of the agency notice, your most recent performance rating, and your most recent SF-50 noting current position, grade level, and duty location) and be found well-qualified for this vacancy. To be well-qualified: applicants must possess experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors, and who are proficient in most of the required competencies of the job. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/. This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies. Pursuant to VHA Directive 1193.01, VHA health care personnel (HCP) are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 subject to such accommodations as required by law (i.e., medical, religious or pregnancy). VHA HCPs do not include remote workers who only infrequently enter VHA locations. If selected, you will be required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and submit documentation of proof of vaccination before your start date. The agency will provide additional information regarding what information or documentation will be needed and how you can request a legally required accommodation from this requirement using the reasonable accommodation process. 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.

#J-18808-Ljbffr