Program Analyst

Summary

This position is located within Quality Management Service at the Sacramento VA Medical Center. The Program Analyst (PA) within Quality Management is responsible for the planning, implementation, and evaluation of projects and programs within Quality Management Serviceand Ethics Program within VA Northern California Health Care System (VANCHCS).

Duties

• Major Duties include but are not limited to: The incumbent accepts and supports the guiding principles of the VANCHCS and performs his or her duties in a manner that promotes patient safety, quality health care, outstanding customer service, and the maintenance of an environment committed to serving the Veteran. Furthermore, the incumbent actively supports the team concept and continually functions as a team player. The incumbent establishes, maintains and analyzes current and accurate information system that contains all data records, materials and follow-up documentation related to the Risk Management (RM) Program and Ethics Program. This includes, but not limited to analyzing and synthesizing data related to RM quarterly reports, RM related suspense items, Peer Review reporting requirements, Tort Claims reports, Office of Medical Legal Affairs (OMLA), State Licensure Board (SLB), & Ethics Program projects and reporting requirements. Develops, gathers, and analyzes spreadsheets, graphs, excel and access databases in order to monitor data in support of the RM and Ethics Program. Researches, collects, organizes, and displays data obtained from case files to perform program analytical work and makes recommendations and prepares required reports. Conducts focused studies as necessary. Incumbent conducts special projects as assigned and/or appropriate. Special projects generally involve fact-finding and suggestions for problem resolution as well as assistance with development and implementation of new or reviewed policies or program changes. The Program Analyst oversees the hospital-wide councils, boards, committees, subcommittees, and process action teams for VANCHCS. Leads staff on VANCHCS' Standard Meeting Guidelines and Procedures, reviews submitted charters from staff and reviews them for accuracy prior to submitting for approval. The incumbent updates the organizational structure as changes occur. In addition, the Program Analyst completes monthly audits for all councils, boards, committees, subcommittees, and process action teams to ensure minutes, data for quarterly reports & annual reports are accurate, presence of charters, etc. are completed and maintained within the agreed upon site or drive that all staff can access to ensure compliance for survey readiness for the organization. Performs analysis and/or evaluation of programs and data for use in preparing status reports, briefings, and presentations. Attends committee meetings to fulfill documentation requirements of the committees. Collects information and analyzes reports required for the RM Program within Quality Management service. Enters & analyzes data elements into appropriate databases and/or tracking systems. Analyzes data from hospital-wide and service-level performance improvement programs into reports and databases. Collects, analyzes and disseminates necessary data into appropriate graphs and reports. Develops policies by researching prior publications, regulations, and recommending new policies and/or changes in relation to the Enterprise Framework for Quality, Safety, Value, Risk Management and Ethics. Interprets such material and determines the extent to which the organization is affected and advises operating officials. Must demonstrate substantial skill in planning, analyzing, problem solving, and decision making. A high-level of oral and written communication skills are also essential to the success of the program under the purview of this position. Incumbent must exercise sound judgment, tact, and diplomacy in areas of communication and interpersonal relationships. Incumbent communicates with employees and leaders at the Medical Center, VISN, and VACO level, as well as, with outside consultants and acknowledges the need for tactful and appropriate communications at all times. Performs other related duties as assigned by the Chief of Quality Management. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 8:00am - 4:30pm Telework: Ad-Hoc Only Position Description/PD#: Program Analyst/91441053 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 09/25/2026. 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-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: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-07 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: skills in applying analytical and evaluative techniques to the identification, consideration, and resolution of issues and problems of a procedural and/or factual nature. The problems deal with readily observable conditions. Knowledge is required of the principles, concepts, and methodology of line programs. Assignments require skill in conducting interviews with supervisors and employees to obtain information necessary to evaluate and analyze the issues of the assignments. (This experience must be well documented in your resume or application package). OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have successfully completed a Master's degree or 2 full years of progressively higher level or LL.B. or J.D., if related graduate education leading to such a degree in a major field of study related to the work of the position which provided the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to perform the duties of this position. (NOTE: TRANSCRIPTS MUST BE SUBMITTED WITH THE APPLICATION MATERIALS. CONFERRAL OF DEGREE(S) EARNED SHOULD BE PRESENT ON TRANSCRIPT(S). UNOFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT(S) IS OK.). OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education beyond bachelors degree. [Note: To combine education and experience, first determine how much of the qualifying experience and education you have, as a percentage of what is required for each. Add the percentages together, and if the total is 100% or more, then the combined education and experience is qualifying for the position. EXAMPLE: To compute the percentage, divide your total months of qualifying experience by 12. Then divide your semester hours of education beyond the first 18 semester hours (i.e. beyond the first year) by 18. Add the two percentages together. The total percentage must equal at least 100% to qualify.] (NOTE: TRANSCRIPT(S) MUST BE SUBMITTED WITH APPLICATION MATERIAL. CONFERRAL OF DEGREE(S) EARNED SHOULD BE PRESENT ON TRANSCRIPT(S). UNOFFICIAL TRANSCRIPTS OK). You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Computer Skills Knowledge Management Manages and Organizes Information Problem Solving Teamwork 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 is primarily sedentary and is performed in an office setting. The incumbent typically sits comfortably to perform work at a computer, but there may be some walking, standing, bending, and carrying of light items such as papers, books, or small office equipment. No special physical demands are required to perform the work, although the incumbent may occasionally travel to other VANCHCS sites for meetings, trainings, or data collection activities. 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/.

Requirements

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 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.

Education

Education substitution is acceptable at this grade level. 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/.

How to apply

All applicants are encouraged to apply online. To apply for this position, you must complete the questionnaire and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section below. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on 09/25/2026 to receive consideration. To preview the questionnaire click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/13055656. To begin, click Apply Online to create a USA JOBS account or log in to your existing account. Follow the prompts to select your USA JOBS resume and/or other supporting documents and complete the occupational questionnaire. Click Submit My Answers to submit your application package. NOTE: It is your responsibility to ensure your responses and appropriate documentation is submitted prior to the closing date. Beginning September 27, 2025, Federal agencies will only accept resumes up to two pages in length to comply with the Merit Hiring Plan. Resumes longer than two pages will result in ineligibility for further consideration for the position. USAJOBS will not allow you to upload or build resumes longer than two pages, and you will need to update the resumes in your profile before applying for a job. Resumes should include information relevant to the knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies of the position to which you are applying. VA is unable to make assumptions about qualifications if not clearly listed. Resumes must be legible so they can be reviewed for eligibility, minimum qualifications and other position requirements listed in the job announcement. Your resume must be 5MB or less. We recommend saving and uploading your resume as a PDF to maintain formatting and number of pages. We also accept GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, TXT, PDF, ODT or Word (DOC or DOCX). We do not accept PDF portfolio files. We recommend using a sans-serif font size like Lato, if available. Other widely available options are Calibri, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, Open San Source Sans Pro, Roboto or Noro Sans. Make your page margins 0.5 inches. Consider using 14-point size font for titles and 10-point for the main text in your resume. The resume builder can help you create a resume using these recommendations and uses the information in your USAJOBS profile to help you get started. Helpful Hints for Creating a Two-Page Resume: Prioritize most relevant and recent experience Use concise, results focused language Align language from the job announcement Focus on demonstrating skills and competencies Remove outdated or unrelated experience Use the USAJOBS resume builder Additional guidance on this new requirement and resume building tools can be found at: https://help.usajobs.gov/faq/application/documents/resume/page-limit https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/hiring-information/merit-hiring-plan-resources/applicant-guidance-on-the-two-page-resume-limit/ 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/. 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.