Summary
This position is eligible for
the Education Debt Reduction Program (EDRP), a student loan payment reimbursement program. You must meet specific eligibility requirements per VHA policy and submit your EDRP application within four months of appointment. Program Approval, award amount (up to $200,000) & eligibility period (1 to 5 years) are determined by the VHA Education Loan Repayment Services program office after review of the EDRP application. Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply.
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Duties
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- Participates not only in direct patient care activities alongside other service members but also takes on quality improvement roles and responsibilities. Additionally, the CPP will assist, when possible, with the future implementation of an antithrombotic stewardship model.
- Collaborates with the Anticoagulation Service Program Manager (ASPM), who manages daily clinic workload and represents the anticoagulation and thrombosis service to facility-wide, internal, and external stakeholders.
- Participates in anticoagulation data collection when possible and engages in quality assurance activities as required to ensure the appropriate and safe use of antithrombotic medications;(b) represent SLC HCS in meetings and symposiums when time permits; and (c) develop and monitor patients' therapy in a direct patient care role.
- Assists providers with evidence-based medication selection by offering written and/or verbal consultations, ensuring that all prescriptions and actions meet proper eligibility criteria and comply with National Formulary and Non-Formulary procedures. This includes adherence to all national directives,VISN-19 guidelines, local policies, and standard operating procedures.
- Knowledgeable about the National Patient Safety Goal for Anticoagulant Therapy(NPSG.03.05.01), National Standards for Anticoagulation Management, Guidelines for Safe Medication Use in Perioperative and Procedural Settings, VA quality metrics (e.g., TTR), and Pharmacy Benefits Management initiatives can integrate these standards into practice.
- Manages patients' pharmacotherapies as it pertains to the anticoagulation program and supervises technical support personnel; he/she has approved clinical privileges and assumes authority to direct therapy; orders lab tests as indicated for appropriate patient monitoring.CPP must have excellent phone etiquette and demonstrate the ability to interface with providers (e.g., physicians, PAs, APRNs) and patients.
- Interfaces with colleagues, providers, and patients (as needed) for designing and in an advisory capacity for managing veterans' treatment regimen to achieve optimization of cost-effective drug therapy.
- Serves as an authoritative information source on drugs and their utilization in therapy, with special emphasis on specialized medications used in the treatment of new or established patients.CPP utilizes the highest level of clinical privileges to manage assigned patients and designs a therapeutic regimen or plan based on patient-specific information, which includes establishing a therapeutic endpoint, electing an appropriate drug and related therapy, and establishing an appropriate dosage regimen.
- Monitors and assesses therapeutic and adverse effects of drug therapy (including drug interactions) through selection and evaluation of physical and laboratory parameters, and makes referrals when appropriate.
- Modifies therapeutic regimen as needed following patient-specific presentations of signs and symptoms, laboratory values, and diagnoses.
- Documents workload encounter data prior to signing patient care notes. It is critical that patient care notes, at a minimum, include items such as medical problems, disease states, analysis of laboratory data, etc., that necessitate starting, changing, holding, and discontinuing medications and are part of clinical decision-making.
- Provides highly specialized education and training support to other professional services in the broad area of anticoagulation and thrombosis stewardship.
- Interviews patients (including transition of care and/or traveling veteran) when necessary for taking medication history and for formulating a pharmaceutical care plan based on disease and discharges summaries as needed.
- Identifies all drug-related problems that may be affecting the patient or contributing to a need for hospitalization or referral to the emergency department. This would include drug side effects, allergic reactions, toxicities, improper dosage regimens, non-compliance, etc.
- Evaluates the risk-benefit ratio of various therapeutic options and develops a therapeutic plan utilizing the most efficacious, least toxic, and economical pharmacological treatment modalities, and communicates these plans to the patients' providers.
- Evaluates the impact of the patient's age on the ability to understand directions, provide self-assessment, and participate in other medical milieu appropriate to the overall treatment plan.
Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 8:00am-4:30pm
Telework: May be available on an ad-hoc basis as determined by the agency policy.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 54168-A
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: May be Authorized
EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive.Contact mailto:joshua.titensor@va.gov OR mailto:karen.diaz@va.gov, the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance. Learn more
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized
Requirements
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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 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:
- United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.
- English Language Proficiency: Pharmacists must be proficient in spoken and written English as required by 38 U.S.C. 7402(d), and 7407(d)
- Education:
- Graduate of an Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) accredited College or School of Pharmacy with a baccalaureate degree in pharmacy (BS Pharmacy) and/or a Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) degree. Verification of approved degree programs may be obtained from the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education, 20 North Clark Street, Suite 2500, Chicago, Illinois 60602-5109; phone: (312) 664-3575, or through their Web site at: http://www.acpe-accredit.org/. (NOTE: Prior to 2005 ACPE accredited both baccalaureate and Doctor of Pharmacy terminal degree program. Today the sole degree is Doctor of Pharmacy.
- Graduates of foreign pharmacy degree programs meet the educational requirement if the graduate is able to provide proof of achieving the Foreign Pharmacy Graduate Examination Commission (FPGEC) Certification, which includes passing the Foreign Pharmacy Graduate Equivalency Examination (FPGEE) and the Test of English as a Foreign Language Internet Based Test (TOEFL IBT).
- Licensure: Full, current and unrestricted license to practice pharmacy in a State, Territory, Commonwealth of the United States (i.e., Puerto Rico), or the District of Columbia. The pharmacist must maintain current registration if this is a requirement for maintaining full, current, and unrestricted licensure. A pharmacist who has, or has ever had, any license(s) revoked, suspended, denied, restricted, limited, or issued/placed in a probationary status may be appointed only in accordance with the provisions in VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Chapter 3, section B, paragraph 16.
- Grandfathering Provision. All licensed pharmacists employed in VHA in this occupation on the effective date 6/7/2012 of this qualification standard are considered to have met all qualification requirements for the title, series and grade held, including positive education and licensure/certification/registration that are part of the basic requirements of the occupation.
Grade Determinations:
GS-13 Pharmacist Clinical Specialist
- Experience: In addition to the GS-12 requirements, must have 1 year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level.
- Assignments. For all assignments above the full performance level, the higher level duties must consist of significant scope, administrative independence, complexity (difficulty) and range of variety as described in this standard at the specified grade level and be performed at least 25% of the time.
- Clinical Pharmacy Specialist. Functions at the highest level of clinical practice, works independently under their scope of practice as defined by the individual medical center to directly care for patients. A CPS plays a defined role in budgetary execution and serves as a mid-level provider who functions to initiate, modify or discontinue medication therapy and as a consultant for intensive medication therapy management services. This includes, but is not limited to, the following: designing, implementing, assessing, monitoring and documenting therapeutic plans utilizing the most effective, least toxic and most economical medication treatments; helping achieve positive patient centric outcomes through direct and indirect interactions with patients, providers, and interdisciplinary teams in assigned areas; performing physical assessments; and ordering laboratory and other tests to help determine efficacy and toxicity of medication therapy.
- GS-13 Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:
- Ability to communicate orally and in writing to persuade and influence clinical and management decisions.
- Expert understanding of regulatory and quality standards for their program area.
- Ability to solve problems, coordinate and organize responsibilities to maximize outcomes in their program area or area of clinical expertise.
- Expert knowledge of a specialized area of clinical pharmacy practice or specialty area of pharmacy.
- Advanced skill in monitoring and assessing the outcome of drug therapies, including physical assessment and interpretation of laboratory and other diagnostic parameters.
Preferred Experience: Board certification (BCPS, BCACP, BCCP. ETC.) from the Board of Pharmacy Specialties. Clinical Pharmacy Practice experience in anticoagulation with a scope of practice. Published research in a peer reviewed journal in anticoagulation or thrombosis. Background in informatics.(1) & Anticoagulation Clinical Pharmacy Specialist candidates for this position who did not complete PGY1 residency or fellowship must demonstrate equivalent experience (e.g., at least 3 years of continuous experience in anticoagulation).
Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.
Physical Requirements: The work involves long periods of moving about the work unit. The work requires regular and recurring bending, lifting, stooping, stretching, lifting and repositioning and transferring patients. Incumbent may be exposed to patients who are combative, secondary to delirium, dementia, or psychiatric disorders and patients who require restraints. The incumbent must be a mature, sensible individual capable of working effectively in stressful situations, demonstrating cheerfulness, compassion, courtesy and concern. Must be quick and dependable in taking emergency action in using initiative to prevent accidents.
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
