Clinical Pharmacy Specialist (Population Health)
What you'd do
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 (one to five years) are determined by the VHA Education Loan Repayment Services program office after review of the EDRP application. Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply.
Major duties
VA Careers - Pharmacy: https://youtube.com/embed/Fn_ickNBEws FUNCTIONS, BUT NOT LIMITED TO: The Clinical Pharmacy Specialist (CPS) assigned to Population Health provides comprehensive medication management (CMM), advanced pharmacotherapy services, population health interventions, clinical quality improvement support, and medication optimization services under an approved Scope of Practice. The incumbent functions as an independent prescribing provider responsible for the longitudinal management of Veterans with acute and chronic disease states through direct patient care, population health initiatives, targeted medication optimization activities, and interdisciplinary collaboration, including direct clinical support of the facility anticoagulation program. The CPS is accountable for clinical outcomes within an assigned patient panel and contributes directly to Veteran access, quality, medication safety, population health performance, and organizational priorities. The CPS practices as an integral member of the interdisciplinary healthcare team and is most effective when managing a defined panel of patients while simultaneously supporting facility-wide quality improvement and population health initiatives. Patients may directly engage the CPS for medication-related care, chronic disease management, preventative care interventions, care gap closure, and follow-up. The incumbent is responsible for initiating, modifying, monitoring, and discontinuing medication therapy; ordering and interpreting laboratory and diagnostic tests; coordinating care across services; and implementing evidence-based interventions to optimize therapeutic outcomes. The CPS functions with a high level of autonomy and clinical judgment consistent with advanced pharmacy practice standards, utilizing direct scheduling authority, registries, dashboards, and population health tools to improve Veteran access, continuity of care, and medication safety. The role includes responsibility for improving clinical performance metrics, reducing medication-related risk, and advancing pharmacy-led population health initiatives through direct patient care, virtual care modalities, direct scheduling pathways, and team-based care coordination. The incumbent collaborates closely with the Associate Chief of Pharmacy (Clinical Services), Pharmacy Informatics Program Manager, clinical pharmacy practitioners, clinical pharmacy technicians, providers, nurses, academic detailing personnel, VISN stakeholders, data analysts, informaticists, and interdisciplinary partners to support facility, VISN, and national priorities. The incumbent serves as a clinical resource and subject matter expert for pharmacotherapy, medication optimization, and pharmacy-led population health services. The incumbent is organizationally aligned under Pharmacy Service to support clinical operations, population health, and Veteran care delivery. Initiates, modifies, monitors, and discontinues medication therapy to achieve evidence-based therapeutic goals. Manages Veterans with acute and chronic disease states including diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, cardiovascular disease, obesity, chronic kidney disease, tobacco dependence, anticoagulation, and other authorized conditions. Performs comprehensive medication reviews to optimize efficacy, safety, adherence, and cost-effectiveness. Identifies, resolves, and documents medication-related problems. Orders and interprets laboratory and diagnostic tests necessary for medication management. Monitors therapeutic outcomes and modifies treatment plans based on clinical response. Provides patient-specific therapeutic drug monitoring. Evaluates medication appropriateness, contraindications, interactions, adherence barriers, and treatment effectiveness. Maintains accountability for assigned patient panel outcomes, access, continuity, and quality. Documents patient care activities in the electronic health record. Utilizes evidence-based guidelines and best practices to guide treatment decisions. Maintains productivity and utilization expectations established by Pharmacy Service. Provides care through face-to-face, telephone, video, virtual, and other approved modalities. Utilizes direct scheduling authority as a core access and population health strategy, enabling timely intervention, proactive outreach, care gap closure, and longitudinal chronic disease management. Work Schedule: 8:00am - 4:30pm, Monday - Friday Telework: Not Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #:00000 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Authorized. EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive. Contact [email protected], the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance. Learn more Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized
What you need to qualify
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. Education (1) 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.) (2) 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. 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: In addition to the basic requirements for employment in paragraph 2, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates. Clinical Pharmacy Specialist - GS-13 Experience. In addition to the GS-12 requirements, must have 1 year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level. Assignments. Candidates at this grade level are to be in one of the assignments listed below. 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 by the incumbent at least 25% of the time. The clinical pharmacy specialist (CPS) 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. Pharmacists assigned to this position must demonstrate the following KSAs 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. 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-13. Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019.
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