Attorney Advisor GS-15 - Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Division (Telework)

The Office of the General Counsel (OGC) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is currently seeking applications for General Attorney positions in its Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Division.

Who May Apply: This vacancy announcement is open to all U.S. citizens and may be used to fill multiple positions.

Duty Station: Washington, DC or Baltimore, MD (flexible telework is available)

Pay Scale: GS-0905-15

Salary Range: $163,964 - $191,900

Open Period: September 10, 2024 - until filled

Job Summary

OGC's Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Division has immediate openings for experienced staff attorneys.

CMS Division staff attorneys provide a broad range of legal services for several HHS programs and clients on issues that affect millions of Americans and regularly garner significant news coverage. The Division's clients and programs include Medicare, Medicaid, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI), the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight (CCIIO), and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC).

OGC is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. At OGC, diversity, equity, and inclusion are at the core of who we are. We're always growing our network of people, programs, and tools to allow our staff to do their best work. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status. OGC is also committed to compliance with all fair employment practices regarding citizenship and immigration status.

For additional information about OGC's mission, please visit our website at: http://www.hhs.gov/ogc/index.html

Duties:

CMS Division attorneys provide legal advice on policies, regulations, and guidance issued by CMS, the nation's largest health care payer. Our clients' programs are often the subject of legislation, significant public scrutiny, and litigation. Our attorneys provide counsel on challenging and novel legal questions, including those of such importance that they ultimately have been decided by the United States Supreme Court.

The openings are for positions in our Program Integrity and Program Review Groups. The Program Integrity Group advises CMS and ONC on issues relating to fraud and abuse, financial management and program compliance. The Program Review Group counsels CMS and ONC on all other programmatic matters.

The Program Integrity and Program Review Groups each have openings for:

Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA): Advising CMS on implementation of the IRA, which gives Medicare unprecedented authority to negotiate prices for certain high-cost prescription drugs covered by Parts B and D and requires payment of inflation rebates for Parts B and D drugs, similar to the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program.

In addition, the Program Review Group has openings for each of the following three areas:

Alternative Payment and Service Delivery Models: Advising CMMI, which tests ways to improve health care quality and reduce costs in the Medicare, Medicaid, and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) programs through models and demonstrations.
Health Insurance Reform: Advising CCIIO, which implements health insurance market reforms, health insurance Marketplaces, and the No Surprises Act.
Medicaid: Advising the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services (CMCS), which oversees Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and the Basic Health Program (BHP).

These positions offer significant responsibility and opportunity to engage in professionally rewarding and intellectually engaging work on the cutting edge of health care delivery. They require creative legal thinking, the ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment, and strong communication skills. Attorneys will have direct client contact and interact with colleagues throughout OGC and other government offices.

Day-to-day work involves: reviewing and analyzing proposed and final regulations and subregulatory guidance documents; reviewing documents such as Medicaid demonstration projects, stakeholder correspondence responses, and CMMI model participation agreements; identifying and resolving legal issues pertaining to CMMI model design and implementation, health insurance market reform and Marketplace implementation, federal requirements for the states' operation of Medicaid and CHIP, and all aspects of the new Drug Price Negotiation Program, Medicare Part B and Part D inflation rebates, and Medicare Part D Benefit redesign.

Qualified candidates will be highly motivated industrious professionals with substantial experience independently managing portfolios of complex, specialized, and important legal issues, as demonstrated by, for example, extensive work on precedent-setting high-profile matters that attract national scrutiny or with an important impact on major regulated entities, sectors, or public or private interests. Qualified candidates will also have strong academic credentials, contract drafting and review skills and/or significant regulatory and administrative law experience, demonstrated ability to work under competing deadlines, and superb writing, communication, and analytical skills. Significant experience or familiarity with Medicare, particularly Medicare Parts D and B drug issues, CMMI models, Medicaid, and health insurance regulations is desirable.

Qualifications Required:

Your resume and supporting documentation will be used to determine whether you meet the position qualifications listed in this announcement. Salary will be commensurate with education and experience.

At the GS-15: You must possess a Juris Doctorate (J.D.) or LL.B from an accredited ABA law school, active bar status in good standing, and four years of professional legal experience post bar admission with one year equivalent to the GS-14 level.

Applicants at the GS-15 level must also have a demonstrated ability to work independently with minimal supervision.

The following are required qualifications:

A Juris Doctorate (J.D.) from an ABA-accredited law school.
At least four years of legal experience as a practicing attorney.
Proof of active bar status and that attorney is in good standing and eligible to practice in the highest court of a state, U.S. Commonwealth, U.S. territory, or the District of Columbia.
Strong academic credentials.
Administrative law experience, particularly regulatory experience and/or experience in contract/agreement drafting and review.
Exemplary legal writing, analytical, and communication skills.

Preference will be given to candidates with outstanding organizational, time management, and interpersonal skills, superior legal writing and research ability, and demonstrated commitment to professionalism, ethics, civility, and public service.

Conditions of Employment:

Must maintain active bar membership in good standing and the eligibility to practice law in the highest court of a state, territory, Commonwealth, or the District of Columbia throughout employment in the Office of the General Counsel.
Upon final job offer from HHS OHR, the successful candidate must submit official law school transcripts.
Security and Background Requirements: If not previously completed, a background security investigation will be required for all appointees. Appointment will be subject to the applicant's successful completion of a background security investigation and favorable adjudication. Failure to successfully meet these requirements may be grounds for appropriate personnel action. In addition, if hired, a background security reinvestigation or supplemental investigation may be required at a later time. Applicants are also advised that all information concerning qualifications is subject to investigation. False representation may be grounds for non-consideration, non- selection and/or appropriate disciplinary action.
E-Verify: If you are selected for this position, the documentation that you present for purposes of completing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Form I-9 will be verified through the DHS "E-Verify" System. Federal law requires DHS to use the E-Verify System to verify employment eligibility of all new hires and as a condition of continued employment obligates the new hire to take affirmative steps to resolve any discrepancies identified by the system. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is an E-Verify Participant.
Direct Deposit: All Federal employees are required to have Federal salary payments made by direct deposit to a financial institution of their choosing.
All qualification requirements must be met by the closing date of the announcement.
Financial disclosure statement may be required.
Two-year trial period may be required.
Travel, transportation, and relocation expenses will not be paid.
This position may be in a bargaining unit.
Multiple selections may be made from this announcement.
Telework Eligible: Yes - as determined by the agency policy.

In accordance with Executive Order 12564 of September 14, 1986, The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is A Drug-Free Federal Workplace. The Federal government, as the largest employer in the Nation, can and should show the way towards achieving drug-free workplaces through programs designed to offer drug users a helping hand, and at the same time demonstrating to drug users and potential drug users that drugs will not be tolerated in the Federal workplace. The use of illegal drugs, on or off duty, by Federal employees is inconsistent not only with the law-abiding behavior expected of all citizens, but also with the special trust placed in such employees as servants of the public. Applicants tentatively selected for this position may be required to submit to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment and be subject to reasonable suspicion and post-accident drug testing upon hiring. If required to submit to urinalysis, the appointment to the position will be contingent upon a negative applicant drug test result. In order to demonstrate commitment to the HHS goal of a drug-free workplace and to set an example for other Federal employees, employees not in a testing designated position may volunteer for unannounced random testing by notifying their Drug-free Federal Workplace Program Point of Contact upon hiring.

Instructions To Apply:

Interested applicants should submit a short cover letter, resume, one legal writing sample, and law school transcript (if less than 10 years of legal experience) by email to CMSDRecruitment@hhs.gov, with a copy to Don.Parker@hhs.gov. Applicants should indicate whether they are applying for the Program Integrity Group, Program Review Group, or both groups. Before selecting any candidate, we will request three references and will contact those references upon permission of the candidate.

This is an open and continuous announcement. We will review resumes on a rolling basis and continue to review resumes until all vacancies are filled. We will conduct interviews by telephone, WebEx, or other video conferencing platform.