Physician (Sleep Medicine)

The VA Finger Lakes Healthcare System is recruiting for a full time, Physician to perform Sleep Medicine duties in our Specialty Care Department. The VA Finger Lakes is comprised of two Medical Centers in Bath and Canandaigua, NY, and a large outpatient clinic in Rochester, NY. The Bath and Canandaigua Medical Centers are nestled in the Finger Lakes region of NY, and Rochester is a thriving upstate city on the shores of Lake Ontario. Come join our team today!

***This is an open continuous announcement. Applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis and qualified candidates will be referred to the hiring manager weekly until position is filled.

VA offers a comprehensive total rewards package. VHA Physician Total Rewards.

The physician will work without direct supervision but is administratively and clinically responsible to the Chief, Medicine Service. Additionally the incumbent will provide guidance and support to the nurse practitioners assigned to Medicine Service in their respective areas of expertise.

Duties include the following but are not limited to:

• Participate in administrative work assignments, including program building as assigned by the Section Chief of Pulmonary Medicine and The Chief of Medicine Service. Operate as a director of one of the major functions within the Pulmonary Section under the direction of the Chief of Pulmonary Medicine. This may include but is not limited to Bronchoscopy, Home Oxygen Program, Critical Care, CP AP clinics, or Lung Cancer screening program.
• Serve as acting chief of the section (if appropriate), as needed.
• Identify excessive daytime sleepiness and initiate a basic evaluation of patients with this complaint.
• Diagnose, treat, and manage patients longitudinally with sleep disordered breathing.
• Identify patients with sleep disordered breathing who have co-existing sleep disorders (narcolepsy/idiopathic hypersomnia, restless leg syndrome, chronic insomnia etc.) and manage appropriately.
• Identify patients with sleep disordered breathing who have co-existing sleep related hypoxemia and manage appropriately.
• Order and interpret laboratory tests within the context of a sleep evaluation.
• Complete QA forms for technical evaluation and integrity of the sleep studies.
• Prescribe medications used to treat patients with sleep disorders, including but not limited to hypnotics, stimulants, as well as Xyrem and Xywav.
• Counsel patients with respect to the risks of in adequate/poor quality sleep and excessive daytime sleepiness.
• Instruct patients on the indications and limitations of home sleep studies.
• Place appropriate orders with respect to positive airway pressure devices.
• Initiate health promotion, disease prevention, education, and counseling in relation to sleep issues.
• Interpret data from CPAP devices and manage appropriately to optimize efficacy and compliance of the therapy.
• Collaborate with and provide medical guidance to the respiratory therapists as they conduct positive airway pressure (PAP) clinics and home sleep test clinics.
• Educate patients on the indications, benefits, contra-indications, proper use, and complications of PAP therapy.
• Prescribe and manage different PAP modalities as appropriate, including but not limited to auto-CPAP, fixed CPAP, BiPAP, BiPAP ST, ASV, and iVAPs.
• Consider and prescribe alternative therapies to CPAP when appropriate, including but not limited to the Inspire device, an oral appliance (mandibular advancement device), and oral surgery.

Pay: Competitive salary, annual performance bonus, regular salary increases
Paid Time Off: 50-55 days of paid time off per year (26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, 11 paid Federal holidays per year and possible 5 day paid absence for CME)
Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA
Insurance: Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement)Licensure: 1 full and unrestricted license from any US State or territory
CME: Possible $1,000 per year reimbursement (must be full-time with board certification)
Malpractice: Free liability protection with tail coverage provided
Contract: No Physician Employment Contract and no significant restriction on moonlighting

Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 7:30am to 4:00pm

To qualify for this position, you must meet the basic requirements as well as any additional requirements (if applicable) listed in the job announcement. Applicants pending the completion of training or license requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met. Currently employed physician(s) in VA who met the requirements for appointment under the previous qualification standard at the time of their initial appointment are deemed to have met the basic requirements of the occupation.

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.
• Degree of doctor of medicine or an equivalent degree resulting from a course of education in medicine or osteopathic medicine. The degree must have been obtained from one of the schools approved by the Department of Veterans Affairs for the year in which the course of study was completed.
• Current, full and unrestricted license to practice medicine or surgery in a State, Territory, or Commonwealth of the United States, or in the District of Columbia.
• Residency Training: Physicians must have completed residency training, approved by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs in an accredited core specialty training program leading to eligibility for board certification. (NOTE: VA physicians involved in academic training programs may be required to be board certified for faculty status.) Approved residencies are: (1) Those approved by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), OR
  (2) Those approved by the American Osteopathic Association (AOA), OR
  (3) Other residencies (non-US residency training programs followed by a minimum of five years of verified practice in the United States), which the local Medical Staff Executive Committee deems to have provided the applicant with appropriate professional training and believes has exposed the physician to an appropriate range of patient care experiences.
  Residents currently enrolled in ACGME/AOA accredited residency training programs and who would otherwise meet the basic requirements for appointment are eligible to be appointed as "Physician Resident Providers" (PRPs). PRPs must be fully licensed physicians (i.e., not a training license) and may only be appointed on an intermittent or fee-basis. PRPs are not considered independent practitioners and will not be privileged; rather, they are to have a "scope of practice" that allows them to perform certain restricted duties under supervision. Additionally, surgery residents in gap years may also be appointed as PRPs.
• Proficiency in spoken and written English.

Preferred Experience: Experience in Sleep Medicine and/or Pulmonary Medicine

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.

Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019

Degree of Doctor of Medicine or an equivalent degree resulting from a course of education in allopathic medicine or osteopathic medicine. The degree must have been obtained from an institution whose accreditation was in place for the year in which the course of study was completed. Approved schools are:

1. Schools of medicine accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) for the year in which the degree was granted, or
2. Schools of osteopathic medicine approved by the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation of the American Osteopathic Association for the year in which the degree was granted.
3. For foreign medical graduates not covered in (1) or (2) above, facility officials must verify with the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) that the applicant has met requirements for certification, and must obtain a copy of the ECFMG certificate, if claimed by the applicant. [If the applicant does not claim an ECFMG certificate, facility officials must still confirm that the medical school meets (or met) ECFMG eligibility requirements for the year the candidate graduated.]

NOTE: The Under Secretary of Health or designee in the VHA Central Office may approve the appointment under authority of 38 U.S.C. 7405 of a physician graduate of a school of medicine not covered above if the candidate is to be assigned to a research, academic, or administrative position with no patient care responsibilities. The appointment will be made only in exceptional circumstances where the candidate's credentials clearly demonstrate high professional attainment or expertise in the specialty area.