Physician - Geriatrics & Extended Care

The Geriatrics & Extended Care Physician may practice in all inpatient, outpatient, Community Living Center, Community-Based Outpatient Clinic, Satellite Clinic and Health Care Center settings, including through telehealth modalities. This physician may practice in all patient demographics, provide trainee education, participate in scholarly activity consistent with academic promotion, and is required to participate in quality improvement activities.

The Richmond Veterans Affairs Medical Center, located in Richmond, Virginia, is a level 1a 349-bed facility offering primary, secondary, and tertiary health care in medicine, surgery, neurology, rehabilitation medicine, intermediate care, acute and sustaining spinal cord injury, skilled nursing home care, and palliative care. Richmond Veterans Affairs Medical Center is part of Central Virginia VA Health Care System. The medical center has community-based outpatient clinics located in Charlottesville, Fredericksburg, Emporia, Henrico, and Spotsylvania Counties and Richmond VA Medical Center has a strong and mutually beneficial affiliation with the Virginia Commonwealth University. Residency programs exist in virtually all general and specialty areas of medicine, rehabilitation, surgery, psychiatry, and dentistry. The medical center is the host site for one of five Polytrauma Rehabilitation Centers in the VA system of care, and a Parkinson's Disease Research, Education and Clinical Center (PADRECC).

The duties and responsibilities of the Physician include, but are not limited to the following:

• Performs day-to-day clinical activities, which may include providing patient care in Patient Aligned Care Team (PACT)/Home-Bases Primary Care (HBPC), Geriatrics consultation and management in outpatient clinics
• Collaborates daily with the interdisciplinary team (IDT), referral sources and all stakeholders
• Utilize face-to-face, all telehealth and e-consult modalities to provide patient care
• Provides effective collaboration and leadership to interdisciplinary teams and administrative staff
• Completes home visits independently when assigned to Home-Based Primary Care Program
• Supervises clinical staff, including a nurse navigator, nurse practitioner and physician assistant
• Provides collaborative physician coverage in Geriatrics & Extended Care programs including non-institutional care programs and contract community nursing home programs;
• Provides guidance and coaching as needed to other Physicians, Nurse Practitioners, Physician Assistants and other interdisciplinary staff in Geriatrics & Extended Care and referral sources;
• Communicates with patients, family members and treatment teams, including community partners and vendors;
• Completes and/or assists service chief/medical director/program director with regulatory inquiry, including but not limited to The Joint Commission survey, OIG review.;
• Addresses patient/family concerns in a timely manner.
• Participate in OPPE/FPPE, peer review, and quality improvement projects.
• Shared on-call coverage during weekends, evenings, nights.

Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 8am - 4:30pm
Telework: Not available
Recruitment/Relocation Incentives: Not Available
Education Debt Reduction Program (Student Loan Repayment): The position may be eligible. Learn more.
EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive. Contact Monique Head at monique.head@va.gov, the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance
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

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

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), b) 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:

• 2 years of hospitalist/adult primary care.
• 2 years of geriatrics practice

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

Physical Requirements:
Be physically and mentally able to efficiently perform the essential functions of the position, with or without reasonable accommodation, without hazard to themselves or others. Depending on the essential duties of a specific position, usable vision, color vision, hearing, or speech may be required. However, in most cases, a specific physical condition or impairment will not automatically disqualify an applicant for appointment. The loss or impairment of a specific function may be compensated for by the satisfactory use of a prosthetic or mechanical aid.

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.

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.