Physician, Otolaryngology

The Central Texas Veterans Health Care System (CTVHCS) Otolaryngology Service provides comprehensive care for patients who have illnesses within the otolaryngology scope. The scope of these activities covers hospitalized patients and all phases of ambulatory care. Other responsibilities may include education of medical students and residents.

This is an OPEN CONTINUOUS ANNOUNCEMENT & will remain open until November 13, 2026 or until positions are filled. Eligible applications received will be referred at regular intervals or as additional vacancies occur.

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

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

Administrative Duties:

• Leadership responsibilities: Participation in staff meetings, hospital committees, and peer review process. Demonstrate effective communication both down to staff and up to leadership, to include heads up (for acute patient bad outcomes) and issue briefs, acting as Section Chief when the Section Chief is on leave.
• Human Resource: Maintaining VA training requirements, timely completion of documentation and upkeep of credentials required for privileging and re-privileging. (3) Staff Management: Participate in the FPPE/OPPE process. Adheres to employee health requirements. Participate in Clinical Pertinence Reviews (routine medical record reviews).
• Time/Leave Management: Adherence to tour of Duties, timely requests for leave in VISTA and for clinic cancellations.
• Clinical Management: includes indirect patient care; accurate and timely open encounter & open consult management, adheres to CPRS documentation rules and requirements and to clinic procedures for patient scheduling & access; facilitates clinic staff productivity; oversight of relevant performance measures; and participates in the development of the new focus on the Medical Home and Patient Centric Care, Utilization Management, and Patient Safety initiatives, and process improvements (system redesign).

Clinical Duties:

• Patient Care: Practitioners are expected to provide patient care that is compassionate, appropriate, and effective for the promotion of health, prevention of illness, treatment of disease, and care at the end of life.
• Medical/Clinical Knowledge: Practitioners are expected to demonstrate knowledge of established and evolving biomedical, clinical and social sciences, and the application of their knowledge to patient care and the education of others.
• Clinical Judgment: To ensure practice-based learning and improvement, practitioners are expected to be able to use scientific evidence and methods to investigate, evaluate, and improve patient care.
• Interpersonal & Communication Skills: Practitioners are expected to demonstrate interpersonal and communication skills that enable them to establish and maintain professional relationships with patients, families, and other members of the health care team.
• Professionalism: Practitioners are expected to demonstrate behaviors that reflect a commitment to continuous professional development, ethical practice, and understanding and sensitivity to diversity, and a responsible attitude toward their patients, their profession
• Systems-Based Practice: Practitioners are expected to demonstrate both an understanding of the contexts and systems in which health care is provided, and the ability to apply this knowledge to improve optimizing health care.

Education:
Practitioners are expected to show effectiveness in teaching, monitor and coordinate educational activities, and comply with necessary trainee supervision.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 7:30am - 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.
• Education: 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 one of the schools approved by the Department of Veterans Affairs for the year in which the course of study was completed.
• License: 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 accrediting bodies for graduate medical education, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) or American Osteopathic Association (AOA), in the list published for the year the residency, or fellowship if applicable, was completed; OR
  • (2) One year of post medical school training (internship, first year of residency, or transitional year residency) approved by ACGME or AOA followed by two years of post-training independent practice (performing under a full and unrestricted license) in the United States; OR
  • (3) Non-US residency training programs followed by a minimum of three years of verified independent practice in the United States (performing under a full and unrestricted license) performing duties related to the position they are applying for (United States fellowships would be creditable towards this requirement), 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.
  • Exceptions:
    • 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 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.
    • In rare and unusual circumstances, the Facility Director can submit a memo to the VISN Director through the VISN Chief Medical Officer, who may approve requests for reasonable exceptions to the residency training requirement for Physicians whose composite record of experience, accomplishments, performance, and qualifications warrant such action.
• Proficiency in spoken and written English.

Preferred Experience:

• Perform complex ENT surgeries
• Perform clinic procedures
• Diagnose and treat conditions related to scope of practice
• Able to use scientific evidence and methods to investigate, evaluate and improve patient care
• Prefer candidate with otology fellowship

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

Physical Requirements:
This position may require potentially long periods of continued Light lifting under 15 pounds, Light carrying under 15 pounds, Reaching above shoulder, Use of fingers, Both hands required, Walking for 2 hours, Standing for 1 hour, Ability for rapid mental and muscular coordination simultaneously, Specific visual requirement of DVA 20/40 Binoc, Both eyes required, Depth perception, Ability to distinguish basic colors, Hearing (aid may be permitted).

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.
2. Schools of osteopathic medicine approved by the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation (COCA) for the year in which the degree was granted.
3. For foreign medical graduates not covered in (1) or (2) above, confirmation must be made that the medical school meets (or met) Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) eligibility requirement for year 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.