Staff Physician/Neurosurgery

The Staff Neurosurgeon at VA St. Louis Health Care System provides advanced Complex Spine and peripheral nerve care within Surgical Service. Candidates must be Board Certified or Board Eligible with a Complex Spine Fellowship or other neurosurgery-based advanced spine fellowship. Duties include clinical care, spinal procedures, teaching, and administrative support. A Recruitment/Relocation Incentive has been authorized for highly qualified individuals.

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

Recruitment/Relocation Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Authorized and may be offered to highly qualified individuals.
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

Major Duties and Responsibilities
The Staff Neurosurgeon is a key member of the Surgical Service team, responsible for delivering high-quality, patient-centered neurosurgical care to Veterans. This role encompasses a wide range of clinical, educational, administrative, and potentially research-related duties.

Outpatient Care:

• Evaluate, diagnose, and treat Veterans with cranial, spinal, and peripheral nerve conditions.
• Collaborate with Advanced Practice Providers (APPs), nurses, and technicians to ensure efficient clinic operations and timely follow-up.
• Delegate tasks appropriately while maintaining oversight of all clinical care.

Inpatient Care:

• Serves as an attending neurosurgeon for admitted patients, supported by APPs, RNs, and residents (if present).
• Work closely with inpatient nursing staff, case managers, and technicians to manage daily care, post-operative recovery, and discharge planning.

Operative Care:

• Perform complex spinal surgical procedures, including spinal reconstruction.
• Lead perioperative teams, including anesthesiologists, surgical nurses, APPs, and scrub technicians.
• Provide intraoperative teaching and model best practices in teamwork, sterile technique, and safety.

Emergency Surgical Care:

• Respond promptly to urgent neurosurgical consults and emergent operative cases.
• Direct multidisciplinary emergency responses involving ER physicians, ICU staff, and nursing teams.

On-Call Duties:

• Participate equitably in the neurosurgical call schedule.
• Collaborate with inpatient and on-call surgical teams to triage and manage emergency consults.

Community Care Coordination:

• Work with Care in the Community staff, APPs, and case managers to coordinate external referrals.
• Review and integrate external operative and imaging reports into VA care plans.

Team-Based Care

• Provide leadership within a multidisciplinary team of APPs, nurses, surgical technicians, and allied health professionals.
• Ensure team members operate at the top of their license and competencies.
• Mentor and guide APPs in both clinic and inpatient settings.
• Collaborate with nursing leadership to optimize patient care processes and perioperative protocols.
• Participate in interdisciplinary care teams, tumor boards, and spine conferences

Teaching and Education

• Supervise and educate residents, APPs, nursing staff, and other health professions trainees.
• Deliver structured learning experiences focused on neurosurgical principles, patient safety, and team-based care.
• Conduct in-service training for OR nurses and technicians on neurosurgical instrumentation and sterile technique.

Administrative and Professional Duties

• Attend Surgical Service meetings and participate in peer review and quality improvement initiatives.
• Collaborate with nursing leadership, OR managers, and APP supervisors to enhance workflows and patient outcomes.
• Ensure timely and accurate documentation in the Electronic Health Record (EHR).

Research and Scholarly Activity (if applicable)

• Engage in research related to neurosurgical outcomes, spine surgery, and neuromodulation.
• Promote APP and nursing involvement in scholarly projects and quality improvement initiatives.

Scope of Practice / Privileges

• Includes outpatient, inpatient, elective, and emergent neurosurgical care, with a focus on complex spine and functional neurosurgery.
• Provide oversight of care delivered by APPs, RNs, and technicians.
• Clinical privileges are subject to approval by the Professional Standards Board and Chief of Staff.

Supervisory Controls

• Reports directly to the Associate Chief of Staff, Surgical Services.
• Provides direct clinical supervision to APPs and indirect oversight of nurses and surgical technicians.
• Performance is evaluated through clinical outcomes, peer reviews, and quality metrics.

Work Schedule: Full-Time tour of duty to be negotiated upon selection.

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.

Additional Requirement: Must be eligible for Faculty Appointment with an established Academic Affiliate Partner of VA St. Louis Health Care System.
Preferred Experience: Demonstrated expertise in complex spine surgery, including deformity correction and revision procedures.

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

Physical Requirements: More information can be found in VA 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.