Physician Medical Director, Pain Service

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

Recruitment/Relocation Incentives (Sign-on Bonus): May be authorized to a highly qualified candidate
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

The Medical Director, Pain Management, serves as the physician leader of the interdisciplinary Pain Management Team (PMT) at VA Augusta Health Care System, established in accordance with the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) of 2016 and the Jason Simcakoski Memorial and Promise Act (Jason's Law). The incumbent is accountable for the clinical, administrative, educational, and quality oversight of the Pain Management program across both the Downtown and Uptown campuses, applying the VHA Stepped Care Model for Pain Management (SCM-PM) and integrating pharmacologic, procedural, behavioral, rehabilitation, and Whole Health approaches to Veteran pain care. The Medical Director reports to the Chief of Staff through the Chief of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation and serves as the physician member of the facility Pain Management, Opioid Safety, and Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PMOP) Triad.

Clinical Duties

• Maintains an active clinical practice providing comprehensive pain evaluation and management to Veterans, including complex chronic pain, cancer pain, post-surgical pain, and acute-on-chronic pain presentations.
• Applies the VHA Stepped Care Model for Pain Management, integrating biopsychosocial assessment, pharmacologic management and non-pharmacologic modalities including Whole Health approaches (acupuncture, yoga, tai chi/qi gong, health coaching) in coordination with the Whole Health program.
• Performs pain-related procedures within credentialed scope of privileges (e.g., trigger point injections, joint injections, prolotherapy injections, PRP injections, and Botox injections) as clinically indicated and appropriate to facility capability.
• Provides consultative services to Primary Care, Specialty Care, Mental Health, Palliative Care, and Community Living Center (CLC) providers on complex pain patients.
• Ensures compliance with the Interdisciplinary Safe Opioid Prescribing Committee (or facility equivalent) charter.
• Reviews and adjudicates institutional and clinical disclosures involving opioid or pain-related adverse events.
• Serves as reviewing official for pain-management-related JPSR entries and RCA panels

Additional Duties

• Serves on facility-level committees including MEC, Pharmacy & Therapeutics (P&T), Opioid Safety Committee, Pain Management Committee, and Cancer Committee (as applicable).
• Participates in VISN 7 Pain Management calls and national VHA PMOP Program calls.
• Performs other duties as assigned by the Chief of Staff, Deputy Chief of Staff, Chief of PM&R or designee.

Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 8:00am-4:30pm. Subject to change based on Agency Needs.

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 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.
• 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.

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

Physical Requirements: Moderate lifting (15-44 pounds), light lifting (under 15 pounds), moderate carrying (15-44 pounds), light carrying (under 15 pounds), pushing 4 hours, reaching above shoulder, use of fingers, both hands required, walking 2 hours, standing 8 hours, near vision correctable at 13" to 16" to Jaeger 1 to 4, far vision correctable in one eye to 20/20 and to 20/40 in the other, hearing (aid permitted), mental and emotional stability.

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.