Physician- Primary Care

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.

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

Recruitment Incentives (Sign-on Bonus): Authorized
Education Debt Reduction Program (Student Loan Repayment): Learn more.
EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive. Contact vhavisn04hredrp@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
Contract Buy Out Program: This position may be eligible for the Physician / Provider Contract Buy Out Program (CBOP), which authorizes VHA to buy out service contracts (Locum agreements, loan repayments, sign-on bonus contracts, Physician-owned practices) in exchange for employment at certain rural or highly rural facilities for a period of obligated service (minimum 4 years). For additional information and eligibility requirements, contact the VHA Contract Buy Out Program Manager at vacontractbuyoutprog@va.gov.

This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.

This position is located at the Warren County VA Clinic at 3 Farm Colony Drive Warren, PA 16365-5209

MAJOR DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Description: Provision of general medical/primary care managing both common and complex illnesses.

• Perform history and physical examination
• Evaluate, diagnose, provide generalist/primary care consultation, medically
• manage, and treat adult patients.
• Perform pre-operative evaluation
• Supervision of medical residents and medical students
• Obtain informed consent in conformance with organization policies and procedures.

Procedures

• Arthrocentesis, aspiration and/or injection, knee, with or without image guidance
• Cryotherapy of skin lesions
• Develop acupuncture plan. Use of needles, electric stimulators, and heat in treatment. (Includes cupping, dry needling)
• Diagnose, treat, and prevent illness or injury by use of manual therapy to improve the impaired or altered function of the musculo-skeletal system (somatic dysfunction).
• Foreign body removal
• Management of epistaxis including placement of posterior nasal hemostatic packing and anterior nasal cautery and/or packing to control nasal hemorrhage (epistaxis)
• Pap smear and endocervical culture
• Perform simple skin biopsy or excision
• Preliminary interpretation of EKG and imaging studies
• Skin excision, including biopsy and lesion removal
• Skin lesions removal utilizing hyfrecator
• Treatment of burns, superficial and partial thickness
• Trigger point injection, injection of lateral shoulder region
• Wound care, incision and drainage of abscess, simple debridement, aspiration, wound closure, and local anesthetic techniques

Special Privileges: It should be noted that all physicians care for patients with these characteristics. However, this delineation is intended to set physicians with formal training and/or experience in this area apart from the generalist and to establish them as expert consultants in this field.

• Evaluate, diagnose, provide treatment, consultation and medically manage patients with procedural and non-procedural pain complaints (i.e., chronic and cancer pain).
• Compensation and pension (Registration with the DMA Required)

Special Procedures: Criteria for special procedures: applicants must meet criteria for core privileges, outlined above. Specialized traininq required.

• Battlefield Acupuncture (BFA Training Requirements Required)
• NADA (Must be allowable within limits of the State of Licensure. NADA Training Requirements Required)

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 7:00am - 4:00pm
Telework: Ad-Hoc, may be authorized at Management's discretion

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.

Preferred Experience: Primary Care Experience

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

Physical Requirements: ???????See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Service for requirements.

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.