Physician (Dermatology)

The VA Central Western Massachusetts Health Care System Worcester clinic is recruiting to fill a Board-Certified Dermatology Physician (BE considered). The candidate will provide high quality out-patient services in Worcester for the Veteran population including medical evaluation and management of dermatologic conditions, biopsies, removal of lesions, and utilization of Telederm services.

The Dermatologist physician is a member of the Specialty Care Service Line and is responsible to the Deputy Chief of Staff. The physician is responsible for maintaining professional, technical, and administrative knowledge, competencies, and skills to provide effective, timely and high quality responses to patient's health care needs. They are responsible for the specialty care management of patients referred to the service. All physicians comply with credentialing and privileging and required monitoring and evaluation criteria. The physicians comply with current standards for medical record documentation and supervision of any learners (medial residents, etc.). Physicians will achieve a satisfactory compliance rate with the established Clinical Reminder, Clinical Performance Measures and Prevention Indicators (EPRP).

• Full spectrum of out-patient Dermatology care including initiation and management of appropriate medications, full spectrum of skin biopsies, management of biopsy results, destruction of lesions, and other out-patient procedures as appropriate.
• Continuity and coordination of care management.
• Collaboration with and support of Dermatology advanced practitioners (NPs and PAs)
• Compliance with chronic disease and prevention indicators and documentation through CPRS reminders or other tools as directed.
• Demonstrates knowledge, skills and abilities to conduct specialty specific health assessments, determine diagnoses and health care needs and to construct health care plans based on effective therapeutic ability, consultation, patient education and established practice guidelines.
• Demonstrates ability to coordinate patient care through patient management techniques across the patient care continuum.
• Demonstrates ability to use telehealth modalities for patient care including clinic-based telehealth (CVT, Store and Forward) and patient based telehealth (VA Video Connect).
• Utilizes all available patient information in local EMR, national VA EMR, and information from community care providers pertinent to the patient's care.
• Maintains effectiveness in recognizing emergency/acute situations and intervening in an appropriate and effective manner.
• Maintains and increases clinical knowledge and skills needed to maintain competency in physician's specialty through CME, participation in training, and other educational opportunities.
• Safely and effectively uses equipment required for patient care using health care facility
  policies and procedures, including appropriate cleaning and disinfection of reusable medical
  equipment.
• Complies with completing requirements for re-credentialing and privileging.
• Complies with completion of VA required education programs.
• Manages patient workload and wait times in compliance with the facility Customer Service Standards to ensure the most effective, efficient service to the patients.
• Reports pertinent information to supervisors and service line staff.
• The candidate will collaborate with other Dermatology staff within VA CWM and will have the opportunity to be involved in education & training of Internal Medicine residents and medical students from the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School.

Education Debt Reduction Program (Student Loan Repayment): Education Debt Reduction Program (EDRP): This position is eligible for the EDRP, a student loan payment reimbursement program. You must meet specific individual eligibility requirements in accordance with VHA policy and submit your EDRP application within four months of your start date. Approval, award amount (up to $200,000) and eligibility period (one to five years) are determined by the VHA Education Loan Repayment Services program office after complete review of the EDRP application Learn more.

EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply. Contact VHA EDRP Program Support VHAEDRPProgramSupport@va.gov, for questions or assistance on how to begin the application process.

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

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday (8:00am - 4:30p)

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: Board Eligible
Preferred Experience: VA experience preferred, but not required. Experienced in full spectrum of medical Dermatology including management of disease modifying drugs, performance and management of biopsies, and use of Tele-derm services preferred.

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

Physical Requirements: No manual labor is required above ordinary situations. Light carrying under 15 pounds, light lifting under 15 pounds, there may be some walking, standing, sitting and bending. Incumbent must be capable of using a computer given that all clinical charting is electronic.

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.