Physician (Chief of Staff)

Summary

Southern Arizona VA Health Care System (SAVAHCS) is currently recruiting a Physician (Chief of Staff) , located in Tucson, Arizona . ProvidesSAVAHCS's leadership and management of resources, organizational performance improvement, patient and employee satisfaction, environment of care and strategic planning.

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Duties

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The Physician (Chief of Staff) provides leadership of clinical care, with an emphasis access to high quality health care for veterans as well as patient safety. The Chief of Staff is involved in SAVAHCS's management of resources, organizational performance improvement, patient, employee satisfaction, environment of care and strategic planning.

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

Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): PCS is Authorized.

Appraised Value Offer (AVO): Not Authorized.

Relocation Incentives: May be Authorized.

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

Duties may include, but not limited to:

• Promotes the development of health care professionals in the health care system through counseling, mentoring, teaching, and encouraging self-assessment.
• Contributes to an environment that provides educational activity, and administrative planning and evaluation based on integration and application of current health care principles.
• Establishes mechanisms whereby the health care system administration, and other VHA components are informed, in a timely manner, of clinical program developments that affect them.
• Takes an active role as a health care system management team member, providing advice and counsel in defining and accomplishing the health care system and VACO mission and goals.
• Represents the health care system, internally and externally, in such a manner as to reflect positively on the health care system, the VISN and the VHA.
• Serves as professional liaison of the health care system to DVA and Federal facilities, the community, affiliates, media, congressional offices, and constituent organizations.
• Maintains and promotes high ethical and clinical standards that are carried into decision making processes.
• Promotes constructive problem resolution in an environment of competing priorities.
• Monitors and ensures staff compliance with agency regulations, medical staff by-laws, rules and regulations, VA facility policies, Joint Commission standards and other appropriate regulations and creates an environment of system-oriented quality improvement.
• Ensures all Veterans receive safe, quality, efficient, timely, and appropriate care with the highest professional and ethical standards and quality of care.
• Ensures the highest level of performance by medical staff members through appropriate delineation of clinical privileges, ongoing performance evaluations, orientation, and use of continuous quality improvement practices.
• Completes performance evaluations of assigned service line managers and clinical service chiefs.
• Responsible for standard of medical care and professional integration of services across service lines.
• Directs the medical staff governance, by-laws and credentialing and privileging.
• Promotes an effective mix, coordination, and support of health care system clinical programs by evaluating current and potential patient population needs, clinical workload and resources, special program mandates and cost/benefit analysis making recommendations to the Facility Director ensuring implementation of approved clinical proposals.
• Provides advice to health care system staff through policy guidance and activities on behalf of patients and their clinical care. Accomplishes health care system clinical program goals consistent with available resources and participates in the allocation of facility resources and modification of programs to best meet needs of the Veteran population.
• Demonstrates commitment to recruitment and retention of high-quality clinical staff.
• Demonstrates commitment to facility research program goals and objectives
• Demonstrates commitment to achieving EEO goals and objectives.
• Ensures the productivity of clinical staff.
• Authority and accountability of credentialing and privileging as Chair of the Medical Executive Council (MEC).
• Interprets regulatory and legal issues, monitoring medical staff and other licensed independent practitioner's compliance and quality of practice.
• Initiates appropriate actions such as discipline, revocation or suspension of all or selected individual privileging.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. MST

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

• U.S. Citizenship; non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.
• All applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English.
• Subject to background/security investigation.
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements ( Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• Must pass pre-employment physical examination.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).
• You may be required to serve a probationary period.
• Complete all application requirements detailed in the "Required Documents" section of this announcement.

Qualifications

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

Physical Requirements: Must be able to physically and mentally perform the duties in an outpatient setting under normal and emergent conditions. light lifting under 15 lbs; reaching above shoulder; both hands required, walking or standing up to 2 hours per day; ability for rapid mental and muscular coordination; near/far vision correctable; hearing aid permitted. This is a clinical outpatient care or office environment. There are no special demands for the office environment. The clinical work environment will require occasional personal protective equipment, cleaning, sterile procedure and other precautions specified by SAVAHCS Infection Control and Risk Management. Works both alone, and closely with others.

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 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.

Additional information

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

It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment.

This position is in the Excepted Service and does not confer competitive status.

VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply. The health-related positions in VA are covered by Title 38, and are not covered by the Schedule A excepted appointment authority.

If you are unable to apply online or need an alternate method to submit documents, please reach out to the Agency Contact listed in this Job Opportunity Announcement.

Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer. For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act.

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

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