Physician Assistant Intermittent Not to Exceed 1 Year (Community Care)

Job Title

Home Based Primary Care (HBPC) Physician Assistant (PA)

Duties

The Home Based Primary Care (HBPC) Physician Assistant (PA) is a position located in the Geriatrics and Extended Care Service (GECS) and functions as a Primary Care Provider in the HBPC Program.

The Home Based Primary Care (HBPC) Physician Assistant (PA) is a licensed practitioner who has demonstrated a high level of proficiency in patient assessment including performing physical diagnosis, developing a comprehensive treatment plan, prescribing medications, evaluating laboratory data, and assessing patients' and families' psychosocial functioning. The PA functions as the HBPC provider for his/her HBPC patients and coordinates their care among all members of the health care team, including other HBPC staff, outpatient primary and specialty physicians, inpatient services, ancillary hospital services, and community organizations. The PA also promotes preventative health care and facilitates patient and staff education.

The PA will provide daily support for the activities of the HBPC Team. The incumbent will function autonomously as guided by approved clinical protocols and privileges, practicing to the full extent of their education, training, and their scope of practice. Given the interdisciplinary team structure of the clinic, collaboration with other interdisciplinary team members is expected.

Clinical Duties

The core elements for a PA Scope of Practice may include, but are not limited to:

• Obtaining medical histories and performing physical examinations.
• Providing and coordinating medical care for assigned patients in any care setting, including establishing diagnoses, formulating and implementing care plans, and providing follow-up care.
• Evaluating outpatients to determine the need for further health care.
• Ordering diagnostic studies and other special tests, such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Computerized Tomography (CT) scans, etc.
• Carrying out health promotion, disease prevention, and patient education activities.
• Ordering or obtaining laboratory specimens.
• Ordering ancillary services, such as, pharmacy, social services, physical medicine and rehabilitation therapies, prosthetic services, etc.
• Ordering VA specialty service consults and initiating requests for non-VA medical care and consults in accordance with VHA and local facility policy and procedures.
• Ordering patient care supplies.
• Writing orders for or prescribing medications.
• Admitting and discharging patients in consultation with, and on behalf of, the collaborating physician, obtaining admission history and performing physical examinations, conducting patient rounds, documenting progress notes and summaries in the patient record, and writing patient orders on assigned patients. The PA may be delegated the responsibility of documenting operative notes if present for the procedure, but the operative surgeon must review and co-sign the note. They may also be delegated the task of documenting the discharge summary, but the collaborating physician must write a discharge note, or co-sign the discharge summary written by the PA in accordance with The Joint Commission standards that are applicable.
• Other patient record entries by PAs, including medical histories, physical examinations, progress notes, service consults, Compensation and Pension evaluations, and patient orders do not require physician co-signature unless specifically required by Federal law, VA policy, or the standards of applicable external accrediting bodies.
• Obtaining and documenting informed consent for treatments and procedures for which the PA is responsible.
• Providing education and counseling of patients and families in preventive care, medical conditions, and the use of prescribed treatments and drugs.

Administrative Responsibilities

There is minimal administrative responsibility. The incumbent will enter their time and leave in the VA Time and Leave System (VATAS) and ensure timely completion of TMS and CME. Occasional meeting attendance may be required, as indicated. The incumbent will assist with onboarding and mentoring new staff as requested. Completion of peer-review evaluations and infrequent protected peer reviews will be required. Additional administrative duties may be assigned as needed, still they will be kept to a minimum due to the known administrative burden associated with PACT panel management.

Work Schedule: To be determined as this is an Intermittent Position