Physician Hematology/Oncology - Recruitment/Relocation Incentive & EDRP Approved

Summary

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.

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Duties

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This is an OPEN CONTINUOUS ANNOUNCEMENT & will remain open until May 11, 2025 or until positions are filled . Eligible applications received will be referred at regular intervals or as additional vacancies occur.

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

Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Authorized

Education Debt Reduction Program (Student Loan Repayment): Learn more.

EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive. Contact View email address on click.appcast.io, 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

The Hematology and Oncology position supports the mission through administrative dependability, direct patient care, and support of their Section's educational and research activities.

Administrative Duties:

• Leadership responsibilities: participation in staff meetings, hospital committees, and peer review process. Demonstrate effective communication both down to staff and up to leadership, to include heads up (for acute patient bad outcomes) and issue briefs, acting as Section Chief when the Section Chief is on leave.
• HR: Maintaining VA training requirements, timely completion of documentation and upkeep of credentials required for privileging and re-privileging.
• Staff Management: Participate in the Focused Professional Practice Evaluation (FPPE)/Ongoing Professional Practice Evaluation (OPPE) process. Adheres to employee health requirements. Participate in Clinical Pertinence Reviews (routine medical record reviews).
• Time/Leave Management: Adherence to tour of duties, timely requests for leave in VA Time and Attendance System (VATAS) and for clinic cancellations.
• Clinical Management including indirect patient care: open encounter & open consult management, Computerized Patient Record System (CPRS) documentation rules and requirements, adherence to clinic procedures for patient scheduling & access, ensuring staff productivity, oversight of relevant performance measures, and participation in the development of the new focus on the Medical Home and Patient Centric Care, Utilization, Quality, and Patient Safety oversight, process improvement(system redesign).

Clinical Duties: The staff Hematologist-Oncologist is expected to remain privileged and practicing in their specialty field. The exact privileges and procedures for a provider will be approved by the Professional Standards Board. All physicians must meet the following qualifications:

• Patient Care: Practitioners are expected to provide patient care that is compassionate, appropriate, and effective for the promotion of health, prevention of illness, treatment of disease, and care at the end of life.
• Medical/Clinical Knowledge: Practitioners are expected to demonstrate knowledge of established and evolving biomedical, clinical and social sciences, and the application of their knowledge to patient care and the education of others.
• Clinical Judgment: To ensure practice-based learning and improvement, practitioners are expected to be able to use scientific evidence and methods to investigate, evaluate, and improve patient care.
• Interpersonal & Communication Skills: Practitioners are expected to demonstrate interpersonal and communication skills that enable them to establish and maintain professional relationships with patients, families, and other members of the health care team.
• Professionalism: Practitioners are expected to demonstrate behaviors that reflect a commitment to continuous professional development, ethical practice, and understanding and sensitivity to diversity, and a responsible attitude toward their patients, their profession
• Systems-Based Practice: Practitioners are expected to demonstrate both an understanding of the contexts and systems in which health care is provided, and the ability to apply this knowledge to improve optimizing health care.
• Practitioners are expected to provide inpatient and consult service during off tours (nights, weekends, and holidays, as needed by the organization.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00am- 4:30pm

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 dentification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• 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.
• 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, 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.
  • For foreign medical graduates not covered in (1) or (2) above, facility officials must confirm that the medical school meets (or met) Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) eligibility requirements for the year the candidate graduated.
• Licensure/Registration.
  • (1) Licensure and Registration. Physicians must possess a 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. The Physician must maintain current registration in the state of licensure if this is a requirement for continuing active, current licensure.
• Residency Training. Physicians must have successfully completed residency training, approved by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, in an accredited core specialty training program (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) leading to eligibility for board certification,
    OR
  • (2) Those approved by the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) leading to eligibility for board certification,
    OR
  • (3) 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
  • (4) Non-US residency training programs followed by a minimum of three years of 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:
    
    
    • (a) Residents currently enrolled in ACGME or 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 (that is, 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. For more information, see paragraph 4b below.
    • (b) 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.
• Grandfathering Provision. Employees in VHA in this occupation, under a permanent, appropriate, and legal placement on the effective date of the qualification standard, are considered to have met all basic requirements for the occupation. For employees who do not meet all the basic or assignment-specific requirements in this standard but met the qualifications applicable to the position at the time they were appointed, the following provisions apply:
  • (1) Such employees are considered to have met the basic qualification requirements for the purposes of transferring or reassignment to another Physician position within VA.
  • (2) Employees who are appointed on a temporary basis prior to the effective date of the qualification standard may not have their temporary appointment extended or be reappointed on a temporary or permanent basis until they fully meet the basic requirements of the standard.
  • (3) Employees retained in this occupation under this provision who subsequently leave the occupation lose protected status and must meet the full VA qualification standard requirements in effect at the time of re-entry to the occupation.
  • (4) Employees initially grandfathered into this occupation who subsequently obtain additional certification that meet all the basic or assignment-specific qualification requirements of this standard must maintain the required credential as a condition of employment in the assignment.
  • NOTE: This provision is not intended to correct erroneous appointments and placements.
• English Language Proficiency. Physicians appointed to direct patient-care positions must be proficient in spoken and written English as required by 38 U.S.C. § 7402(d) and 7407(d).

Preferred Experience:

• Board eligible or dual board certified in Hematology and Oncology
• Experience working in the VA or any federal system
• Ability to function in a multidisciplinary team.
• Provides high quality direct patient care.
• Demonstrated interest in teaching and clinical research.
• Hematology/Oncology fellowship in an ACGME accredited training program

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit

Pre-Employment/Post-Employment Physical Examination: May be required, depending on the needs of the organization.

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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