Physician (Chief of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation)

Summary

The Chief, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Service (PM&RS) at the VA Tennessee Valley Healthcare System (TVHS) is the senior management official responsible for all areas of PM&RS including clinical, administrative, education and research. The Chief of PM&RS directly reports to the Chief of Staff, and directly supervises the PM&RS physicians, staff therapists, ancillary health care providers and administrative support staff assigned or matrixed to PM&RS.

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Duties

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Duties:

The PM&RS Chief is responsible for ensuring a strong relationship with the Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center (GRECC) and the Geriatric Fellowship Director.

The PM&RS Chief will be a Board-Certified Physiatrist and have academic credentials appropriate to appointment at the Associate or Full Professor level to the Meharry Medical College and Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Responsibilities include planning, developing, coordinating, directing and evaluating the operational aspects of a large and complex physical medicine rehabilitation program across multiple sites, i.e. VA medical centers, VA staffed outpatient clinics and contract clinics serving Middle Tennessee and North Georgia. Direct patient care and consultation is provided in support of primary care clinics, acute medicine, surgery and psychiatry units, nursing home units, long-term psychiatric units, rehabilitation clinics and units, hospice, chronic ventilator unit and skilled nursing beds.

The PM&RS Chief is responsible for developing and maintaining PM&RS programs inclusive of professional, peer review, organizational improvement, continuing education, scope of practice, clinical privileging, and other quality and process improvement activities. This includes meeting annual Performance Measures and Monitors as identified by VHA, VISN and at facility-level. The incumbent's responsibilities will include providing direct patient care within their area of clinical expertise.

Ensures that quality and quantity of health care delivered to veterans within the program meets current community, state, and federal standards, including VHA, JCAHO and CARF as applicable.

Responsible for ensuring that appropriate educational activities are provided to assist VA staff so they can provide quality care to veterans. This responsibility includes enforcement of VA required training (e.g. prevention of sexual harassment) and may include creation of new educational activities to meet current needs.

The Chief is responsible for facilitating research and ensuring that local research initiatives in rehabilitation service and technologies are congruent with the needs of the veteran population, e.g., encouraging research on ways to minimize use of restraints or adaptive or prosthetic devices. The Chief, PM&RS should understand VA, NII-1 and other research funding mechanisms so as to foster support for research initiatives either within the PM&RS or in conjunction with the GRECC.

Responsible for the day to day coordination and facilitation of functions of all services, professional and administrative, that interface with the PM&RS and maintaining active and effective communication with the Chief of Staff, GRECC Director, academic affiliates, peers, subordinates and support services to ensure that VHA, VISN and local needs are addressed promptly and effectively.

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 7:30 AM - 4:00 PM

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.
• 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.

This is an OPEN CONTINUOUS ANNOUNCEMENT and will remain open until 7/31/26. The initial cut-off date for referral of eligible applications will be March 1st with subsequent cut-off dates on the 1st of each month. Eligible applications received after that date will be referred at regular intervals.

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 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 Certification is required. Certification must be certified by the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) or the American Osteopathic Association (AOA). The PM&RS Chief will be a Board-Certified Physiatrist and have academic credentials appropriate to appointment at the Associate or Full Professor level to the Meharry Medical College and Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

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

Physical Requirements: Must pass a pre-employment physical examination as required by VA Handbook 5019. This examination is administered by VA Occupational Health. This position requires moderate lifting up to 44 lbs., carrying objects up to 15 lbs., frequent reaching above shoulder, use of fingers, hands and legs, use of cranes and motor vehicles, walking & standing up to 8 hours, bending and climbing and able to hear whisper. The incumbent must be physically, emotionally and mentally stable in order to efficiently perform the essential functions of this position without hazard to themselves or 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, 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.

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.

This is an OPEN CONTINUOUS ANNOUNCEMENT and will remain open until 7/31/26. The initial cut-off date for referral of eligible applications will be March 1st with subsequent cut-off dates on the 1st of each month. Eligible applications received after that date will be referred at regular intervals.

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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