Primary Care Physician – St. Louis VA Medical Center

Vacancy locations include:

• Saint Clair County, IL
• Florissant, MO
• Jefferson Barracks, MO
• Saint Louis, MO
   

The Physician will evaluate, diagnose, treat and provide consultation to ambulatory adults in an outpatient setting at Saint Louis VA Health Care System.
Duties for Primary Care faculty include providing direct patient care in an outpatient setting. There are also opportunities to engage in population health management and quality improvement projects. Prior training or clinical experience in an academic teaching environment is preferred.

Primary Care of a panel of primary care patients (male and female)

Provide comprehensive assessment, diagnostic work-up and clinic intervention, including comprehensive patient assessment, health history, physical examination, and patient education to Veterans in the Primary Care team setting; outpatients include both scheduled and unscheduled Veterans. Function as an integral part of a Primary Care multi-disciplinary team to coordinate, facilitate, and provide patient care and services.

Discriminate between normal and abnormal findings to establish a diagnosis and initiate appropriate response to emergency health problems.

Initiate appropriate referrals and consultations to other clinical services.

Order and evaluate diagnostic tests as appropriate, recommend treatment and/or referral.

Validate the effectiveness of previously implemented medical treatment.

Initiate, evaluate, and change orders for medications.

Include patient and family in planning care and establishing realistic measurable goals for health maintenance/improvement.

Record/document health appraisal information, clinical assessments, treatment decisions, plan of care, ongoing management and therapeutic outcomes, order medications, diagnostic tests and referral consultations where needed for every patient encounter; recording will be accomplished using the electronic comprehensive patient record system (CPRS), and will be completed on the day of the encounter.

Respond to computerized "alerts" indicating diagnostic test abnormalities and to health line requests from Veterans/family members on the day of receipt (weekends excepted).

Follow Performance Measure guidelines, including completion of clinical reminders in CPRS. Access and timeliness standards; prescription order entry, National VA formulary requirements, and customer service standards.

Work effectively with patients, families, members of the multi-disciplinary team, and other staff.

Demonstrates flexibility in responding to clinic demands, adhere to personal and professional obligations and responsibilities, practice and maintain ethical standards, and sustain a work environment that is harmonious and customer service oriented.

Providers will act as surrogates for the patients of their colleagues when their colleagues are on leave/travel. Serving as a resource for nurse practitioners or physician assistants who are also delivering primary care and responds to all staff in the primary care teams regarding patient concerns.

The VA St. Louis Health Care System provides inpatient and ambulatory care in medicine, surgery, psychiatry, neurology, and rehabilitation, and many other subspecialty areas. It is a two-division facility that serves veterans and their families in east central Missouri and southwestern Illinois.

The John Cochran Division, named after the late Missouri congressman, is located in midtown St. Louis and has all of the medical center's operative surgical capabilities, the ambulatory care unit, intensive care units, outpatient psychiatry clinics, and expanded laboratory.

The Jefferson Barracks Division is a multi-building complex overlooking the Mississippi River in south St. Louis County. It provides psychiatric treatment, spinal cord injury treatment, a nursing home care unit, geriatric health care, rehabilitation services, and a rehabilitation domiciliary program for homeless veterans.

Paid Time Off:

• 26 Days paid annual (vacation/personal) leave
• 13 Days paid sick leave each year with no limit on accumulation
• 11 Federal holidays with pay annually
• 5 Days paid absence to attend approved CME courses

Insurance:

• Health Insurance: VA employees have an outstanding number of health insurance plans from which to choose (premiums are partially paid by VA) Lifetime Healthcare Insurance options available
• Dental & Vision: Our insurance options also include exceptional vision and dental plans (premiums are partially paid by VA)
• VA employees have the option to use Flexible Spending Accounts, which allow you to use tax-free dollars to pay for medical, dental, and vision care expenses that are not reimbursed by your health insurance plan
• Term life insurance, family, and additional coverage options are available with the cost shared by the Federal Government
• Long-term care insurance is available as an option

Federal Retirement Plan:

• VA employees are covered by the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS). FERS is a three-tiered retirement plan composed of 1) Social Security benefits, 2) FERS-RAE basic benefits (pension), and 3) Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) which is a 401K-type plan
• How is the pension funded? VA employees automatically contribute 4.4% of their salary each pay period and the VA contributes 12.2% of the employee’s salary each pay period for a total annual contribution percentage equal to 16.6% of the employee’s salary
• Similar to the 401(k) savings plans widely available in the private sector, the TSP allows employees to tax defer a portion of their income each year, subject to the requirements of the Internal Revenue Service. For calendar year 2025, employees under the age of 50 may contribute up to $23,500, while those over age 50 are eligible to make catch-up contributions that allow them to defer up to $31,000.
• The Federal Government also provides an automatic basic contribution (1% of salary) and up to 4% of salary in matching contributions, depending on the amount of the employee contribution
• For retired military personnel, these benefits are in addition to full monthly retirement pay or pension
• In addition to FERS, VA provides health care insurance coverage for retired personnel
• Disability Retirement
• Employees are vested in a federal pension after only 5 years service