Physician – Chief of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation

Job Description 

Join our Team at the Department of Veterans VA Medical Center, Palo Alto, CA as a Physician – Chief of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation! 

The position of Chief, PM&RS, is a full-time position. A board-certified physician in Physical Medicine & Rehab, with extensive experience in the specialty, and with demonstrated administrative leadership skills, is desired. The PM&R Service is based on the Palo Alto Campus of VA Palo Alto Health Care System. This service supports Veterans Health Administration's (VHA) mission to promote and maintain the health, independence, quality of life, and productivity, of individuals with physical and cognitive disabilities. The incumbent will oversee and manage the PM&R Service, providing administrative, clinical, and programmatic leadership to ensure achievement of clinical, research, and educational goals.

Major duties include but are not limited to:

Clinical:

• Provide medical and rehabilitation care to patients served across the continuum of care within rehabilitation, including consultative.
• Oversee outpatient and inpatient clinical operations, within PM&R/Polytrauma, ensuring standards of care consistent with CARF, CMS, OIG and TJC.
• Directly oversee PM&R care delivery of the physicians in PM&R and Polytrauma.
• Supervise, organize, and monitor duty assignments, tours of duty, leave requests of all PM&R physicians to ensure daily physician services within all clinical settings of rehabilitation are available to provide patient care according to clinic schedules. Ensure continuous physician services are provided twenty-four hours a day, 7 days a week, inclusive of holidays within the inpatient services/units.
• Provide supervision of PM&RS physician residents on an as needed basis.
• Conduct review of referrals or consults for admission to the various programs within the Rehabilitation Service.
• Facilitate collaboration with other medical/clinical/ancillary services to ensure patient care is coordinated and interdisciplinary.

Administrative:

• Ensuring that written policies and procedures are developed in compliance with all applicable VHA Central Office, PM&R and accrediting organization standards and requirements which must be reviewed bi-annually and updated as necessary.
• Ensure adequate resources are available to provide coverage of PM&RS responsibilities across the continuum of care.
• Provide ongoing communication of local and national changes impacting PM&RS.
• Work collaboratively with the Deputy Chief of Staff and the Chief of Therapy Services to address service delivery issues related to the PM&RS.
• Develop and implement PM&RS strategic plans in partnership with the VAPAHCS rehabilitation leadership, inclusive of gathering input from internal and external stakeholders.
• Contributing to the annual performance evaluations for all PM&R staff.
• Ensuring that a QI or Total Quality Improvement (TQI) committee meets at least quarterly to identify important aspects of care and to monitor areas of service delivery which are identified as high-risk, high-volume (such as preventive health maintenance program), or problem prone.
• Ensure performance measures are met, e.g., access to care, patient satisfaction, patient outcomes, and risk management shall be addressed.
• A systematic plan must be used for collecting and analyzing data, taking corrective action, and reporting results.
• Ensuring that the PM&RS and the preventive health maintenance program actively participate in the PI/QI Programs of VAPAHCS.

Research:

• Monitor the research activities within PM&RS and Polytrauma.
• Encouraged to participate in and promote research within the department.
• Assist and support physician/resident and staff research efforts.

Educational:

• Oversee Stanford/VA PM&R residency training/supervision within VA PM&R services with residency site directors (physician) and site coordinators.
• Provide and assist with PM&R residency education/didactics to residents/medical students, as well as PM&R staff.
• Contribute and assist with Stanford PM&R Grand Rounds and Resident Research Day Conferences.
• Collaborate with the Chief of Stanford PM&R/ Dept of Orthopedics to ensure that the VA PM&R Service maintenances the integrity, standards, and development of the Stanford PM&R program.

Benefits and Features

• Expected Salary range from $200K to 336K (negotiable based on candidate's qualifications, credentials and experience).

• Work Schedule: Part-time. 68 hours per pay period. Schedule will be determined by supervisor.
• 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 days 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.

We encourage you to consider VA employment in Palo alto, CA. We offer both a mission you can put your heart into and a home for fun, new experiences. Join a team that values a healthy home/work life balance and be rewarded by your role in keeping the promise to those who served.

The Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System is a large and complex facility with inpatient, outpatient, residential and homeless services. Located in Palo Alto, CA, the heart of Silicon Valley, with beautiful weather, great food, a large multicultural population and a multitude of outdoor activities. Palo Alto is 30 miles from San Francisco, the beach and the mountains.

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