Staff Psychiatrist

Duties

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Education Debt Reduction Program (Student Loan Repayment): Learn more.
EDRP Authorized: Contact VISN2EDRPCoordinators@va.gov, 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

Duties:

• Providing holistic, strength-based, person-centered mental health care to the panel of Veterans assigned. This includes but is not limited to medication-assisted treatment for substance use disorders and psychiatric care for Veterans with an array of mental health diagnosis as well as trauma related experiences.
• Working as a team member with other clinic staff (e.g. prescribers, therapist, and schedulers).
• Providing coverage to other prescribers when needed.
• Collaborating with other hospital and MH&BS programs/staff to ensure wholistic, patient-centered care.
• Demonstrating mastery of the theories, principles, concepts and methodologies of clinical practice in psychiatry.
• Exercising judgment in the selection of and/or adaptation of standard and accepted theories, techniques and practices in treating patients and prescribing medications.
• Completing all required clinical documentation including progress notes, treatment plans, clinical reminders, History and Physical examinations, and various risk assessments in a timely fashion (per hospital and MH&BS SOPs) into electronic medical records.
• Completing forms, letters and other documentation as required for Veterans.
• Providing clinical consultation as need to colleagues.
• Attending team/clinic meetings, MHC staff meetings, and MH&BS general staff meetings.

Interpersonal Effectiveness: Sustain collaborative working relationship with other staff, assist in resolving conflicts, and contribute to the accomplishment of the VISN and Medical Center strategic goals and performance measures

• Evidence by: visibly present at assigned committee meetings and positivity contributes to these committees. Visibly works to efficiently use resources as evidenced through the application of systems redesign principles within their practice. Maintains open dialogue with the service line leadership regarding concerns/issues which need to be addressed.

Service: Works effectively within a team environment contributing to the effectiveness of the mental health clinic to deliver safe, cost effective, quality, timely, and patient-focused care

• Evidence by: Visible evidence of fostering a positive team environment regular participation in team meetings feedback on customer service and patient correspondence. Medical practice exhibits sounds medical practice and efficient use of Medical Center resources.

Systems Thinking: Actively demonstrates the ability to understand the complexity of an integrated medical care delivery system and how change effects the system as a whole.

• Evidenced by: exhibited knowledge of actions impacting performance measures weight times patient satisfaction and improving access to care visible participation in systems improvement efforts within mental health clinic and larger MHMBS.

Creative Thinking: Demonstrate the ability to think and act innovatively looking beyond day-to-day operations.

• Evidenced by: proactive planning and challenging systems and processes to improve access to care and the care delivery process. Actively participates in performance improvement activities.

Organizational Stewardship: Demonstrates the ability to work at all levels of the organization to achieve organizational goals such as improving primary access and care coordination , improving measures, reducing length of stay, reducing hospital and we admit admissions and improving patient care outcomes.

• Evidenced by: Performance measures (e.g. clinical reminder reports, dashboard data and readmission rates.

Personal And Professional Development: Demonstrates the ability to recognize personal strengths and limitations by presenting improve professional and personal learning opportunities sponsored by the facility.

• Evidence by: Educational requirements

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

contact Maria.tola@va.gov

Paid Time Off:

• 26 Days paid annual (vacation/personal) leave
• 13 Days paid sick leave each year with no limit on accumulation
• 11 paid Federal holidays per year
• 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 2020, employees under the age of 50 may contribute up to $19,500, while those over age 50 are eligible to make catch-up contributions that allow them to defer up to $25,500.
• 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