Geriatrics and Extended Care Staff

The Richmond VA Medical Center in Richmond, Virginia VA Richmond Health Care | Veterans Affairs has identified a Geriatrics and Extended Care Physician opportunity. Geriatrics and Extended Care (GEC) service includes programs outpatient geriatrics, Community Living Center/nursing home care, Home-Based Primary Care, Inpatient and Outpatient Palliative Care, hospice care, pre-operative optimization, transitional care, non-institutional care, and State Veteran Home partnership. Geriatrics and HPM fellows, Internal Medicine residents and medical students from Virginia Commonwealth University complete their rotation with GEC faculty.

The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is America’s largest, most technologically advanced healthcare system, providing care at 1,298 healthcare facilities, including 171 medical centers and 1,113 outpatient sites of care of varying complexity (VHA outpatient clinics), serving 9 million enrolled Veterans each year. In addition to the honor of serving America’s Heroes, a career at VHA provides a robust total reward$ package and offers many benefits including:

• Low patient-provider ratios.
• Robust insurance coverage.
• The ability to work with one 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.
• Stable employment with competitive salary and regular pay increases.
• 55 days annual paid time off (26 days paid annual leave, 13 days paid annual sick leave, 11 paid federal holidays, 5 CME) in addition to other leave options including paid parental leave.
• Generous education support programs, including loan repayment and reimbursement.
• Unprecedented federal retirement benefits including a traditional pension (5 years’ vesting) and a federal 401K (TSP) with up to 5% in employer contributions.
• VA’s Diversity, People & Culture.
• Contract Buy Out Program (CBOP), which authorizes VHA to buy out service contracts (Locum agreements, loan repayments, sign-on bonus contracts, Physician-owned practices).

Key Roles:

• Lead inter-disciplinary teams to provide excellent patient care.
• Geriatrics primary care and clinic-based consultative practices.
• Hospice and Palliative Care services throughout the healthcare system
• Collaborate with all referral sources.
• Ensure compliance with all patient care quality measures.
• Preceptor for medical trainees at various levels
• Provide didactic education to various trainees.
• Develop and grow clinic-based Geriatrics and/or HPC programs.
• Lead/participate in quality improvement projects.
• Timely and accurate completion of medical records.
• Cross-coverage as needed in GEC programs.
• Shared on-call coverage.

Key Benefits:

• Well-established Geriatrics & Palliative Care programs, including fellowships.
• Join a collegial group of experienced and mid-career faculty.
• Work with engaged interdisciplinary teams.
• Professional growth and career development.

Must have:

• Board certification in internal medicine/family medicine.
• Board certification/Board-eligible in Geriatrics and/or Hospice and Palliative Medicine

Preferred Experience:

• Geriatrics Primary care, Geriatrics consultation
• Hospice and Palliative Care throughout the healthcare system
• Nursing home care
• Geriatrics/ HPM clinician educator

Visit Richmond VA | Information for Visiting the Richmond, VA Region

Contact:

Miguel A. Cruz Velazquez at 804-631-4217 or miguel.cruzvelazquez@va.gov
Dr. Ruchir Shah, Chief of Geriatrics and Extended Care at ruchir.shah@va.gov or 804-675-6651

Since 1946, the Richmond VAMC has been improving the health of the men and women who have so proudly served our nation. We consider it our privilege to serve your health care needs in any way we can. Services are available to more than 200,000 veterans coming from 52 cities and counties covering 22,515 miles of central and southern Virginia and parts of northern North Carolina.

VHA Mission StatementHonor America's Veterans by providing exceptional health care that improves their health and well-being.

VHA Vision StatementVHA will continue to be the benchmark of excellence and value in health care and benefits by providing exemplary services that are both patient centered and evidence based.

This care will be delivered by engaged, collaborative teams in an integrated environment that supports learning, discovery and continuous improvement.

It will emphasize prevention and population health and contribute to the nation's well-being through education, research and service in National emergencies.

Core Values - "I CARE"

• Integrity: Act with high moral principle. Adhere to the highest professional standards. Maintain the trust and confidence of all with whom I engage.
• Commitment: Work diligently to serve Veterans and other beneficiaries. Be driven by an earnest belief in VA's mission. Fulfill my individual responsibilities and organizational responsibilities.
• Advocacy: Be truly Veteran-centric by identifying, fully considering, and appropriately advancing the interests of Veterans and other beneficiaries.
• Respect: Treat all those I serve and with whom I work with dignity and respect. Show respect to earn it.
• Excellence: Strive for the highest quality and continuous improvement. Be thoughtful and decisive in leadership, accountable for my actions, willing to admit mistakes, and rigorous in correcting them.

Community-Based Outpatient Clinics

In addition to our main facility in Richmond, we offer services in our Fredericksburg, Charlottesville and Emporia community-based outpatient clinics.

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