VA Eastern Colorado Health Care System Mental Health Service Medical Director, Inpatient Psychiatric Services

Position Information:

The VA Eastern Colorado Health Care System (VAECHCS), Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center (RMRVAMC), in Aurora CO, is seeking a full-time Medical Director of Inpatient Psychiatric Services.

Requirements

• Must be U.S. Citizen (Non-Citizen May Be Considered IAW VA Policy)
• Must have current, active & unencumbered US State Medical License (any State)
• Must be ABPN Board Certified
• Must have a minimum 3 years’ Inpatient, ER, and/or Residential experience (inpatient experience preferred)

Responsibilities

Clinical Duties (70%)

• Administration of clinical care that requires psychiatric oversight by a physician
• Participation in staff psychiatrist and other position hires
• Shared oversight of outpatient clinical performance measures
• Outpatient MH prescriber Professional Practice Evaluation review
• Complex case reviews
• Interface with other clinical services
• Interface with rest of outpatient, residential, and inpatient psychiatric services
• Back-up and cross coverage for the Psychiatry Section Chief

Personnel Management: (20%)

• S/he is directly responsible for the clinical oversight of the psychiatrists, mental health APRN’s, and Physician Assistants that are under them.  Will also coordinate with any Clinical Pharmacists in their areas. 
• Liaising with other parts of the Medical Center regarding substance use patients and issues.

• Work with Associate Residency Training Directors for VA on MHC, PES, BHL resident training programs including VA Chief Resident and expansion of evidence-based psychotherapies training
• Work with teaching attendings for medical student rotations
• Membership in Department of Psychiatry residency and medical student committees as agreed upon
• Direct supervision and training of psychiatry residents and medical students as agreed upon
• Mentoring of junior faculty as agreed upon
• System wide committees as agreed upon

Selected candidate will be considered for Academic Appointment to the Faculty of the University of Colorado School of Medicine, commensurate with their qualifications, experience, and interests, so will be expected to demonstrate specialty research interests, as well as a desire to teach and train residents and fellows. Work Schedule: Mondays – Fridays, 8:00 AM – 4:30 PM, with shared call responsibilities, which may occasionally include weekends and holiday coverage.

Facility Information: 

The Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center is a welcomed step forward in meeting the increased health care needs of today's Veteran population. This facility replaced the Denver facility of 670,000 square feet with a new state of the art campus of approximately 1.2 million square feet on 31 acres, providing many new services to Veterans. The Aurora, Colorado location is ideally located on the southeast corner of the former Fitzsimons Army Base just off Interstate 225, immediately west of RTD's light rail station and neighboring Children's Hospital and the University of Colorado Anschutz Health Care Campus. Leading edge technology is designed into every aspect of the new campus, bringing Veterans high quality health care well into the 21st century. Guiding principles for the new campus include patient safety, improving the Veteran's health care experience, promoting the family's role in care delivery, and protecting our environment through green design. The VA Eastern Colorado Healthcare System's specialized personal care epitomizes excellence in health care, delivered through a unique combination of medical center-based and local community-focused medicine, that brings innovative and leading-edge care to Veterans throughout the region. 

Community Information:

Aurora, with a population of 374,114 people, is the third largest community in Colorado, and located on the southeast side of Denver. Aurora is less than an hour away from the Rocky Mountains, so you’ll have ample opportunity to hike, ski, snowboard and explore on the weekends. You don’t have to leave town to take advantage of Colorado’s mild weather either, Aurora is home to six public golf courses, plenty of lakes for fishing and standup paddle-boarding and miles of trails for horseback riding, hiking and biking. Plus, the city is just far enough away from the mountains to give you some incredible views and sunsets that will inspire you to stop what you’re doing and snap a photo. Aurora also puts you just a short drive away from Denver International Airport, where you can connect to nearly 200 destinations with non-stop flights (including 30 international locales), which makes it the perfect home base for retirees, business travelers and families who love to vacation. Welcome to Aurora … One of America’s Best Places to Live!

Benefits Information:

• The VA supports healthy work-life-family balance by offering a robust menu of employee benefits and features
• The expected range of annual salary is $289,000 to $320,000 and includes biennial longevity pay increases
• Physician staff may be considered for an annual performance pay bonus up to $15,000.00 or 7.5% (whichever is less) 
• Annual Paid time off includes 26 days’ of vacation with pay, 13 days sick leave, 11 federal holidays observed and CME (up to 5 days authorized annually)
• 12 weeks paid parental leave
• Health-Dental-Vision-Life Insurance with premiums partially offset or paid by the government with retirement portability
• Retirement Plans includes Federal Employee Retirement System (DB) and Thrift Savings Plan (DC) with 5% matching

About the VA:

The Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, offers Veterans the largest, most technologically advanced integrated health care system in the United States. We operate more than 1,400 clinical sites of care, including 153 medical centers, 909 ambulatory and community-based outpatient clinics, 135 nursing homes 232 Veterans centers, 47 readjustment counseling centers, and 108 comprehensive home care programs, across all 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. Territories.

The NEW Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center is a welcomed step forward in meeting the increased health care needs of today's Veteran population. This new facility replaces the Denver facility of 670,000 square feet with a new state of the art campus of approximately 1.2 million square feet on 31 acres, providing many new services to Veterans.The new Aurora, Colorado location is ideally located on the southeast corner of the former Fitzsimons Army Base just off Interstate 225, immediately west of RTD's light rail station and neighboring Children's Hospital and the University of Colorado Anschutz Health Care Campus. 

Leading edge technology is designed into every aspect of the new campus, bringing Veterans high quality health care well into the 21st century. Guiding principles for the new campus include patient safety, improving the Veteran's health care experience, promoting the family's role in care delivery, and protecting our environment through green design.

The VA and the Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center exemplify President Lincoln's promise "to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan" by serving and honoring the men and women who are America's Veterans.

We are particularly honored and committed to serving Colorado’s Rocky Mountain Region Veterans. The VA Eastern Colorado Healthcare System's specialized personal care epitomizes excellence in health care. Through a unique combination of medical center-based and local community-focused medicine, we bring innovative and leading-edge care to Veterans throughout the region.  Last year, the VA Eastern Colorado Health Care System supported 1,033,000 outpatient health care visits.

Click HERE to see a virtual tour video of the NEW RMRVAMC!

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

It’s no accident that Denver is called “the Mile High City”: When you climb up to the State Capitol, you’re precisely 5,280 feet above sea level when you reach the 13th step. Denver’s location at this altitude was purely coincidental; Denver is one of the few cities not built on an ocean, a lake, a navigable river, or even (at the time) an existing road or railroad.

The U.S. Mint, built in 1906, established Denver as a banking and financial center.

In the years following World War II, Denver mushroomed to become the largest city between the Great Plains and the Pacific Coast, with almost 600,000 residents within the city limits and over three million in the metropolitan area. It remains a growing city, with a booming downtown and suburbs. Denver is noted for its tree-lined boulevards, 200 city parks that cover more than 20,000 acres, and architecture ranging from Victorian to postmodern.