Home Based Primary Care Medical Director

The Home Based Primary Care (HBPC) Medical Director serves as the physician member of the HBPC leadership team and as a primary care provider for veterans enrolled in HBPC. The HBPC Medical Director is part of the Geriatrics, Palliative, and Extended (GPEC) service line. As a physician leader, the HBPC Medical Director leads interdisciplinary teams across Northern California in providing high quality, patient centered, and resource conscious clinical care for older adult veterans with complex chronic diseases and neuropsychiatric illnesses in complex legal and psychosocial environments. The Medical Director should be experienced in geriatric medicine and palliative care, dementia care, behavioral health management, rehabilitation, transitions of care, healthcare systems navigation, and quality improvement.

The HBPC Medical Director is a key member of the HBPC leadership team and collaborates closely with the HBPC Program Director. This physician position serves as a member, consultant, collaborator, and contributor to the HBPC interdisciplinary team and program. As both Medical Director and physician, the HBPC Medical Director is expected to be trained in and demonstrate a high degree of knowledge in evidence-based geriatric medicine to include knowledge and application of geriatric principles, knowledge and use of geriatric assessments, primary care management of complex chronic illnesses, ability to evaluate for decision making capacity, evidence-based prognostication, communication skills including ability to facilitate and perform family meetings, difficult conversations, and working in inter-professional teams. The HBPC Medical Director is also expected to have a high degree of systems knowledge and practice including identifying the need for and facilitating transitions of care (including transitions through the end of life) and engaging resources and facilitating communication between health systems and sites of care.

The major duties and responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Supervising HBPC physicians including performance management to include billing/coding/productivity
• Oversight of Infection Control
• Resource utilization and fiscal responsibility
• Acting as liaison to Specialty Clinics/Primary Care/other home-based care programs within the SFVAHCS
• Participation in SFVAHCS committees, as deemed appropriate by GPEC service line leadership, such as Flu Campaign, P&T committee, and HUDVASH case conferences
• Participation in national HBPC calls and other national efforts

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