Clarification from the agency

This vacancy is open to current, permanent employees of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). Most recent SF-50 is required for eligibility. All qualified candidates encouraged to apply. NOTE: The 2-page Resume requirement does not apply to this position. For more information, refer to Required Documents below.

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The Physician Assistant provides care and counseling of persons or in the promotion and maintenance of health and prevention of illness and injury, which includes systematic data gathering, assessment, clinical judgment, and evaluation of human responses to actual or potential health problems through such services as case finding, health teaching, health counseling; provision of care supportive to or restorative of life and well-being; and executing medical regimens including administering medications and treatments prescribed by a licensed or otherwise legally authorized provider. The Physician Assistant will be in daily contact with the Chief of Care in the Community with regard to community care related activities. The PA provides holistic healthcare to Veterans, families and groups across the adult life span.

Duties include but are not limited to the following:

• Serves in management of all Care in the Community consults and requests for additional services as directed.
• Demonstrate sound decision making skills, both clinical and administrative, which bring credit to the profession and serve to enhance the distinctive and contributory role of physicians.
• Participates in multidisciplinary activities involving the treatment plan and discharge plans of patients admitted to the bed services as assigned.
• Utilizes problem solving methodologies to resolve problems that impact on patient care or staff performance.
• Ability to review patients both clinical and administratively to determine eligibility, for community care services.
• Provides guidance to all clinical and administrative staff assigned to Care in the Community.
• Assists in the training of staff and other stake holders in the use of community care.
• Assists in the coordination of care with outside providers using knowledge of the resources and specialty care available in the VA.
• Facilitates ongoing communication between Care in the Community staff and leadership to evaluate data and review workload demands.
• Fosters team-oriented environment among staff to work collaboratively with administrative staff and other clinical staff within the Care in the Community department; building trust relationships.
• Participates in and attends medical center committees as assigned.
• Revises work schedules and assignments on short notice to meet frequent, abrupt, and unpredictable changes in prescribed workloads and deadlines.
• Participates in various facility programs designed to enhance and improve the delivery of patient care services, such as Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) teams, as assigned by management.
• Demonstrates commitment to high quality customer service, including specific measures identified as performance goals by the Medical Center.
• Identifies individual professional learning needs and participates in formal programs, workshops, seminars, conferences, as well as self-directed learning activities, completes facility wide mandatory education yearly.
• Evaluate patients in an outpatient setting; making appropriate referrals/consults, follow-ups, and treatment plans.
• Provide Initial and interim histories and physical examinations on assigned outpatients and/or inpatients, as well as daily physical assessments on patients within area of expertise.
• Follows acute and chronic physical health problems in the outpatient setting
• Provides medication management
• Orders electrocardiograms, routine laboratory, radiologic and diagnostic tests
• Writes/dictates consults, general progress notes, post-operative progress notes, and discharge summaries
• Perform joint injections, veni-puncture and arterial punctures
• Provides patient education and applies currently accepted preventive health care measures to patients and/or their families.

VA offers a comprehensive total rewards package.

Pay: Competitive salary, regular salary increases, potential for performance awards
Licensure: 1 full and unrestricted license from any US State or territory
Compressed/Flexible: May be available at supervisory discretion
Telework: May be available at supervisory discretion following agency policy (Ad-hoc)
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized.
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized.

Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 8:00a -4:30p

Conditions of employment

• All qualified candidates encouraged to apply. Open to U.S. Citizens but non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens.
• All applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English.
• Subject to background/security investigation.
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued dentification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• Must pass pre-employment physical examination.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).
• You may be required to serve a probationary period.
• Complete all application requirements detailed in the "Required Documents" section of this announcement.

Qualifications

Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met.

Physician Assistant Basic Requirements

• Master's degree in any discipline or a bachelor's degree in any discipline with one year of experience as a Physician Assistant ~AND~
• Successfully passed the PA National Certifying Exam (PANCE) (or are you in the process to taking the exam) ~AND~
• Currently hold, or will hold, a full and unrestricted license to practice in a State, Territory, or Commonwealth of the United States or in the District of Columbia.

Grade Determinations: In addition to the basic requirements stated above, the following qualification criteria must be met in determining the appropriate grade assignment of candidates:

Physician Assistant-I (PA-I):
Experience and Education. None beyond the basic requirements. This is the entry level for PAs.

Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. The following list of knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA) present the minimum skill set expected of an Entry Level PA. This practice may include, but is not limited to:

• Ability to utilize the principles of PA practice in the care of assigned patients to provide appropriate care.
• Ability to perform patient history and physical.
• Ability to formulate a plan and provide treatment to the patient.
• Ability to provide patient care that is abreast of changing concepts and advancements in the profession.

Physician Assistant-II (PA-II):
Experience and Education. The PA at this grade is at the intermediate grade level and has had progressively increasing responsibility and experiences as indicated in the KSAs listed below. Individuals will have demonstrated the ability to analyze and solve more complex medical problems than at the entry level grade and can utilize their training in the successful practice of patient care and participate in team problem solving. Individuals demonstrate the KSAs of PA-II intermediate level by:

• Two years of successful practice as a PA. OR
• Successful completion of a PA post-graduate residency program sponsored by VHA Office of Academic Affiliations or other postgraduate residency programs accredited by VA, ARC-PA, U.S. Armed Forces, or another accrediting agency. OR
• A doctoral degree in a health-related field from an accredited college or university recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs). PAs at this level are not required to meet each individual KSA listed below to qualify, but should be able to demonstrate, develop, or acquire those not met upon appointment for PA-II:

• Skills to analyze and solve complex medical problems.
• Ability to function autonomously and make independent medical decisions.
• Skill to incorporate training and experience into the successful practice of patient care including telehealth medical care.
• Ability to work effectively in an interdisciplinary environment for improvement of services for patient care.
• Ability to practice with colleagues and peers collaboratively.

Physician Assistant-III (PA-III):
Experience and Education. PAs at the PA-III grade are at the full performance level and lead and organize patient care independently, practice within multi-disciplinary teams, and coordinate all aspects of patient care across the health care system. They utilize advanced clinical knowledge and judgment in decision-making and evaluating outcomes. They function as experts in clinical practice and/or in areas related to the assigned roles and responsibilities, may serve as mentors for transitioning PAs, and may provide training for health care students. Individuals can demonstrate the KSAs for the full performance level by:

• Three years of successful practice as a PA. OR
• Successful completion of a PA post-graduate residency program sponsored by VHA Office of Academic Affiliations or other postgraduate residency programs accredited by VA, ARC-PA, U.S. Armed Forces, or another accrediting agency and one year of professional practice as a PA. OR
• A doctoral degree in a health-related field from an accredited college or university recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and one year of professional practice as a PA.

Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. PAs at this level are not required to meet each individual KSA listed below to qualify, but should be able to demonstrate, develop, or acquire those not met upon appointment for PA-III:

• Ability to clinically evaluate facility patient care delivery systems and validate or identify barriers to safe and effective patient care.
• Skill to consistently demonstrate an elevated level of expertise and autonomy in diagnosing and treating seriously ill, multi-symptomatic patients through facility Focused Professional Practice Evaluation (FPPE) and Ongoing Professional Practice Evaluation (OPPE).
• Ability to present clinical findings and recommendations to appropriate management officials.
• Ability to clinically facilitate the delivery of patient care in collaboration with health professionals, health managers, and other health care personnel.
• Ability to implement and initiate clinical changes to established treatment protocols based upon new medical literature research findings to enhance patient delivery care for improved patient outcomes.
• Ability to participate clinically in the development of the PA patient care audit processes involving in-depth review and analysis of medical records.

The full performance level of this vacancy is VN-0603-03. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is in the range of 01 to 03.

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.

Physical Requirements: This work requires some standing, bending and carrying light items. The incumbent must have the ability to stand and walk for prolonged periods of time to interact with the patients and other services. The incumbent must be able to perform all activities of the position without restriction in accordance with VA Directive and Handbook 5019.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE MAY NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Your application, resume, C.V., and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect consideration for employment.

NOTE: A formal pay-setting process will be used to determine your salary. The salary may be at any point in the range listed for this vacancy.

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

The Department of Veterans Affairs performs pre-employment reference checks as an assessment method used in the hiring process to verify information provided by a candidate (e.g., on resume or during interview or hiring process); gain additional knowledge regarding a candidate's abilities; and assist a hiring manager with making a final selection for a position.

It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment.

Veterans and Transitioning Service Members: Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members.