Physician (Radiologist) EDRP and Incentive

VA TEXAS VALLEY COASTAL BEND HEALTH CARE SYSTEM

The VATVCBHCS is comprised of the Corpus Christi Outpatient Clinic, Corpus Christi Specialty Clinic, Harlingen Outpatient Clinic, Health Care Center at Harlingen, Laredo Outpatient Clinic, and McAllen Outpatient Clinic. The VATVCBHCS is an ambulatory health care system providing health care in medicine, surgery, psychiatry, and rehabilitation medicine. The VATVCBHCS also operates a 100-patient Home Based Primary Care program and a 200-patient Care Coordination Home Tele-Health Program. Through the utilization of inpatient/emergency department contracts, approximately 2600 inpatient admission and 5800 ER visits are managed by VATVCBHCS. Affiliated with the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Medical School, the system has an active ambulatory care program and serves as a teaching and training site for medical residents. The VATVCBHCS is responsible for an enrollee population of over 30,000 veterans and 350,000 outpatient visits annually.

Duties

In addition to the clinical practice, the general Diagnostic Radiologist' duties include contributions to quality assurance and performance improvement, oversight of technical quality, education of staff and trainees, committee assignments and other activities that support clinical operations and the mission, values and goals of the VA and the Medical Center to include the following:

Provide expertise and support in various facets of Diagnostic Radiology and patient care.

Oversight of quality and safety:

• Review exam requests for appropriateness.- Prescribe exam protocols and modify as needed for specific clinical indications.
• Provide oversight of technical image quality with feedback to technologists.
• Provide clinical oversight of medication administration, including contrast, preps and other medications relevant to the Imaging Service.
• Provide oversight and serve as resource for radiation and MRI safety.
• Provide oversight and serve as resource for infection control practices.
• Participate in various aspects of quality assurance such as peer review, protocol review, appropriateness criteria and performance improvement.

Image Interpretation and Consultation:

• Interpret imaging exams including relevant exam comparison and correlation with clinical information in CPRS. Generate reports that contain pertinent findings and measurements, a description of normal and abnormal structures, discussion of differential diagnoses, recommendations and impression.
• Support patient care services with reports timely to the care being delivered with the method of communication appropriate to the level of clinical importance or acuity.
• Consult with providers on various aspects of imaging such as exam selection, review of results and other support functions.

Patient Care:

• Interact with patients to obtain relevant clinical history and physical exam findings within the scope of radiology practice, provide education to patients and support,
• obtain informed consent, issue disclosures when appropriate, document in CPRS, enter orders in CPRS, and other aspects of physician practice.
• Participate in the coordination of patient care: Contact clinical providers as relevant to assure effective patient care, discuss evaluation, management, follow-up and other aspects of coordinated, patient-centered care. Make timely and definitive notification of time-sensitive results and/or results that have major clinical significance.
• Integrate resources to provide current, optimal care: consult colleagues, research literature, maintain continuing education and other sources of current practice.

Medical Staff Functions:

• Participate in Imaging and general medical staff meetings, committee assignments, compliance and other components of an organized medical staff.

Education:

• Support academic affiliations in technologist, medical student, resident and other teaching programs that involve the Imaging Service. Provide clinical experience, cognitive development, and other aspects of effective teaching.
• Research:
• Research is not required. Research is encouraged by the VA, and supported as feasible to allow the opportunity for study design, data collection, analysis, publication and other aspects of research.

Work Schedule: Monday through Friday (8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.)

Pay: Competitive salary, annual performance bonus, regular salary increases
Paid Time Off: 49-54 days of annual paid time offer per year (26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, 10 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
Malpractice: Free liability protection with tail coverage provided
Contract: No Physician Employment Contract and no significant restriction on moonlighting

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

Primary care services for Veterans in the Corpus Christi area. In addition to primary care, this center provides nutrition, primary care mental health integration, social work, Tele-med, women's health, diagnostic services, and X-Ray services available to eligible Veterans. VA-DOD agreement provides optometry and ophthalmology at the Corpus Christi Naval Station. Prescriptions: Routine prescriptions processed through the mail or My HealtheVet. Visit our Pharmacy page for details on requesting prescription refills. Open Access Scheduling System with the goal to schedule appointments within 30 days of the desired date. Handicapped Accessible: full and easy access for all veterans. Personal Care: Highly qualified primary care providers, specialty care referrals as needed.