Associate Chief of Staff - Geriatrics, Palliative and Extended Care

Leadership opportunity for Associate Chief of Staff for Geriatrics, Palliative and Extended Care (ACOS, GPEC) at the San Francisco VA Health Care System.

FACILITY DETAILS: The San Francisco VA Health Care System is a comprehensive network that provides health services to Veterans through the San Francisco VA Medical Center (SFVAMC) and six community-based outpatient clinics in Santa Rosa, Eureka, Ukiah, Clearlake, San Bruno and downtown San Francisco. It has a long history of conducting cutting-edge research, establishing innovative medical programs, and providing compassionate care to Veterans. SFVAMC has 124 operating beds and a 120-bed Community Living Center. There is a specialized homeless Veterans clinic in downtown San Francisco.

SFVAMC has several National Centers of Excellence in the areas of: epilepsy treatment, cardiac surgery, post-traumatic stress disorder, HIV and renal dialysis. We have many other nationally recognized programs including: the Parkinson’s Disease Research, Education, and Clinical Center; the Hepatitis C Resource Center; the Mental Illness Research and Education Clinical Center; and the Western Pacemaker and AICD Surveillance Program. The Medical Center is designated as one of only seven VA Centers of Excellence in Primary Care Education. It also has a Community Resource and Referral Center that is designed to serve Veterans who are homeless and at-risk of homelessness with one-stop access to community-based services. The Medical Center is the first VA to perform MRI-guided deep brain stimulation surgery and is one of only a few VA Medical Centers performing state-of-the-art transcatheter aortic valve replacement procedures.

POSITION DETAILS: The Associate Chief of Staff, Geriatrics, Palliative and Extended Care (ACOS, GPEC) reports directly to the Chief of Staff (COS) and serves as the system executive expert in geriatrics, palliative and extended care matters.

The ACOS, GPEC has programmatic responsibility for planning, developing, and directing the administrative and operational activities for the Geriatrics, Palliative and Extended Care Service at the SFVAHCS.  The incumbent is responsible for overseeing all GPEC clinical programs, including: an inpatient Mobile ACE program and geriatrics consult service; the medical and recreational therapy care in our 120 bed long term care and short term nursing facility, the Community Living Center (CLC); a dedicated hospice unit in the CLC; a Home-Based Primary Care program; inpatient palliative care consult service; outpatient palliative care clinic; and outpatient primary and consultative geriatrics clinics. The responsibility also includes an extensive non-institutional care component providing Adult Day Healthcare (ADHC), Homemaker Health Aide services (HHA), In Home Respite (IHR), and Community Nursing Home (CNH) care to Veterans in their communities in an area that includes five of the community-based outpatient clinics in San Bruno, Santa Rosa, Ukiah, Eureka, Oakland as well as the Fort Miley Main Campus. The primary GPEC educational programs located at the SFVA Medical Center are the UCSF/SFVAHCS Geriatric Medicine Fellowship Program and the UCSF/SFVAHCS Integrated Geriatric and Palliative Medicine Fellowship Program. 

Administrative:  The ACOS, GPEC provides oversight and leadership within the Geriatrics, Palliative and Extended Care Service at SFVAHCS.  The ACOS, GPEC is responsible for establishing and maintaining high standards of excellence in all areas.  The ACOS, GPEC has oversight responsibility and/or is champion for several performance measures, including wait times, missed opportunities, and outpatient satisfaction, as well as is directly responsible for the recruitment and retention of faculty and staff and initiates areas of programmatic development.  Some of these responsibilities are as follows:

Clinical:  Maintains a clinical workload by providing direct patient care as needed in inpatient, nursing home, or ambulatory care settings, utilizing face to face visits and telemedicine.

Requirements:  ACOS, GPEC meets all Customer Service, Age, Development, and Cultural Needs of Patient, and Computer Security Requirements.

Supervisory:  The position is organizationally aligned under the COS. 

Qualifications:

MD, DO, or other doctoral-level academic with board-certification.

Minimum of three years demonstrated successful executive leadership/management experience in a complex healthcare setting.

Experience working within the VA health care system is preferred.

The ACOS, GPEC must possess skill and creativity in organization, management, leadership, and interpersonal relations to deal with a wide variety of complex ambulatory care/primary care issues and arrangements.  A broad-based knowledge of VA policies and procedures and Joint Commission standards, and an ongoing awareness of health care issues and trends, are essential to the success of the GPEC service.  In the performance of official duties, the incumbent has regular access to print and electronic files containing sensitive patient data.

Paid Time Off:

• 26 Days paid annual (vacation/personal) leave
• 13 Days paid sick leave each year with no limit on accumulation
• 11 Federal holidays with pay annually
• 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