Physician Informaticist

Wallops Island, Virginia, Virginia, The Physician Informaticist is a full-time position within the Health Solutions Management (HSM) division of the VHA Clinical Informatics and Data Management Office (CIDMO) which is organized within the VHA Office of Health Informatics (OHI). The position reports to the Director of HSM. Basic Requirements: United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy. Degree of doctor of medicine or an equivalent degree resulting from a course of education in medicine or osteopathic medicine. The degree must have been obtained from one of the schools approved by the Department of Veterans Affairs for the year in which the course of study was completed. Current, full and unrestricted license to practice medicine or surgery in a State, Territory, or Commonwealth of the United States, or in the District of Columbia. Residency Training: Physicians must have completed residency training, approved by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs in an accredited core specialty training program leading to eligibility for board certification. (NOTE: VA physicians involved in academic training programs may be required to be board certified for faculty status. ) Approved residencies are: (1) Those approved by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), b) OR [(2) Those approved by the American Osteopathic Association (AOA),OR (3) Other residencies (non-US residency training programs followed by a minimum of five years of verified practice in the United States), which the local Medical Staff Executive Committee deems to have provided the applicant with appropriate professional training and believes has exposed the physician to an appropriate range of patient care experiences. Residents currently enrolled in ACGME/AOA accredited residency training programs and who would otherwise meet the basic requirements for appointment are eligible to be appointed as “Physician Resident Providers” (PRPs).

PRPs must be fully licensed physicians (i. e. , not a training license) and may only be appointed on an intermittent or fee-basis. PRPs are not considered independent practitioners and will not be privileged; rather, they are to have a “scope of practice” that allows them to perform certain restricted duties under supervision. Additionally, surgery residents in gap years may also be appointed as PRPs. Proficiency in spoken and written English. Preferred Experience: Five years demonstrable critical understanding of the integrated processes of EHR/EMR systems and associated applications and workflows that support use within multifaceted clinical settings. Five years of in-depth involvement with extracting, curating, and analyzing multi-layered data created within the HIT and healthcare delivery ecosystem to support clinical informatics. Five years experience with engaging partnerships with multi-discipline clinical providers or networks contributing to strategic approaches to optimize clinical outcomes, patient safety and knowledge management. Reference: VA Regulations, specifically VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Appendix G-2 Physician Qualification Standard.

This can be found in the local Human Resources Office. Physical Requirements: Work is primarily sedentary in nature. [“As a partner with the Office of Information and Technology (OI&T), other VA programs, and VHA program offices, OHI brings together VHA staff expertise from various disciplines to improve coordination, communication, standardization, and oversight of VHA information-management capabilities. CIDMO manages capabilities and standards that support clinical care. It has an expert staff of engineers in domains of knowledge representation and system and product design and other experts in product management of IT systems, project management, and change management. With both clinical and technical expertise, each physician informaticist performs and leads most of the following functions while acting in a range of roles. Functions include leadership and execution of: requirement translation between clinical and technical staff, functional design of technical solutions, creation and implementation of knowledge artifacts, creation of strategic plans and innovations, change management, workforce development, system (workflow) design, standards creation, policy creation/refinement, and value assessment. Roles include functional architect product manager, program leader, communicator, and the person who gets things done. Works as a clinical champion to maximize the impact of health informatics services to improve patient outcomes in VHA; Acts as a liaison and advocate for the enterprise to understand and meet the informatics needs of the stakeholders including the end users; Ensures that clinical practice, health care delivery, and informatics issues are all considered as part of collaborative ventures; Works with the VISN CMO’s, CHIO’s and CIOs, clinical advisory groups, and field clinicians in all disciplines to establish priorities for activities associated with health information systems. Collaborates similarly with members of equivalent organizations within the federal and private sector/ healthcare organizations; Interacts with senior VA clinical and technical staff, and represents VHA in briefings, presentations, or discussions on substantive electronic health records interoperability and VA data; Participates in developing VHA strategic plans regarding information management and clinical IT systems.

Participates in the execution of the deployment and implementation of electronic health record systems or capabilities and ensures they are aligned in such a way to support interoperability, sharing of health data and security requirements as defined by the clinical communities; Represents the interests of VHA interfacing with other offices, departments, agencies, organizations, and groups, both public and private, in various interagency collaborations; Participates as assigned in various committees with representation by senior management officials from Federal, State or private sector Provides expertise in Clinical Informatics in areas such as gap analysis, deployment, implementation and training; Determines health related outcomes that can be influenced by system capabilities and performance and integrates these outcomes into system performance measurement program; Assesses workflow integration issues related to system design and recommends changes as necessary; Engages actively in clinical system testing, implementation, and performance monitoring activities; Consults with VACO-level Program Offices such as Patient Care Services (PCS), the Deputy Under Secretary for Health for Operations and Management (DUSHOM) to better understand business needs, collaborate/ coordinate work priorities, and identify goals for informatics support; Manages and executes communication modality(ies) within Health Informatics, between VHA program offices, and OIT; Establishes and streamlines processes, reporting structures, and oversight for national deployment of clinical information systems including COTS, GOTS; Executes expert knowledge of how information systems impact users and Veterans; Pay: Competitive salary, annual performance bonus, regular salary increases Paid Time Off: 50-55 days of paid time off per year (26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, 11 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 (must be full-time with board certification) Malpractice: Free liability protection with tail coverage provided Contract: No Physician Employment Contract and no significant restriction on moonlighting Work Schedule: Monday – Friday, 8am – 4:30pm”]

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