Physician - Geriatrics and Extended Care Chief

Veterans Health Administration; Marion (IL); On-site; USD 250,000 - 310,000; Full time

Job summary

The Marion VA Medical Center in Illinois, part of the Veterans Health Administration, seeks a Physician to serve as the Chief of Geriatrics and Extended Care Service. The Chief leads CLC/HBPC/HPC programs, directs geriatrics care for aging Veterans, and collaborates with medical leadership to advance clinical quality.

The role emphasizes strategic planning, credentialing oversight, supervision of staff and trainees, and participation in performance improvement and policy development.

Qualifications

• MD/DO degree from LCME/COCA-accredited school.
• Foreign medical graduates must meet ECFMG eligibility requirements.
• Full and unrestricted medical license from any US state or territory.

Responsibilities

• Provide palliative and hospice care for geriatric patients in long-term care or OP settings.
• Supervise geriatrics fellows, residents, and trainees; mentor staff.
• Coordinate and ensure high-quality long-term care aligned with facility mission and plans.
• Oversee credentialing, privileging, and professional practice evaluations; performance improvement.
• Participate in executive committees and strategic planning; manage staffing and budgets.

Education

MD/DO degree or equivalent

Job description

Physician - Geriatrics and Extended Care Chief

• Department: Department of Veterans Affairs

The Marion, IL VA Medical Center is seeking a Physician to serve as the Chief of Geriatrics and Extended Care Service!

Key Responsibilities

VA offers a comprehensive total rewards package. VHA Physician Total Rewards. Duties include but are not limited to the following: Performs palliative and hospice clinical care of older patients with multiple complex health problems in a long-term care setting or OP clinic. Ensures that comprehensive, coordinated, and timely, long term health care of excellent quality is provided for every geriatric Veteran.

Works collaboratively with other physicians, Nurse Practitioners, physician assistants, and nurses. Will supervise/teach geriatric or palliative fellows, medical residents, and trainees in other health related disciplines. Collaborates with the Medical Director in maintaining quality assurance and administrative needs in the nursing home care setting.

Communicates and treats customers (veterans, their representatives, visitors, and all VA staff) in a courteous, tactful, and respectful manner. Provides the customer with consistent information according to established policies and procedures. Handles conflict and problems in dealing with the customer constructively and appropriately. Assigns physician coverage for the nursing home units, designating alternates as necessary to promote appropriate intermediate bed utilization.

Protects printed and electronic files containing sensitive data in accordance with the provisions of the Privacy Act of 1974 and other applicable laws, Federal regulations, VA statutes and policy, and VHA policy. Uses the Veterans Health Information and Technology Architecture (VistA) to access information in the Medical Center Computer System. Demonstrates infection control practices for disease prevention.

Apprises patients and their families and/or significant others of significant findings, diagnoses and prognoses and collaborates with them on treatment and continuity of care plans and end-of-life planning; participates in interdisciplinary patient education delivery and documentation. Administrative Responsibilities: The Chief is responsible for oversight of CLC, HBPC, HPC programs and other services that could be developed, such as Geriatric clinic or GeriPACT.

Ensures that extended care services are aligned with the facility's mission, vision and strategic plan. Provides input as requested to the strategic plan. Provides for the integration of medical care with other services and programs within and outside Extended Care. Develops and implements appropriate policies and procedures to provide guidance in and ensure coordination of care.

Directs and supervises the Section Chiefs for all programs in Extended Care, the HPC providers, and the Extended Care support staff of AO and/or PSA. The ECS Chief is ultimately responsible for the overall care and quality provided in the department. Ensures that all CLC, HBPC, HPC policies are effectively implemented and maintained and are updated as necessary.

Attends and provides input into, as appropriate, the Executive Leadership Committee, the Strategic Planning Committee, the Clinical Executive Board, the Professional Standards and Credentialing Board, Peer Review Committee and all QM/GEC performance improvement projects. Assesses needs for, develops, implements, and evaluates the GEC performance improvement plan.

Participates in wide-ranging and higher-level management functions for GEC through participation and planning in operational boards, councils, and committees within the Marion VA HCS, the VISN and VHA.

Manages all personnel management of GEC, including credentialing and privileging, defining scope of practice/privileges for medicine personnel, focused and ongoing professional practice evaluations, ongoing performance evaluations and assures the maintenance of continuing education for staff physicians. Oversees competencies for direct report staff, along with the development and completion of performance standards and appraisals.

Responsible for successful external reviews, including TJC, CLC oversight reviews and implementation of approved recommendations. Work Schedule: Mon- Fri, 7:30am to 4:00pm. Incumbent may be expected to respond to events or emergencies on weekends, evenings, and holidays.

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

Requirements & Education

Degree of Doctor of Medicine or an equivalent degree resulting from a course of education in allopathic medicine or osteopathic medicine. The degree must have been obtained from an institution whose accreditation was in place for the year in which the course of study was completed. Approved schools are: Schools of medicine accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) for the year in which the degree was granted.

Schools of osteopathic medicine approved by the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation (COCA) for the year in which the degree was granted. For foreign medical graduates not covered in (1) or (2) above, confirmation must be made that the medical school meets (or met) Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) eligibility requirement for year graduated.

NOTE: The Under Secretary of Health or designee in the VHA Central Office may approve the appointment under authority of 38 U.S.C. 7405 of a physician graduate of a school of medicine not covered above if the candidate is to be assigned to a research, academic, or administrative position with no patient care responsibilities.

The appointment will be made only in exceptional circumstances where the candidate's credentials clearly demonstrate high professional attainment or expertise in the specialty area.

Which agency is hiring for this position?

This position is with Veterans Health Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs.

What is the salary for this position?

The posted pay range is $250000 – $310000/yr.

What is the application deadline?

Applications close on 2026-10-20.

Who is eligible to apply?

This position is open under the 'Fed Internal Search' hiring path.