Associate Chief of Staff - Geriatrics, Palliative and Extended Care - Department of Veteran Affairs

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 Parkinsons 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.