Palliative Care Medical Director – Physician – Cedar Rapids, Iowa - UnityPoint Health

UnityPoint Clinic and St. Luke’s Hospital are actively recruiting for a Palliative Care Physician to join our team in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  

Choose a career that matters at UnityPoint Health. At UnityPoint Health, we believe that our patient-centered vision and physician-driven philosophy, along with our one team approach, ensures every patient knows just how much they matter to this world. Commitment to our team has earned us recognition as a Top 150 Places to Work in Healthcare 2022 by Becker’s Healthcare and among America’s Best Employers By State in Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin. Come be an essential part of our core purpose—to improve the health of the people and communities we serve.  At UnityPoint Health, you matter.

UnityPoint Clinic is a physician-led, nonprofit health care organization offering comprehensive services in primary care, walk-in care and specialty care. The clinical teams at the area’s clinics are improving outcomes, lowering the number of hospital readmissions and reducing avoidable costs associated with treating chronic conditions. The UnityPoint Clinic team is known for excellence and quality patient care putting patients at the center of their care to provide the best level of health and well-being.

UnityPoint Health – Cedar Rapids serves a seven-county area surrounding Cedar Rapids. St. Luke’s Hospital is the only hospital in Cedar Rapids designated as a Top 50 Heart Hospital six times, has been named a top 50 Hospital in the Nation by Healthgrades, named one of the nation’s 100 Top Hospitals by IBM Watson Health eight times and also has been honored six times as Becker’s Hospital Review ‘100 Great Hospitals in America’. St. Luke’s is also a Magnet hospital for nursing excellence.

Position overview:

• Provide high level clinical leadership and expertise in Palliative Medicine to improve patient care throughout the hospital and ambulatory setting for patients of all ages with serious illness.
• Builds effective relationships with referring providers to ensure excellent team follow-up regarding patient consults and to build an improved culture of collaboration among specialists, primary care physicians, nurses, and other staff to meet the needs of palliative care patients.
• Proactively identifies opportunities to improve the patient and family experience of care and to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of resource use.
• Ensures compliance with legal, regulatory, and clinical policies and procedures working closely with the Palliative Care Manager.
• Actively participates in Palliative Care Clinical Service Group and willingness to serve in a physician leadership role
• Participation in the interdisciplinary palliative team and provision of direct patient care and appropriate related services to the patient and family.
• Leadership and clinical oversight of Inpatient Palliative Care
• Leadership and clinical oversight of Ambulatory Palliative Care Services, including Palliative Care Clinic
• Participation and clinical leadership in the development and review of appropriate clinical protocols and processes that support appropriate referral and consistent care.
• Leadership in the identification of education needs of the clinical staff and development of effective outreach strategies.
• Outreach to community agencies and health care settings (such as nursing homes) as appropriate.
• Participate in 24-hour call structure. Responsible for development of call schedule. Physician serves as back up for advance practice providers.
• Responsibility for working closely with providers to ensure that the palliative care service is well integrated with existing capabilities and educational and quality initiatives.
• Fully integrated system with clinics and hospitals on EPIC EMR to improve care coordination

• Working with a dynamic, interdisciplinary team of Advance Practice Providers, Nurses, Social Workers and administrative support to provide excellent patient care
• Palliative Care is a consultative service with a strong referral base.
• In addition to completing consults in a timely fashion, physician will complete follow-up visits and phone calls as needed
• Offer co-management services to primary providers and specialists as appropriate.
• Full and appropriate documentation of direct patient care services to support successful professional billing for services.
• Be available to hospital staff as a resource for symptom management questions.
• Available to support other team members with clinical advice and direct assistance with provider communication needs.
• Mentor and precept medical, advance practice provider students as requested

• MD or DO
• Board Eligible or Board Certified in Hospice and Palliative Medicine
• Ability to obtain and hold an unrestricted license to practice in the state of Iowa
• Hold current and unrestricted state and federal authority to prescribe and administer medications as necessary or appropriate to the physician’s field of practice
• Eligible to work in the United States (H1-B cap exempt)

We offer

• Salary position
• Attractive incentive package
• A competitive Total Rewards program offers benefits that align with your needs and priorities, no matter what stage of life you are in.
• Generous time off and CME allowance, malpractice insurance, retirement contributions and more
• Dedicated provider resources to positively impact providers work-life balance
• Eligibility for Public Service Loan Forgiveness, including a free third-party service for loan restructuring and consolidation.
• A commitment to ensuring you have a voice that is heard regardless of role, race, gender, religion, or sexual orientation. 
• Support and development opportunities that are a crucial part of delivering a remarkable employment experience. 
• A culture guided by uncompromising values and unwavering belief in doing what’s right for the people we serve.

Community Details

Cedar Rapids

Vibrant, unique and industrious, Cedar Rapids is one of Iowa’s centers of excellence for arts and culture and an economic hub of the state’s Eastern region. As the second-largest city in the state, “The City of Five Seasons” offers its residents a wide variety of amenities, attractions and career opportunities on par with its nearby, out-of-state counterparts (Chicago, St. Louis and Minneapolis) without the high cost of living, hustle and bustle. Learn more about Cedar Rapids and why it offers one of the best places to live, work and play in the Midwest.

Please contact Andrea Sims, Physician and Provider Recruiter, at 319-730-9513 or Andrea.Sims@unitypoint.org