Duties
VA offers a comprehensive total rewards package. VHA Physician Total Rewards.
Recruitment/Relocation Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): May be offered to highly qualified candidates.
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
Clinical Responsibilities
- Outpatient Care: Evaluate, diagnose, and treat Veterans with reconstructive needs including complex wounds, post-oncologic defects, and congenital or acquired deformities. Maintain a consistent outpatient clinic schedule aligned with VHA productivity standards. Collaborate with Advanced Practice Providers (APPs), nurses, and administrative staff to optimize clinic flow and access.
- Inpatient Care: Serve as attending for hospitalized patients with traumatic injuries, surgical wounds, and pressure ulcers. Coordinate care with inpatient teams, case managers, and rehabilitation staff, especially for spinal cord injury (SCI) patients.
- Operative Care: Perform a wide range of plastic and reconstructive procedures including abdominal wall, chest wall, and facial reconstruction; post-mastectomy and post-weight loss body contouring; pressure sore management; and vascular graft coverage. Lead perioperative teams and ensure high-quality surgical outcomes.
- Emergency and On-Call Duties: Respond promptly to urgent consults and emergent cases. Participate equitably in the call schedule, supported by APPs and residents when available.
- Community Care Coordination: Collaborate with Care in the Community staff to manage external referrals and integrate outside care into VA treatment plans.
Team-Based Care
- Provide leadership within a multidisciplinary team, ensuring all members work at the top of their license.
- Mentor and clinically guide APPs and support staff.
- Participate in interdisciplinary care teams, wound care boards, and SCI team meetings.
Teaching and Education
- Supervise and teach residents, APPs, and nursing staff.
- Provide structured learning experiences on plastic surgery principles and techniques.
- Conduct in-service training for OR staff and maintain academic credentials with the university affiliate.
Administrative and Professional Duties
- Complete all required documentation in the Electronic Health Record (EHR) in accordance with VHA standards, including operative notes, progress notes, and discharge summaries.
- Ensure documentation supports coding, billing, and workload capture.
- Participate in Surgical Service meetings, peer review, and quality improvement initiatives.
- Serve as Collaborating Physician for assigned Physician Assistants (PAs), providing clinical oversight, chart review, and documentation of collaboration in accordance with VHA policy and state licensure requirements.
- Act as Physician Utilization Management Advisor (PUMA) for the Department of Surgery:
- Monitor and optimize physician clinic schedules and appointment slot management.
- Improve access metrics and reduce missed opportunities.
- Review utilization data and report trends to Surgical Service leadership.
- Participate in the facility's Prevention of Amputation in Veterans Everywhere (PAVE) Committee, contributing to the review and validation of physician productivity, clinical workload, and alignment with strategic access goals.
- Serve facility or service-level committees as assigned, such as:
- Surgical Service Executive Committee
- Wound Care Board
- Operating Room Committee
- Medical Staff Bylaws Committee
- Credentialing and Privileging Committee
Research and Scholarly Activity (if applicable)
- Engage in research related to reconstructive outcomes, wound healing, or surgical innovation.
- Support scholarly collaboration with APPs and nursing staff.
Scope of Practice
- Includes outpatient, inpatient, elective, and emergent plastic and reconstructive surgical care.
- Provides oversight of team-based care delivered by APPs, RNs, and technicians.
- Privileges are subject to Professional Standards Board and Chief of Staff approval.
Supervisory Controls
- Reports to the Chief of Plastic Surgery under the Associate Chief of Staff for Surgical Service.
Work Schedule: Monday - Friday; tour negotiable upon selection.
Requirements
Conditions of employment
- U.S. Citizenship; non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.
- All applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA.
- Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
- Must be proficient in written and spoken English.
- Subject to background/security investigation.
- Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued dentification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
- Must pass pre-employment physical examination.
- Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).
- You may be required to serve a probationary period.
- Complete all application requirements detailed in the "Required Documents" section of this announcement.
As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 2-year trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:
- your performance and conduct;
- the needs and interests of the agency;
- whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
- whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.
Upon completion of your trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.
Qualifications
To qualify for this position, you must meet the basic requirements as well as any additional requirements (if applicable) listed in the job announcement. Applicants pending the completion of training or license requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met. Currently employed physician(s) in VA who met the requirements for appointment under the previous qualification standard at the time of their initial appointment are deemed to have met the basic requirements of the occupation.
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: Must be eligible for and maintain Faculty Appointment through St Louis University, the established Academic Affiliate Partner of VA St. Louis Experience in a wide range of plastic and complex reconstructive surgical procedures, including: Abdominal wall reconstruction, Post-mastectomy reconstruction, Sternal and chest wall reconstruction, Spine reconstruction, Lower extremity reconstruction Reconstructive vascular graft coverage, facial reconstruction, management of pressure sores in spinal cord injury patients (e.g. flap coverage of sacral, ischial, and trochanetric ulcers), Body contouring post massive weight loss. Supervises and teaches residents, APPs, and nursing staff. Also teaches and supervises health professions trainees if present. Experience with surgical services meetings, peer review, and quality improvement activities. Experienced as a Physician Utilization Coordinator (PUC).
Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit
https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.
Physical Requirements: More details can be found in the VA Handbook 5019.
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, or
- Schools of osteopathic medicine approved by the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation of the American Osteopathic Association for the year in which the degree was granted.
- For foreign medical graduates not covered in (1) or (2) above, facility officials must verify with the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) that the applicant has met requirements for certification, and must obtain a copy of the ECFMG certificate, if claimed by the applicant. [If the applicant does not claim an ECFMG certificate, facility officials must still confirm that the medical school meets (or met) ECFMG eligibility requirements for the year the candidate 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.
Additional information
This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.
It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment.
This position is in the Excepted Service and does not confer competitive status.
VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply. The health-related positions in VA are covered by Title 38, and are not covered by the Schedule A excepted appointment authority.
If you are unable to apply online or need an alternate method to submit documents, please reach out to the Agency Contact listed in this Job Opportunity Announcement.
Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer. For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act.
Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.
A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.
Review our benefits
Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.
How you will be evaluated
You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.
Your application, resume, C.V., and/or other supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect consideration for employment.
NOTE: A formal pay-setting process will be used to determine your salary. The salary may be at any point in the range listed for this vacancy.
Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.
The Department of Veterans Affairs performs pre-employment reference checks as an assessment method used in the hiring process to verify information provided by a candidate (e.g., on resume or during interview or hiring process); gain additional knowledge regarding a candidate's abilities; and assist a hiring manager with making a final selection for a position.
Veterans' Preference Note: Preference eligible candidates and other Veterans will be given preference when qualification of candidates are approximately equal for Title 38 positions in VHA. When applying for Federal Jobs, eligible Veterans should claim preference for 5pt (TP), 10pt (CP/CPS/XP), or for Sole Survivor Preference (SSP) in the questionnaire. You must provide a legible copy of your DD214(s) which shows dates and character of service (honorable, general, etc.). If you are currently serving on active duty and expect to be released or discharged within 120 days you must submit documentation related to your active duty service which reflects the dates of service, character of service (honorable, general, etc.), and dates of impending separation. Additionally, disabled veterans and others eligible for 10-point preference (such as widows or mothers of eligible Veterans) must also submit an SF-15 "Application for 10 Point Veteran Preference" with required proof as stated on the form. Documentation is required to award preference. For more information on Veterans' Preference, please visit Feds Hire Vets - Veterans - Job Seekers - Veterans' Preference.