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VA news release


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See the red below.....

 

Also wonder if the pay raises will be considered for PAs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

VA Announces Proposed Increase in Pay Ranges for VA Physicians and Dentists to Recruit Best and Brightest to Serve Veterans

WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced it will publish a notification in the Federal Register which increases the maximum rates of annual pay for in-coming Veterans Health Administration (VHA) physicians and dentists as part of VA Secretary Robert McDonald’s nation-wide recruitment initiative to hire more clinicians and expand Veterans’ access to care.

 “At VA, we have a noble and inspiring mission - to serve Veterans, their survivors and dependents. There is no higher calling,” said VA Secretary Robert McDonald. “We are committed to hiring more medical professionals across the country to better serve Veterans and expand their access to timely, high-quality care.”

 Dr. Carolyn M. Clancy, Interim Under Secretary for Health echoed the Secretary’s comments. “With more competitive salaries for physicians and dentists, VHA is in position to attract and hire the best and brightest to treat Veterans.”

The updated pay tables propose an increase in pay of $20,000 to $35,000 annually for physicians and dentists who are providing care for Veterans. There will be no change to the pay tables for physicians who serve in leadership roles.

This proposed increase in pay is just one aspect of the recruiting initiative that Secretary McDonald has directed to bring the best and brightest health care professionals to VA.

Additional steps include:

·         Collaborating on a new nursing academic partnership (VA Nursing Academic Partnerships or VANAP) focused on psychiatric and mental health care to build stronger, mutually beneficial relationships between nursing schools and VA facilities.

·         Partnering with the Department of Defense Health Affairs, Army, Navy, and Air Force to improve recruitment of recently or soon to be discharged health care professionals.

·         Expanding a pilot program to bring combat medics and corpsmen in to VA facilities as clinicians

·         Improving the credentialing process for VA and DoD health care providers which will involve sharing credentials to speed up the process.

·         Expanding the loan repayment program, as included in the recently passed Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act.

VHA has been at the forefront of research and development, education, and health care delivery.  Not only is VA the second largest national employer, VA is also the largest employer of health care providers. This includes three Nobel Prize recipients in Medicine or Physiology and seven Lasker Award recipients.  VA pioneered and developed electronic medical records and Veterans receiving VA’s in and outpatient care give VA higher satisfaction ratings than patients at private hospitals. Over 70% of all U.S. doctors received training at VA. In fact, VA facilities train 62,000 medical students and residents, 23,000 nurses, and 33,000 trainees in other health profession fields—each year.

Among other contributions, VA researchers developed the implantable cardiac pacemaker; conducted the first successful liver transplants; and then went on to create the nicotine patch to help smokers quit smoking. VA crafted artificial limbs that move naturally when stimulated by electrical impulses from the brain and identified the genetic risk factors for schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s, and Werner’s syndrome.  Also, it was a VA nurse that designed the use of bar-code software for administering medications to our patients.

Information about working in VA health care can be found at www.vacareers.va.gov

 

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My local VA has already been involved in a pilot program for the last 3-4 years where corpsmen with only 6 months of training in the military were given full prescription privileges and assigned as "associate clinicians" in the primary care clinics and hospitalist units.  They operate 100% independently with no oversight by PAs or physicians.

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My local VA has already been involved in a pilot program for the last 3-4 years where corpsmen with only 6 months of training in the military were given full prescription privileges and assigned as "associate clinicians" in the primary care clinics and hospitalist units.  They operate 100% independently with no oversight by PAs or physicians.

sign me up!

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^^^^^^ What?  Are you kidding me?  What is their pay? What do they do? 

 

I dont know their exact job duties, but I have seen their clinic notes in the VA system and they use the same templates that the PAs and docs use with no cosigs.  The ones I have seen most often seem to function as hospitalists; supposedly went thru some kind of "boot camp" training program by one of the VA docs and now they are on their own and run their own service.  It's still listed as an "experimental" pilot program though and you cant apply for it unless you know somebody.  One of my colleagues knows somebody in the program, he said the pay was not very good and the funding is provided by some kind of grant program by the RWJF and the DOD.  

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Where is the guy who is the VA Director of Physician Assistant services? (or something like that)

 

Not rocket science. If you pay more, you're likely to get more highly educated and/or committed people. Why hire a great many docs when you can hire several highly qualified PAs to provide quality care in collaboration with a lot fewer highly qualified docs? 

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Nothing new or innovative here.

 

VA just discovered Patient Care Techs... about 2 decades late.

 

Hey C how ya been? So these are the typical responsibilities of a PCT in the ER? If I understand the first job desciption correctly they seem to be asking a lot for a GS-6 or GS-7 aren't they? http://www.americajobs.com/federal/intermediate-care-technician/963031/#qualifications Or is that typical for the VA nowadays. I haven't worked in the VA system in over 20 years so I don't know.   

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Question from a pre-pa.  Does the creation of intermediate care technicians threaten the use of PAs in any way?  Are these positions similar to what an ER Tech would do? Seems to be a few more duties/autonomy.  Just wondering why they wouldn't spend that money on PAs with a broader scope of practice.

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