Physician - Pain Management

Summary

This position is eligible for the Education Debt Reduction Program (EDRP), a student loan payment reimbursement program. You must meet specific eligibility requirements per VHA policy and submit your EDRP application within four months of appointment. Program Approval, award amount (up to $200,000) & eligibility period (one to five years) are determined by the VHA Education Loan Repayment Services program office after review of the EDRP application. Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply.

Duties

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The VA Pittsburgh Health System (VAPHS), Division of Pain Medicine is seeking a board-certified or board-eligible pain management physician to join the interdisciplinary Pain Management Team at University Drive VA Medical Center. The position serves all VAPHS-associated facilities through onsite and virtual care. The division is part of the Anesthesiology, Pain and Perioperative Medicine service line and serves western Pennsylvania, including the Altoona, Butler, and Erie VHA facilities and associated Community Based Outpatient Clinics.

Duties include but are not limited to:

Clinical

• Provides comprehensive pain evaluation, diagnosis, and longitudinal management for Veterans with chronic non-cancer pain, post-surgical pain, neuropathic pain, and complex regional pain syndromes; performs neuromusculoskeletal and functional assessments, differentiates musculoskeletal, neuropathic, and centralized pain, and interprets imaging to identify pain generators.
• Delivers care using a biopsychosocial framework, integrating pharmacologic, procedural, behavioral, rehabilitation, and Whole Health/complementary and integrative modalities, including rehabilitation plans, bracing, orthotics, assistive devices, and DME.
• Provides consultative services via e-consult, SCAN-ECHO, telehealth, and clinical video telehealth as assigned.
• Manages medications for chronic pain, focusing on polypharmacy reduction, opioid risk stratification, and non-opioid analgesics and adjuvants. Manages opioid therapy, including adjustments and tapers, in compliance with the VA/DOD Long-term Opioid Therapy Clinical Practice Guideline and VHA policies.
• Coordinates care with the PMT, including addiction medicine, behavioral medicine, rehabilitation medicine, pharmacy, nursing, and Whole Health team members; participates in interdisciplinary case conferences, huddles, and complex case reviews. Coordinates transitions of care with Primary Care, Specialty Care, Mental Health, Palliative Care, and Community Care providers.
• Performs pain-related procedures within credentialed privileges, including trigger point and peripheral joint injections, caudal, epidural, and spinal blocks, diagnostic/therapeutic nerve blocks (peripheral, cranial, costal, plexus, ganglion), neuroablative radiofrequency modalities, and percutaneous/subcutaneous neurostimulator electrode implantation.
• Obtains informed consent; follows procedural safety standards, universal protocol, and time-out; applies radiation-safety principles (ALARA); manages procedural complications and sedation/anesthesia coordination per facility policy.
• Responds to inpatient consultation requests for acute, post-operative, and chronic pain, performing bedside evaluation, recommending management (including opioid-sparing regimens, rehabilitation, safe opioid continuation or tapering at discharge, and interventional techniques), communicating recommendations to the primary team, and providing follow-up.
• Adheres to Message Manager, encounter completion, and documentation timeliness standards; completes CPRS documentation, orders, and consults; maintains compliance with VHA clinical performance measures, licensure, DEA registration, and required VA training.

Administrative

• Supports and coordinates the Integrative Pain Medicine service by evaluating service needs, managing clinical workloads and staffing resources, and linking clinical improvements to operational efficiency.
• Serves on institutional and regional pain committees and initiates ongoing improvements to service delivery consistent with clinical practice guidelines and the VHA Pain Directive.
• Applies strong interpersonal, consultation, and problem-solving skills with support staff, peers, and service line and facility leaders.
• Participates in peer review and professional practice evaluations.
• Ensures accurate procedural documentation and coding; helps select and evaluate procedural equipment, implants, and supplies; contributes to procedure-suite workflow, scheduling, and patient-safety standards.
• Works with the facility PMOP Triad on program development, process improvement, and local standards, ensuring compliance with VHA, Joint Commission, and other accrediting standards.

Education

• Teaches and supervises residents, fellows, and students from affiliated programs in clinic, the procedure suite, and inpatient consults, including hands-on procedural instruction within privileges and trainee assessment; ensures supervision and documentation meet VA and accreditation requirements. Maintains a faculty appointment if available.
• Provides didactic teaching, case conferences, and journal clubs; educates nurses, therapists, primary care, and other clinicians on pain assessment, opioid safety, and non-pharmacologic care; educates Veterans and families through shared decision-making and self-management teaching. Research and scholarly activity are encouraged as time and approvals allow.

Requirements

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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 identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• Must pass pre-employment physical evaluation.
• 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.

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 allopathic 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 accrediting bodies for graduate medical education, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) or American Osteopathic Association (AOA), in the list published for the year the residency, or fellowship if applicable, was completed; OR
  • (2) One year of post medical school training (internship, first year of residency, or transitional year residency) approved by ACGME or AOA followed by two years of post-training independent practice (performing under a full and unrestricted license) in the United States; OR
  • (3) Non-US residency training programs followed by a minimum of three years of verified independent practice in the United States (performing under a full and unrestricted license) performing duties related to the position they are applying for (United States fellowships would be creditable towards this requirement), 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.
  • Exceptions:
    
    • 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 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.
    • In rare and unusual circumstances, the Facility Director can submit a memo to the VISN Director through the VISN Chief Medical Officer, who may approve requests for reasonable exceptions to the residency training requirement for Physicians whose composite record of experience, accomplishments, performance, and qualifications warrant such action.
• Proficiency in spoken and written English.

Preferred Experience:

• Completion of an accredited residency in a primary specialty eligible for Pain Medicine certification (Anesthesiology, PM&R, Neurology, or Psychiatry) and an ACGME-accredited Pain Medicine fellowship.
• Current ABMS board certification in the primary specialty and ABMS subspecialty certification in Pain Medicine. Board-eligible candidates are considered; board certification in both is expected within the timeframe allowed by VA policy.
• Skill in diagnostic reasoning, analgesic pharmacology, controlled-substance regulation, EHR use, and interdisciplinary teamwork with Veterans.
• Teaching skills: ability to supervise and instruct trainees in procedures and clinical reasoning, deliver effective presentations, and give constructive feedback.
• Administrative skills: clinic and schedule management, procedural coding and documentation, quality improvement and data review, policy and protocol development, committee participation, and clear written and verbal communication with leadership and staff.

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.

Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and 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:

1. Schools of medicine accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) for the year in which the degree was granted.
2. Schools of osteopathic medicine approved by the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation (COCA) for the year in which the degree was granted.
3. 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.

Additional information

VA offers a comprehensive total rewards package. VHA Physician Total Rewards.

Recruitment/Relocation Incentives (Sign-on Bonus): Authorized

Education Debt Reduction Program (Student Loan Repayment): Learn more.

EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive. Contact [redacted], the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance

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)