Description
POSITION SUMMARY/SCOPE:
Family Physicians at Santa Cruz Community Health (SCCH) provide comprehensive family medicine services, including preventive care, chronic disease management, pediatric care, reproductive health services, mental health and substance use treatment, in-office procedures, and same-day/acute care services, to a Santa Cruz County patient population rich in socioeconomic, gender, racial, and ethnic diversity. SCCH is committed to shaping a medical staff that reflects its patient population; bilingual English/Spanish is strongly preferred. The new Morehouse School of Medicine Dominical Hospital Family Medicine Residency Program started in Santa Cruz in July 2024, and SCCH serves as the residents’ continuity clinic, procedure clinic, and osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) clinic. SCCH family medicine core faculty serve a dual role – in addition to their designated core faculty time they see their own patients as a primary care physician at SCCH.
Core Faculty
The core faculty physician is expected to devote 60% of their time—equating to at least 24 hours per week or 1,200 hours per year—to instruction, administration, scholarly activity, and patient care within the Family Medicine Residency Program at Dominican Hospital. Core faculty participate in the teaching of the didactic curriculum, resident clinics, and conferences, ensuring that instruction is evidence-based and focused on developing resident competency. In collaboration with the Program Director, they assist in curriculum development to ensure it meets the educational needs of learners. They also engage in scholarly activities that fulfill ACGME requirements for both residents and faculty.
As a role model, core faculty exemplifies professionalism, ethics, high moral standards, composure, a cooperative spirit, and good citizenship. They will complete and review resident evaluations in a timely manner, in alignment with Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and Dominican Family Medicine Residency policies, including semi-annual and annual written evaluations. Additionally, they will assist the Program Director in verifying that residents have met all program requirements for graduation. Core faculty is expected to participate regularly in program meetings and subcommittees, as well as in other medical education activities as requested by the Program Director. Active involvement in annual recruitment activities is required, including reviewing applications, interviewing candidates, maintaining follow-up communication, and contributing to ranking discussions and decisions.
Core faculty will report any resident or medical student issues to the Program Director, provide recommendations for resolution, and assist in remediation when requested. They will serve as an advisor to residents as appointed by the Program Director. The faculty member must adhere to ACGME and Medical Education Department policies and guidelines, including participating in disciplinary investigations, hearings, and actions involving residents in a timely and appropriate manner. Attendance at scheduled faculty development sessions is expected when possible and/or as reasonably requested by the Program Director or Designated Institutional Official (DIO).
Primary Care
SCCH physicians work alongside other medical providers, including nurse practitioners, physician assistants, registered nurses, medical assistants, mental health providers, chiropractors, Chinese medicine providers, and case managers in an integrated Care Team model. Physicians are clinical leaders of their Care Teams and act as supervising physicians for advanced practice providers. SCCH family physicians may also teach students, and they make themselves available to respond to clinical questions from other care team providers including Advanced Care Providers (APCs) and Registered Nurses (RNs).
As supervising physicians on their care teams, SCCH family physicians provide consultation visits to other care team providers’ patients when requested and assume care of APCs’ patients or transfer of care to APCs depending on patient complexity, provider scope of practice, level of education, and experience. They also champion efforts to improve clinical quality measures of the care team’s panel, as directed by the Quality Improvement (QI team) and participate in other care team providers’ clinical supervision and development including annual performance evaluation and quarterly peer review.
Of the primary care time, 80% is spent providing direct patient care, while 20% of their time is allotted for clinical “administrative” time. All medical visits are 20 minutes in length, and physicians are expected to see nine patients per 4-hour shift unless precepting resident physicians. SCCH uses OCHIN Epic Electronic Health Record system for visit documentation, e-prescribing, and data collection for reporting on clinical quality.
Requirements
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:
- Must be a Board-Certified family physician licensed and in good standing in the State of California.
- Professional experience in community health centers or public health preferred
- Clinical experience in mental health, prenatal care, chronic pain, and chronic disease management
- Commitment to preventive care, quality improvement, and empowering patients to make informed health care decisions.
- Ability to work cooperatively with other staff in a Care Team model
- Commitment to the stated mission of Santa Cruz Community Health and the diverse needs of our patient population.
- Demonstrate knowledge of, or willingness to learn, ACGME Family Medicine program requirements
- General demonstration of professionalism and leadership conducive to educating and role modelling for residents from diverse backgrounds
- Ability to work at least one evening per week. Providers are required to work up to 6 Saturday morning clinics per year. There are no call duties for this position.
HIGHLY DESIRABLE QUALIFICATIONS:
- Bilingual conversant/fluent in English and Spanish
- Certification and/or expertise in the utilization of point of care ultrasound
- Osteopathic Physician with skills in Osteopathic Principles and Practice (OPP) and Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment (OMT/OMM)
- Experience teaching medical students or residents
- Experience creating educational curricula
- Interest and involvement in clinical teaching of residents on adult inpatient medicine rotations
