Casa de Salud – Physician Assistant

Full Job Description

About Casa de Salud

Casa de Salud is a 501(c)3 non-profit clinic providing a wide range of medical, integrative, social, and harm reduction based services to residents in Albuquerque, Bernalillo County, and in Los Lunas, Valencia County.

Our work at Casa de Salud is unique. Every day we deliver healthcare that is rooted in dignity, trust, creativity, cultural humility, and mutual respect. We see healthcare from a lens that understands the histories of inequalities, oppressions, and structural forces that affect our community. We also see the strengths of our community members, as well as the cultural richness that exists around us. It is with this historical analysis and appreciation for the power within our community that we build towards collective wellness and liberation.

Position Summary

Casa de Salud is seeking the services of a physician assistant, part-time or full time. If you are seeking a clinical home where you can practice primary care medicine with love and care, where you can help build an integrative care model of care that is especially responsive to low-income residents of Albuquerque and beyond, and where you can pursue creative projects within and beyond healthcare, this is the place for you.

We are looking for clinicians who are passionate about working with marginalized communities and who are resourceful and creative. We are looking for clinicians who are interested in integrative and holistic healing and in working alongside practitioners from various other healing modalities. We are also looking for clinician leaders – as there are leadership growth opportunities available for quality improvement, clinical care, and community development.

Clinicians must enjoy providing high quality primary care and acute care healthcare both independently and within a transdisciplinary team. Spanish proficiency is strongly preferred, as many of our patients are monolingual Spanish speaking. Extensive experience with acute care and chronic medical care, as well as experience with a range of office-based procedures, is important. Experience in working with patients dealing with addictions is also important, and the ability to prescribe buprenorphine medication treatment for opioid addictions is a strong plus. Experience or interest in working with queer and transgender populations is also a strong plus.

Clinicians have flexibility to develop their own practice style and focus areas based on patient and community needs. Clinicians also spend ample time with each patient. Clinicians are also invited to build community responsive projects aligned with the clinic’s vision. Several clinicians have been nationally recognized Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars, and clinicians have pursued projects ranging from popular education curriculum development around the roots of addiction, to community partnerships for food justice, to strengthening systems for integrating modalities of care at the clinic. Casa has a history of organizing health workers in Bernalillo County and around the state, and clinicians at the organization are deeply involved in advocacy and community organizing for healthcare access, addictions, and public safety.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Perform high quality, independent patient facing clinical duties under the supervision of the Medical Director to include primary care, walk-in acute care, opioid use disorder treatment with buprenorphine, and gender affirming care.
• Provide care of adults and children
• Develop procedural expertise in common office procedures done at Casa de Salud
• Model professional behavior and performance as measured by punctuality, integrity, consistency and mastery of duties and responsibilities.
• Care for patients, who at Casa de Salud are primarily uninsured or have Medicaid
• Document encounters promptly and with excellence, so that other clinicians or team members can understand medical decision making and follow up plan
• Respond to messages and incoming labs promptly
• Educate patients in health management and disease prevention
• Prescribe and sometimes dispense medications and vaccines
• Possess or develop fluency in Spanish for care of patients
• Provide clinician of the day duties, including triaging of urgent, same-day or future patient needs along with our clinical manager
• Work with medical director and clinicians to create clinical processes at Casa de Salud
• Work with medical director, clinicians, case managers, and apprentices to improve ecosystem of care for patients at Casa de Salud, and those needing care elsewhere
• Work on site at Casa de Salud, in Albuquerque or Los Lunas (or both)
• Support and champion Medicaid value based care, team work with community health workers, and team work with case managers at Casa de Salud
• Treat patients at Casa de Salud with the utmost dignity, respect, and care
• Strongly reinforce professional boundaries with patients, both for care/safety of patients and as a model to staff and apprentices
• Possess an openness for mind/body/energy based healing modalities and their benefits to our patients.

Minimum Qualifications for this position:

• Certified Physician Assistant, with licensure by the New Mexico Board of Medical Examiners
• Experience with acute care and chronic medical care, as well as experience with a range of office-based procedures
• Spanish proficiency or fluency is strongly preferred
• Ability to commit to one year or more of employment at Casa de Salud
• Ability to commit 3+ days / 24+ consistent hours a week to this position (with flexibility based on needs of the organization, including potentially evening hours in the future
• Ability and excitement to serve as a role model to health apprentices, provide leadership at Casa, grow, and model excellence and professionalism
• Passionate about their work and motivated to be a part of a fast growing organization.
• Aware of their leadership skills and potential for impact and eager to share those with a fast-growing, energetic team.
• Ability to remain calm, guiding others to smart, effective solutions.
• 3+ years of experience in outpatient practice preferred.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Passionate team player with great attention to detail and a demonstrated background in multitasking and managing high priority tasks in a timely manner.
• Strong ethics and a high level of personal and professional integrity.
• Able to effectively present information, respond to questions in a timely manner, and professionally interact with staff, apprentices and patients.
• Willingness and interest in expressing ideas and proposing changes to improve and procedures & systems to best support our patients and community.

Work Environment:

Casa de Salud is an Equal Opportunity Employer and maintains a core value around our staff reflecting the communities we serve. Women, people of color, people of trans and gender non-conforming identities, immigrants, and differently abled people are strongly encouraged to apply.

Casa de Salud requires annual COVID-19 and Flu vaccinations. To protect our community, we also mandate wearing masks while working in the clinic.

Salary/Benefits:

This position is an employed position. Salary is commensurate with experience. Benefits include health / dental / vision insurance, SIMPLE IRA retirement plan, paid time off, paid holidays, leadership development opportunities, professional development support, flexibility in schedule, parental leave, bereavement leave, a positive and exciting team culture, and support for advocacy/community projects that align with Casa de Salud’s mission.

Casa de Salud has also been recognized as a site for the competitive New Mexico Health Professional Loan Repayment Program (NMHPLRP), which pays off up to $25,000 a year of student loan debt for clinicians who practice in areas with shortages of clinicians. The process is competitive, and Casa is proud to be recognized by the state as a site that cares for underserved populations.

If interested please send your resume, cover letter and three professional references to: info@casadesaludnm.org, with the subject line “Casa de Salud Clinician — [your name].” Please note that only those candidates under consideration will be contacted to schedule interviews.

Job Types: Full-time, Part-time

Benefits:

• Dental insurance
• Health insurance
• Paid time off
• Parental leave

Medical Specialty:

• Addiction Medicine
• Primary Care

Schedule:

• 4 hour shift

Work Location: In person