Advanced Practice Provider (Street Medicine)

Los Angeles Christian Health Centers•Los Angeles, CA

About The Position

The Advanced Practice Provider delivers comprehensive health care within the limits of professional licensing to patients of Los Angeles Christian Health Centers (LACHC), assessing needs and prescribing treatment. The provider supports LACHC’s mission to show God’s love by providing quality, comprehensive healthcare to homeless and underserved people. In collaboration with a partner organization, the provider delivers flexible, creative, culturally competent care to homeless clients in street and outpatient settings. The provider serves as the primary care provider for a patient panel and works with a care team to provide patient-centered medical-home care. This street-medicine position is part of an integrated, multidisciplinary team that provides care wherever homeless people live, including people who find clinic access challenging. Care may address acute and chronic medical needs, preventive health, and patients’ spiritual, emotional, mental, and social needs. The provider practices harm reduction and works collaboratively with clients on flexible, practical steps to improve their health. The position operates under a staff physician’s supervision and within clinical privileges established through a delegation of services agreement for a Physician Assistant or a Scope of Practice agreement for a Nurse Practitioner. The provider may work in street settings and at LACHC outpatient clinic sites. At fixed full-time clinic sites, the stated productivity expectation is 15–18 patients per eight-hour day, though actual productivity may vary by site. The provider periodically serves one week of clinic on-call duty approximately every 10–15 weeks, answering urgent calls from patients or other agencies during off-hours.

Requirements

Provider BLS certification, including CPR certification.
California license to practice as a Physician Assistant or as a Nurse Practitioner with a Furnishing Number.
Copy of California license and DEA license required.
Two years of college education.
Two to three years of healthcare experience.
Medical Spanish required.
Ability to perform the essential duties satisfactorily, with reasonable accommodations where applicable.

Nice To Haves

Four-year degree preferred.
Conversational Spanish is a plus.
Flexibility, adaptability, and creativity are beneficial for street-medicine outreach.

Responsibilities

Evaluate and treat patients in street settings or at LACHC outpatient sites, under staff physician supervision and in collaboration with a partner organization.
Assess medical needs and develop care plans addressing acute needs, chronic conditions, preventive health maintenance, and potentially spiritual, emotional, mental, and social needs.
Furnish or transmit appropriate medications and treatments.
Perform in-office procedures when appropriate, such as incision and drainage, arthrocentesis, nail removal, skin biopsy, and cryotherapy.
Work with the partner organization to provide whole-person care to clients on the streets, using harm-reduction approaches and flexible, creative solutions.
Practice within clinical privileges delineated by the applicable Physician Assistant delegation of services agreement or Nurse Practitioner Scope of Practice agreement.
Maintain accurate, concise, thorough, and timely documentation, including completing and locking progress notes.
Review and electronically sign laboratory results, diagnostic results, and outside consult notes in a timely manner, and contact patients for follow-up when clinically appropriate.
Initiate and follow through on specialist referrals and electronic consultations, communicating with specialists as needed.
Serve as primary care provider for a patient panel and work with LACHC care teams and staff to provide patient-centered medical-home care.
Conjointly supervise medical assistants with the Medical Assistant supervisor.
Participate in morning team huddles, provider meetings, and all-staff meetings.
Participate in spiritual care for patients and staff, which may include prayer and referrals to community resources.
Provide compassionate care to patients who may be homeless, experience mental illness, or lack resources to care for themselves.
Participate in Continuous Quality Improvement activities, including teaching providers, implementing team-based care, peer reviews, reviewing clinical performance measures, and applying Plan-Do-Study-Act improvements.
Seek to improve access to care while balancing productivity and quality; meet applicable outpatient productivity standards at clinic sites.
Periodically serve on call for one week approximately every 10–15 weeks, answering urgent off-hours calls from patients or other agencies.
Network with other health care agencies and county facilities.
Assist with health screenings at outreach events, including TB, diabetes, and hypertension screenings.
Maintain active enrollment in Medicare, Medicaid, Managed Care, and other payor programs as needed, and complete credentialing paperwork in a timely manner.
Perform other duties as assigned.