Physician Assistant - Precision Health

Meritus Health External•Hagerstown, MD

4d•Hybrid

About The Position

Meritus Health is launching the Meritus Personal Health Institute (MPHI), a groundbreaking population health and precision medicine initiative focused on rural Western Maryland. With an initial investment of $24 million, MPHI aims to enroll 10,000 residents in a longitudinal program offering whole genome sequencing, advanced diagnostics, pharmacogenomics, personalized health coaching, and comprehensive preventive health assessments at no cost to patients. The initiative's ambitious goal is to increase healthy life expectancy in rural Maryland by three years and establish Meritus Health as a national leader in rural precision health. The Physician Assistant will be a key member of the MPHI clinical team, collaborating with various professionals to provide advanced clinical care throughout the participant's journey. This includes conducting health assessments, developing preventive plans, interpreting diagnostic information, identifying risks, coordinating care, and performing follow-up. This role is ideal for a PA interested in precision medicine, preventive health, population health, and clinical innovation, with the opportunity to translate complex health data into actionable recommendations for improved patient outcomes.

Requirements

Master's degree from an accredited Physician Assistant program
Current NCCPA certification
Current or eligible Maryland Physician Assistant licensure
Current or eligible Maryland prescriptive authority
Current BLS certification
Demonstrated clinical experience providing comprehensive patient care
Strong clinical assessment and communication skills
Ability to work effectively within a multidisciplinary team

Nice To Haves

Experience in primary care, preventive medicine, population health, or internal medicine
Experience with lifestyle medicine or health optimization
Familiarity with genetics, genomics, or pharmacogenomics
Experience interpreting advanced laboratory or diagnostic testing
Experience with Epic or another enterprise electronic health record
Experience with clinical informatics or clinical decision-support systems
Research experience or interest in clinical research
Experience working with rural or underserved populations
Experience with chronic disease prevention and risk-factor modification
Interest or experience in precision medicine

Responsibilities

Provide comprehensive clinical assessments for MPHI participants as part of the program's standardized intake and longitudinal care model.
Obtain comprehensive medical histories and perform physical examinations and preventive health assessments.
Review and interpret laboratory, genomic, pharmacogenomic, imaging, metabolic, and cardiopulmonary testing results within the PA's scope of practice.
Identify health risks, abnormal findings, and conditions requiring additional evaluation, treatment, or referral.
Develop individualized preventive health and wellness plans in collaboration with participants and the MPHI interdisciplinary team.
Provide appropriate clinical management and follow-up for identified health conditions and risk factors in collaboration with the Medical Director.
Utilize pharmacogenomic information and other precision-health data to support individualized clinical decision-making and medication management.
Educate participants about their health findings, risk factors, testing results, and personalized recommendations.
Help participants understand how lifestyle, nutrition, physical activity, sleep, stress, and other modifiable factors can influence long-term health.
Participate in the development and refinement of the 2.5-hour MPHI participant intake and assessment workflow.
Assist in developing clinical protocols, workflows, standardized procedures, and participant-care processes.
Coordinate appropriate referrals to primary care, specialty care, behavioral health, nutrition, physical therapy, and other services.
Communicate clinically significant findings and recommendations with participants' primary care providers and other members of their healthcare team.
Collaborate with MPHI health coaches and navigators to support participant engagement and adherence to personalized health plans.
Participate in longitudinal monitoring using laboratory testing, wearable technology, health assessments, and other available health data.
Recognize changes in participant health status that require clinical intervention or escalation.
Document assessments, findings, recommendations, care plans, and follow-up activities accurately in Epic.
Support development and optimization of Epic workflows involving clinical decision support, pharmacogenomic alerts, referrals, and care-team communication.
Participate in quality-improvement initiatives and outcomes tracking.
Collaborate with Meritus School of Osteopathic Medicine faculty and research personnel on approved research initiatives, publications, presentations, and grant-supported programs.
Participate in education and outreach activities involving Meritus physicians, clinical teams, and community partners.
Maintain current knowledge of developments in precision medicine, genomics, preventive medicine, lifestyle medicine, population health, and advanced diagnostics.
Practice in accordance with applicable Maryland regulations, organizational policies, professional standards, and MPHI clinical protocols.