Primary Care Nurse Practitioner / Physician Assistant (NP/PA)

The Nurse Practitioner's Role

The Nurse Practitioner (NP) is a key member of our care team. She/He will evaluate our patients’ acute and chronic conditions, manage their multiple medications, mental health, social-emotional needs, and educate them in a thorough, professional and empathetic manner. The NP will partner with and support fellow members of the care team in assessing, planning, and providing excellent patient care. Ensuring delivery of the highest quality care will be a fundamental expectation of this role, in accordance with the company's core values and culture.

While the NP role’s primary focus on a daily basis will be to conduct patient visits related to acute and chronic condition management of our patients, team members will also assist with the development, implementation, management, and achievement of specific organizational objectives and metrics. As part of our value-based care model, our team of clinicians will proactively and strategically manage our population’s health in accordance with IHI’s Quadruple Aim, adopt best practices in Coding Compliance and achieve our HEDIS Quality Metrics, rooted in the tenets of Access, Quality Care and Patient Experience.

NP Job Functions

• Get to know every patient as a human being, understand their core values and goals of care. Provide whole person care consistent with those values.
• Evaluate, diagnose and treat acute or chronic medical conditions and common psychological health conditions in women aged 65 and older.
• Prevention and care of specialized health conditions most prevalent in this age group, eg,osteoporosis, arthritis, perimenopausal conditions, heart disease and others.
• Provide preventive health services, such as Medicare annuals, peri-operative care, comprehensive care and transition of care visits (hospital discharge follow up).
• Elicit and interpret relevant patient history, symptoms, physical findings, and diagnostic work up to develop appropriate diagnosis and treatment plans.
• Order, interpret and appropriately use results of common diagnostics, such as blood tests, urinalysis, electrocardiograms (EKGs), mammograms and radiographs (x-rays). Perform pap smears and basic primary care procedures.
• Prescribe medications responsibly, based on evidence, efficacy, safety, and cost as legally authorized. Deprescribe potentially risky medications as appropriate. Optimize medication regimens to prevent and mitigate polypharmacy.
• Counsel patients about drug regimens and expected side effects or interactions.
• Develop evidence-based treatment plans following widely accepted standards of practice and professional society guidelines.
• Educate and coach patients on self-management of acute or chronic illnesses, evidence-based lifestyle and behavioral interventions to mitigate potential health risks.
• Tailor care and instructions to patients' individual circumstances and preferred learning styles, involving family members in discussions where appropriate.
• Provide oversight and guidance to MAs and other staff regarding clinical care of patients
• Actively monitor, evaluate and manage overall health of our patient population (population health) and strategically implement initiatives to improve quality of care delivered, reduce unnecessary utilization and costs to patients.
• Document, code and close patient charts in a timely manner.
• Practice standards of appropriate coding for patient conditions, including HCC, and evaluation and management codes for billing.
• Respond to chart reviews and coding and billing audits in a timely manner.
• Provide and receive feedback on quality of care being delivered to ensure NCQA, HEDIS and other regulatory standards are met.
• Be an active member of the care team, sharing call coverage with the rest of the team, caring for each other's patients and urgent messages as necessary during absences.

Core Education and Experience Requirements

• Master's degree in Nursing (required), Doctor of Nursing Practice (preferred)
• Adult or Family Nurse Practitioner, with experience in Geriatrics (preferred), Primary Care, Palliative Care or Family Medicine
• Documentation of completion of an accredited Nurse Practitioner program.
• A minimum of 2 years’ clinical experience practicing as a Nurse Practitioner.
• A sound knowledge base of evidence based primary care geriatrics, behavioral health and medication management, with solid clinical skills to guide appropriate diagnosis and treatment of various medical conditions in our patients.
• Knowledge and practice of evidence based preventive health care guidelines.
• Familiarity with Population Health and Experience in Achieving Quality Metrics.
• Nurse Practitioner Certification from American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) / the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP).
• Registered Nurse Licensure by Board of Nurse Examiners for the State of Minnesota.
• American Heart Association (AHA) Accredited Current Basic Life Support (BLS) certification (required), Advanced Life Support (good to have).

Essential “Soft-Skills” and Behaviors

• Genuine interest in getting to know our patients as human beings.
• Good understanding of human behavior, motivations and performance.
• “Customer service first” mentality and ability to meet and perform a thorough patient needs assessment, meet highest quality standards, and evaluate patient satisfaction.
• Excellent bedside manner and a high degree of professionalism.
• Superior communication and coaching skills to help effectively educate patients and engage them in shared decision making.
• Keen ability to demonstrate empathy and lead through compassion.
• Ability to assess and address external factors that impact health and behavior.
• Proven reliability, consistency, timeliness and responsiveness as a team member and healthcare provider to patients.
• Strong team-player who communicates with team members clearly and collaborates effectively.
• Driven to make meaningful improvements to our services, processes and effectiveness.
• Driven to make fiscally responsible, cost effective and highest quality, value added care for our patients.
• Ability to be hands-on, adaptable, focused, flexible, data-driven, and results-oriented.
• Keen problem solving and decision-making skills.
• A “lifelong learner” mindset who leads by example and with a sense of curiosity and open-mindedness.

Other Requirements

• All employees of Herself Health must be fully vaccinated for COVID19, including CDC-recommended qualified booster vaccines.
• Eligibility to obtain or holder of a DEA License and an NPI number.
• Regular maintenance of board certification and CME requirements.
• Passage of the pre-employment drug screen.
• Passage of the pre-employment background check.
• Eligibility and completion of credentialing.
• Eligibility and completion of registration with Medicare and private payers.
• Valid Minnesota Driver’s License.
• Proof of US Citizenship or Eligibility to Work in the US with a permanent resident card.