You will join Imperial Beach Community Clinic as a full-time primary care physician, bringing comprehensive medical care to the underserved communities of Imperial Beach and Nestor in southern San Diego County. As a federally qualified health center and designated primary care medical home, this organization has served these neighborhoods since the 1970s, providing accessible healthcare to patients who often face significant barriers to medical services. The community needs physicians who can deliver full-spectrum family medicine or internal medicine to a patient population characterized by complex chronic conditions and limited healthcare access. Your practice will fill a critical gap left by a departing internal medicine physician, joining a rebuilding effort led by a new leadership team committed to strengthening primary care capacity.
The Imperial Beach and Nestor communities represent some of San Diego's most diverse and medically underserved populations. Many of your patients will navigate multiple chronic conditions with limited resources, making your role essential to their health outcomes. You will practice at two clinic locations within these neighborhoods, bringing care directly to the communities that need it most. This position offers the chance to make a measurable difference in a setting where your clinical skills directly impact health equity and where your work creates visible improvements in the lives of vulnerable families.
Your work schedule offers genuine flexibility uncommon in primary care settings. You will work 40 hours weekly, with 36 hours dedicated to patient care and four hours reserved for administrative work, chart completion, and professional development. The organization allows you to choose between two schedule models: five eight-hour shifts or four ten-hour shifts, letting you structure your week around personal priorities. Unlike many practices where administrative time disappears into evening charting, your four protected hours give you space to complete documentation, respond to patient messages, and handle care coordination without staying late.
You will coordinate your specific schedule directly with the Chief Medical Officer, the Director of Medical Operations, and their staff, allowing you to build a work pattern that fits your preferences for start times, day-off patterns, and personal commitments. This collaborative approach to scheduling recognizes that physicians perform best when their work schedule aligns with their life outside the clinic. Once established, your schedule provides consistency and predictability rather than the rotating shifts or last-minute changes common in many healthcare settings.
The clinic operates extended evening hours on Wednesdays at the Imperial Beach location and Thursdays at the Nestor location, with appointments until 8 PM. You will participate in Saturday clinic coverage on a rotation basis, working 8 AM to 4 PM approximately every five to six weeks depending on team size. Both evening and weekend shifts are built into your regular 40-hour week rather than added on top of a full schedule. This approach prevents the schedule creep that plagues many primary care physicians, where "full-time" becomes 50 or 60 hours once call and extra shifts are factored in. Your lunch time remains your own, separate from the 40-hour calculation.
You will see an average of at least 2.4 patients per hour during your clinical sessions, translating to approximately 20-22 patients during an eight-hour day or 24-25 patients during a ten-hour day. This volume reflects standard FQHC productivity expectations and allows adequate time for the thorough care your complex patients require. The organization sets this expectation clearly upfront, ensuring you know exactly what patient load to anticipate before your first day. The "at least" qualifier means you may occasionally see more patients during particularly busy sessions, but the 2.4-per-hour average provides the baseline around which your schedule is built.
Documentation expectations are straightforward and achievable: complete your medical records within 72 hours of each patient encounter. This timeframe gives you breathing room to finish thorough notes without the same-day pressure that creates after-hours charting marathons at many practices. The four hours of protected administrative time each week, combined with your eClinicalWorks proficiency, makes this 72-hour standard manageable rather than burdensome. The organization provides this documentation time rather than expecting you to finish charts on personal time.
Your practice benefits from unique inbox support that eliminates the burden of cross-coverage. When you take paid time off, CME, or sick leave for three or more days, a dedicated inbox coverage team (one MD and one nurse practitioner working remotely) handles your telephone encounters, medication refills, and incoming documents. You will never cover colleagues' inboxes or manage their patient communications, and they will never manage yours. This system stands in sharp contrast to many group practices where vacation means returning to hundreds of messages and frustrated patients who couldn't reach anyone during your absence. You can truly disconnect during time off, knowing your patients receive responsive care and you won't face inbox chaos upon return.
You will report to Dr. Veronica Palomino, the Chief Medical Officer, who joined the organization seven months ago as part of a comprehensive leadership renewal. Dr. Palomino brings board certification in both Family Medicine and Preventive Medicine, an MPH in Epidemiology, and extensive experience in community health and medical education. The entire executive team arrived within the past two years, bringing fresh energy and commitment to rebuilding the organization's clinical capacity and supporting physician success. This new leadership team has prioritized physician retention and satisfaction, implementing the inbox coverage system and schedule flexibility as direct responses to previous physician feedback.
You will work out your schedule in coordination with Dr. Palomino, the Director of Medical Operations, and their staff. This collaborative approach ensures your work pattern fits both organizational needs and personal preferences. The clinic manager at each location provides day-to-day operational support, handling staffing coordination, supply management, and patient flow logistics. This structure lets you focus on clinical care rather than administrative problem-solving. You will have regular access to the CMO for clinical consultation, policy discussions, and professional development planning.
The organization's small size (approximately 100 employees across both locations) creates an environment where everyone knows each other and collaboration happens naturally. Unlike massive health systems where physicians feel anonymous and disconnected from decision-making, you will practice in a setting where your voice matters and where leadership knows you by name. This intimate scale allows for genuine collegiality with fellow providers and specialists while maintaining the resources and structure of an established FQHC.
This position replaces an internal medicine physician who departed in December 2024, creating an immediate need for primary care capacity. The organization is actively rebuilding its clinical team after experiencing turnover during the past few years. Historically, the clinic employed six physicians, two nurse practitioners, and one physician assistant, but the current smaller team creates opportunity for you to help shape the practice's future direction. You will join Dr. Faith Chisum and Dr. Benjamin Pratt Levin in Family Medicine, along with four nurse practitioners including pediatric-focused Stephanie Cunningham and three family nurse practitioners.
This rebuilding phase under new leadership means you join at a pivotal moment rather than stepping into a static, established practice. The organization is investing in physician retention and satisfaction, evidenced by the inbox coverage system, schedule flexibility, and competitive compensation package. You will help establish the culture and systems that make this a sustainable, satisfying place to practice medicine long-term. For physicians who want to contribute to building something rather than simply maintaining the status quo, this timing creates unusual opportunity.
This position represents more than a job opening. It offers the chance to practice meaningful medicine in communities where your work creates visible impact. You will join a small, mission-focused organization at a pivotal moment in its development, helping to rebuild clinical capacity under new leadership committed to physician success and patient care excellence. The combination of genuine schedule flexibility, manageable patient volume, protected administrative time, and comprehensive support systems creates an environment where you can sustain a long-term career serving patients who genuinely need your skills.