What does an Army OMFS take home per month?

[toothfixer24]

Im and active duty general that finished HPSP and got into OMFS but not sure what the paycheck looks like for a surgeon. With my BAH and BAS etc I’m around $7800/month post tax. I’ll be 0-4 by then so I’m imagining my pay should be closer to 12-15k/month but I’m not sure what the special pay is for specialists and I feel weird asking co residents before I start. Anyone got an idea of the rough per month pay for an OMFS with 8 years at the time of graduation?

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[Recip]

Theres a public PDF with all med and dental pays. It will be an extra 35k a year. So you dental bonus goes from 20k to 55k /yr. That starts 90 days after you finish residency, so Oct 1. After 18 months post residency roughly you'll be board certified pending you pass the boards. Then you'll get an extra 6k a year. Thats it, only others would be retention bonuses. Go to the army dental site and there's a link to the pdf, has nursing, dental, medical, vet, ect. It also has the retention bonus info.

 

[toothfixer24]

Theres a public PDF with all med and dental pays. It will be an extra 35k a year. So you dental bonus goes from 20k to 55k /yr. That starts 90 days after you finish residency, so Oct 1. After 18 months post residency roughly you'll be board certified pending you pass the boards. Then you'll get an extra 6k a year. Thats it, only others would be retention bonuses. Go to the army dental site and there's a link to the pdf, has nursing, dental, medical, vet, ect. It also has the retention bonus info.

ive looked all over the army website and can’t find a link to that pdf. Do you have one by any chance?

 

[pookatooth]

Page 10

 

[toothfixer24]

Page 10

So does this mean if I become an OS and sign the 6 year RB I’ll get 55+75 = 130k a year on top of what I’m making now? That’s like 7-8k a month extra post tax. Doesn’t seem that bad at all

 

[ShortShortsDad]

So does this mean if I become an OS and sign the 6 year RB I’ll get 55+75 = 130k a year on top of what I’m making now? That’s like 7-8k a month extra post tax. Doesn’t seem that bad at all

Not really it’s a bit more involved...

Reiterating what @Recip said above, when you graduate OMS residency the $20k bonus you receive now will increase to $55k 90 days after graduation.

You incur a 4 year ADSO for the residency and you can’t sign for retention until those 4 years have been paid back, even if you’ve already paid off your HPSP time (those who get into residency right after school have it best since you can pay off your HPSP school ADSO and residency ADSO simultaneously).

So, 90 days after graduating OMS residency you will have a $35k/yr increase for 4 years (bonus from $20k to $55k).

Whenever you become board certified, if you choose to try for it, then you’ll get another $6k/yr. New this year they are shaving a year off the time you have to wait to test, allowing you to take written boards as a chief resident and oral boards ~6mos after graduating (down from 18mos).

Now imagine you’re 4 years out after graduating residency, you’re board certified and your $20k bonus has increased to $61k. You’ve also likely been promoted so add that $$$ in. You can choose to stay in and sign a retention contract at this time. If your sign for 6yrs the retention bonus is $75k/yr but new the last couple years your special pay for being an OMS goes up from $55k to $65k.

If you sign a 6 year retention bonus 4 years after graduating OMS residency and you’re board certified your pay is: officer pay + BAH + BAS + $65k/yr OMS pay + $6k/yr board certified pay + $75k/yr retention pay, for those 6 years you’ve committed to.

 

[Recip]

@toothfixer24. As mentioned, can't sign a RB before the ADSO is completed. That being said, if you have finished your HPSP obligation as you mentioned in your initial post, you could be edible for a RB as a GP.

During my residency I knew a few residents who had completed their initial HPSP obligation, signed a 4 yr RB as a general dentist a few weeks before starting OMFS residency. So during their for years of OMFS they were paid a 25,000 per year RB during residency. Once residency is completed the RB stops, but Oct 1 the 35k specialty pay kicks in.

The only other potential pay not mentioned is the critical skills war bonus. OMFS has not been eligible for years. A while back is was in play and there were some OMFS getting the 75k specialty pay, 50k 4 year RB, 6k board cert, and 75k CSWSAB, in addition to their regular pays. I wouldn't expect this to return, but if you look at the PDF attached is is part of it.

 

[Lankers]

You incur a 4 year ADSO for the residency and you can’t sign for retention until those 4 years have been paid back, even if you’ve already paid off your HPSP time (those who get into residency right after school have it best since you can pay off your HPSP school ADSO and residency ADSO simultaneously).

When you say you can pay back your HPSP school and residency simultaneously, you mean after residency you will have paid your school obligation and the time in residency obligation four years after completing residency? Some how i was under the impression if you did HPSP for four years and a four year residency you would owe 8 years after the completion of your residency.

 

[Recip]

When you say you can pay back your HPSP school and residency simultaneously, you mean after residency you will have paid your school obligation and the time in residency obligation four years after completing residency? Some how i was under the impression if you did HPSP for four years and a four year residency you would owe 8 years after the completion of your residency.

The HPSP ADSO is paid off during residency in that example. Still own four years after residency. Basically can't start residency right out of Dental school. There are special circumstances, but usually you do 1 year as a dentist and start residency. So when you complete your Oms training you'll have served 5 years. your HSPS ADSO will be done. Then you own Army 4 years for OMS. So you can get out at 9 years, and most do. Doesn't make financial sense to stay.

 

[D1Bound]

Can't find one. Anyone know of a thread that talks about veterans applying to residency after their service? Some have told me this can be a smart route to take

 

[Lankers]

The HPSP ADSO is paid off during residency in that example. Still own four years after residency. Basically can't start residency right out of Dental school. There are special circumstances, but usually you do 1 year as a dentist and start residency. So when you complete your Oms training you'll have served 5 years. your HSPS ADSO will be done. Then you own Army 4 years for OMS. So you can get out at 9 years, and most do. Doesn't make financial sense to stay.

The four year after residency would typically be composed of how many deployments? Would these typically be accompanied? What about all the bases in EU. Is an OS at a majority of them? At the end of paying everything back, would you have done 9 years of active duty?

 

[Tooth Ferry]

The four year after residency would typically be composed of how many deployments? Would these typically be accompanied? What about all the bases in EU. Is an OS at a majority of them? At the end of paying everything back, would you have done 9 years of active duty?

That is totally dependent on the unit you work for - you're more likely to deploy if you are in the field hospital vs. your unit is the medical activity department of the base. A deployment is by definition unaccompanied; if you're married, postings are generally 3 years. There are slots for OMS in the EU at Landstuhl and Vicenza but those are always subject to availability. If you apply in D4 year, start your residency on July 1 the following year after graduation, and get out immediately, you will have done 9 years in total.

 

[Tooth Ferry]

Can't find one. Anyone know of a thread that talks about veterans applying to residency after their service? Some have told me this can be a smart route to take

Are you talking about applying to a military OMS residency?

 

[D1Bound]

Are you talking about applying to a military OMS residency?

No, to civilian residencies in general.

 

[Lankers]

Another quick question. If you do the HPSP are you or are you not eligible for the 20K bonus per year for being a dentist?

 

[D1Bound]

I am pretty sure you get your dental special pay as HPSP. I don't see a reason why they would not give that to you.

 

[yappy]

It’s too bad the military didn’t just pay military OMS what they’re paid in private practice (300-500k+) right after they finish their residency. Their pay should be more than civilian associates considering they likely have military responsibilities on top of their clinical responsibilities. It’s sad to see the military treat their physicians and dentists so poorly.

what this thread has taught me is military pay is near impossible to determine and it scales with time rather than job performance or production.

 

[ShortShortsDad]

For what it’s worth we probably get paid way more per procedure than our civilian counterparts considering how few patients are seen compared with a private practice.

From a financial standpoint the only thing that makes sense is to just do away with military medicine altogether... It boggles my mind when senior leadership start talking about how we operate at a loss and are unproductive when there is so much bull**** military admin training and nonsense that our civilian counterparts don’t have to deal with.

 

[Lankers]

Can you do residency without doing BOLC and do BOLC after residency?

 

[D1Bound]

Can you do residency without doing BOLC and do BOLC after residency?

I have heard of this happening. It’s not that common. I’m not sure who you would speak to to make this happen. I’d probably start by asking one of the leaders of a residency program

 

[ModifiedBass]

For what it’s worth we probably get paid way more per procedure than our civilian counterparts considering how few patients are seen compared with a private practice.

From a financial standpoint the only thing that makes sense is to just do away with military medicine altogether... It boggles my mind when senior leadership start talking about how we operate at a loss and are unproductive when there is so much bull**** military admin training and nonsense that our civilian counterparts don’t have to deal with.

Could not agree more with this.