Am I in trouble?

[Biohazard1]

Last july (2012) I matched into a categorical IM position through ERAS/NRMP, however I soon realized that maybe IM was not for me, I approached my PD and told him the situation and he was supportive of me applying into anesthesia, he said I could consider my first year in IM as a prelim year. I applied for a anesthesia positions and ended up matching in a CA-1 position that begins July 2014 (right now I am sitting out a year).

My question is this; could the funding issue come and haunt me in the future? I did not realize that funding maybe a problem.

I am not sure if the anesthesiology program knew that I was originally in a categorical position (although I did mention it to one of the interviewers)

Any thoughts would help as its causing a great deal of anxiety.

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[maygrl110]

The funding issue is talking about direct Medicaid payments. They allot number of years based on your initial residency period-IM-which is 3 yrs. You already completed one-which lucky for you will count as first year towards anesthesia. You will have three more years of anesthesia only, right? So, 2 more of your initial residency years will be covered full time. Only the last year will the direct medicare payments be at 0.5 FTEs. Now, for a lot of hospitals, this really doesn't matter bc they make that up with indirect or other payments.
In the end, your new program is definitely aware of this situation and the fact they matched you means it probably doesn't matter to them. If it did, you probably woundn't be there. Tons of people switch specialties-you are not reinventing the wheel. Don't worry=).

 

[NotAProgDirector]

Agreed. They matched you, they have to deal with the funding issue (which really isn't a big deal)

 

[gutonc]

Last july (2012) I matched into a categorical IM position through ERAS/NRMP, however I soon realized that maybe IM was not for me, I approached my PD and told him the situation and he was supportive of me applying into anesthesia, he said I could consider my first year in IM as a prelim year. I applied for a anesthesia positions and ended up matching in a CA-1 position that begins July 2014 (right now I am sitting out a year).

My question is this; could the funding issue come and haunt me in the future? I did not realize that funding maybe a problem.

I am not sure if the anesthesiology program knew that I was originally in a categorical position (although I did mention it to one of the interviewers)

Any thoughts would help as its causing a great deal of anxiety.

It's on them now. And there's nothing much to be done at this point. As has been pointed out, the difference in funding is from the DME portion, not IME and works out to something on the order of 20-35% less that last year (it's program dependent) so it's not a really big deal for most programs.

Don't sweat it.