Can someone explain the time commitment for HPSP? (Aspiring Ortho)

[premed19233]

I plan to do Air Force HPSP and want to do ortho with a fellowship in either trauma or spine. How do fellowships work and would my time commitment begin as soon as residency (and maybe my fellowship ) end? Also, if I were to do a 5 year ortho residency or 5 year ortho residency WITH a 1 year ortho fellowship, would that mean I would have to commit 6 years?

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[Nontrad_FL_LGBT]

5 year commitment for Ortho residency which you may or may not immediately match into. Look up GMOs. If you become a GMO, you do intern year + 2-3 year tour of duty as a PCP of some flavor, then reapply for residency. The 2-3 year tour knocks off some of your HPSP obligation, but Ortho residency adds back 5 years of obligation. You will do at least one 2-3 year tour between residency and fellowship as well. Fellowships I believe are either 1:1 or 2:1, so either 1-2 year commitment for the fellowship.

In the worst case scenario you're looking at 1 year intern, 3 years GMO, 5 years Ortho residency, 3 years attending tour, 1 year fellowship, 4-5 years attending to finish your obligation. May as well retire from the military and snag the pension atp.

 

[karaya]

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[Res Rehab]

Made a video about HPSP and the pros and cons. Might not answer your question.. but the basic is you owe 4 years, but that time doesn't start until after residency is completed. But since Ortho is a five year program, you owe 5 years of service instead of just 4 years. The 4 years that you owe for the scholarship are counted concurrently with the 5 years that you owe for residency.