PGG, are there any Navy administrative hoops you have to jump through before 1099 moonlighting?
I'm a veteran, and was recently advised by one of my retired Navy physician friends to consider joining the Navy post-residency. If it was relatively easy to get moonlighting time in too, that would be another plus in my +/- analysis.
There are administrative hoops but they're not too onerous. There is some variability in the limitations between commands. In general, the overall attitude toward moonlighting is positive - people recognize that there are benefits to both the physician's morale and knowledge/competency.
PM me your email and I can forward a copy of the paperwork and rules to you. At my hospital, you're limited to 16 hours/week without explicit approval for more; you can't moonlight in the 6 hours before your regular Navy job; the moonlighting can't interfere with your regular Navy schedule or call duties; you can't refer military patients to other physicians at your civvie job's practice; you can't be more than X miles away unless you're on leave. It's all pretty reasonable. Your outside employer needs to sign paperwork acknowledging that you might be deployed on a moment's notice, and that it's illegal to bill Tricare for services you provide to military beneficiaries at your civvie job.
I wouldn't join and count on doing a lot of moonlighting though. First, you never know where they'll put you, and the locums market in some areas has gone to hell - around Portsmouth, for example, it's now very dry especially for new grads. They also work a lot harder than those of us at small commands (Where I am, out in the sticks, there are lots of opportunities and my Navy caseload is light so I really WANT to work more hours.) Second, if you come in on a 3 year contract via FAP to get some loan payback, you can count on being deployed for ~7-9 months of that, probably somewhere in that 2nd year. Third, some places require you to take leave to moonlight, and coming in from civilian-land you won't have any on the books; most of us coming out of military residencies have 60+ days of vacation time accrued.
Anyway, I've been super happy with the Navy. Don't know if I'll stay in past my commitment - there are about 100 things that will factor into that decision, pro & con - but it's been a good ride so far.
(I was in the ED this month....definitely not going to be seeing less than 70/wk for the rest of the year.)
