HPSP for Pharmacists

[Charlemagne]

I have scoured these threads for some time, and with the closing gap between a small shortage and increasing surplus, why aren't pharmacy hopefuls looking at the HPSP for tuition buffering?

Even if you only have 3 years to pay back the military(two-year HPSP with residency), it seems like a better deal to come out with substantially less debt than paying for all four years and scrambling to find a job (because everyone wants to work retail in major cities, right?[sarcasm])

I mean, medical schools are, on average, more expensive than pharmacy schools in the US, but in comparison to the number of inquiries of the program in the milmed forum to this one, there is a large gap of interest. Maybe it has something to do with the military having its own medical school, i dunno.[more sarcasm]

Why don't more people pursue pharmacy in the military; the job itself is not THAT demanding, if anything, it's easier due to the fact that everyone in the military has TRICARE or some other form of health insurance( phiuck yeah, Medco can go piss off.) Aside form being deployed, what's the big deal?

On the other hand, the 6-week OBLC course is pretty strenuous (smirk), and the military is not for everyone, but come on, having residency training, leadership experience, and less debt than the average pharm grad is much better from a purely objective view.

This is not meant to badger people for not considering other options. I am just genuinely curious.

(This is probably the part where I mention I'm in ROTC.)

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[GoldfishPharmD]

I have scoured these threads for some time, and with the closing gap between a small shortage and increasing surplus, why aren't pharmacy hopefuls looking at the HPSP for tuition buffering?

Even if you only have 3 years to pay back the military(two-year HPSP with residency), it seems like a better deal to come out with substantially less debt than paying for all four years and scrambling to find a job (because everyone wants to work retail in major cities, right?[sarcasm])

I mean, medical schools are, on average, more expensive than pharmacy schools in the US, but in comparison to the number of inquiries of the program in the milmed forum to this one, there is a large gap of interest. Maybe it has something to do with the military having its own medical school, i dunno.[more sarcasm]

Why don't more people pursue pharmacy in the military; the job itself is not THAT demanding, if anything, it's easier due to the fact that everyone in the military has TRICARE or some other form of health insurance( phiuck yeah, Medco can go piss off.) Aside form being deployed, what's the big deal?

On the other hand, the 6-week OBLC course is pretty strenuous (smirk), and the military is not for everyone, but come on, having residency training, leadership experience, and less debt than the average pharm grad is much better from a purely objective view.

This is not meant to badger people for not considering other options. I am just genuinely curious.

(This is probably the part where I mention I'm in ROTC.)

I've though about it, and it's very tempting because of getting to pay off the debt, and I do believe it would be easier to deal with military people vs civilians. I think the biggest reason I wouldn't do it is because of the fact of the possibility of moving away from my family and SO.

 

[Charlemagne]

I've though about it, and it's very tempting because of getting to pay off the debt, and I do believe it would be easier to deal with military people vs civilians. I think the biggest reason I wouldn't do it is because of the fact of the possibility of moving away from my family and SO.

That's perfectly understandable. If I were married (and believe me, I'm holding out on that as long as I can), I would be apprehensive of choosing any profession that ostensibly forced me away from my spouse and children for an indefinite amount of time.

Obviously, there are more applicants for medical schools than pharmacy schools per year, but not enough to where the proportion of HPSP medical is numerically superior regardless of the amount of pharmacy students applying. My question is why aren't there more students taking advantage of the scholarship?

 

[wes011]

I have been looking into the military option and if you can get the HPSP loan program it appears to be good. The difference between medical and pharmacy though is probably attributed to medical doctors being required to do a residency where that is just optional (for now) for pharmacists. So you figure if you do 4 years of school and make $100K+ right away you can hit those loans early and often and if you work OT that is just extra money to pay down. You figure medical residency programs are 3-5 years depending on specialty and potentially longer if you become something like a pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon (very specialized), do a fellowship, or didn't match right away. This residency puts them behind the ball big time. I want to do a residency, but will have to really weigh the financial options. Based on tuition and lost earnings (career changer), it will take me 4-5 years to break even without doing a residency and with doing a 2 year residency it will be closer to 8 years to break even.

And I am married, so not sure I want to destabilize my son's home life.

 

[confettiflyer]

There are also new repayment rules out such that if you pursue a "public health" profession/position, you're capped at 10 years of loan repayment (income based) and the remaining is discharged. Something to think about also in addition to HPSP.

*at least, this is what I got from that document....disclaimer: i breezed through it and probably missed a lot of things.

 

[bacillus1]

There are also new repayment rules out such that if you pursue a "public health" profession/position, you're capped at 10 years of loan repayment (income based) and the remaining is discharged. Something to think about also in addition to HPSP.

*at least, this is what I got from that document....disclaimer: i breezed through it and probably missed a lot of things.

Yes I've seen this, but doesn't it apply to federal loans only?
Not sure how they base it on income. If I worked as a clinical pharmacist in the VA (salary's not bad there), would I still be included in this?

 

[Charlemagne]

There are also new repayment rules out such that if you pursue a "public health" profession/position, you're capped at 10 years of loan repayment (income based) and the remaining is discharged. Something to think about also in addition to HPSP.

*at least, this is what I got from that document....disclaimer: i breezed through it and probably missed a lot of things.

There's probably a limit as to how low the debt has to be in order for them to qualify you. The program sounds interesting though, especially if you went to UCSF OOS or something(250,000 ouch!)

Also, found the article.

 

[patmcd]

Just because you want to do the HPSP doesn't mean you can. There are quotas for the program, and generally speaking the demand for military pharmacists is lower than other professionals (especially MD's). For the latest information you best bet is to contact a healthcare specific recruiter.

 

[Charlemagne]

Just because you want to do the HPSP doesn't mean you can. There are quotas for the program, and generally speaking the demand for military pharmacists is lower than other professionals (especially MD's). For the latest information you best bet is to contact a healthcare specific recruiter.

Oh, thanks a lot! I would be fine just taking the loan repayment plan and just working as a pharmacist with the added duties associated with the military i.e deployments and such. Although there is a chance you could be pulled out of school due to a national conflict, that's something I'm comfortable with.

I didn't mean to come off as entitled or anything, but thanks for the advice.

 

[patmcd]

I didn't mean to come off as entitled or anything, but thanks for the advice.

Not how I took your comments at all. The important thing to remember about the military is their needs come before your wants/needs. As a pharmacy student I'd find it rather unlikely you would be pulled out of school. You can't really be a pharmacist without a license.

 

[Charlemagne]

Not how I took your comments at all. The important thing to remember about the military is their needs come before your wants/needs. As a pharmacy student I'd find it rather unlikely you would be pulled out of school. You can't really be a pharmacist without a license.

Yeah, you're right. I eventually want to do a PGY-2 nuclear pharmacy residency at WAMC sometime down the road, but they only accept roughly 1-2 people per year, and I'm assuming the people that applied had already deployed(it's only fair.)

But, being a licensed pharmacist doing a blend of clinical and community is more than enough to satisfy me, especially with no loans to worry about!

 

[Caverject]

Yeah, you're right. I eventually want to do a PGY-2 nuclear pharmacy residency at WAMC sometime down the road, but they only accept roughly 1-2 people per year, and I'm assuming the people that applied had already deployed(it's only fair.)

But, being a licensed pharmacist doing a blend of clinical and community is more than enough to satisfy me, especially with no loans to worry about!

have you received some information about HPSP for pharmacists? I never heard the army offering this deal...I know the AF does but its a very limited program. Just curious...

 

[Charlemagne]

have you received some information about HPSP for pharmacists? I never heard the army offering this deal...I know the AF does but its a very limited program. Just curious...

Actually, now that I think about it, I think you're right. The army offers the 4-year HPRLP instead, not both. I do know that you must meet with your career advisor regarding further specialization after a PGY-1 residency. The number of spots available for the nuclear pharmacy residency can be found on WRAMC's website somewhere, although I haven't found the link yet.

Wait a minute, I meant Walter Reed Medecen(soon to be WBAMC)instead of Womack Medcen in the previous post. My bad.

 

[PromisedNeverland]

To clarify, HPSP for pharmacist (airforce) is applied when you are P3 correct?

 

[lord999]

I have scoured these threads for some time, and with the closing gap between a small shortage and increasing surplus, why aren't pharmacy hopefuls looking at the HPSP for tuition buffering?

Why don't more people pursue pharmacy in the military; the job itself is not THAT demanding, if anything, it's easier due to the fact that everyone in the military has TRICARE or some other form of health insurance( phiuck yeah, Medco can go piss off.) Aside form being deployed, what's the big deal?


This is not meant to badger people for not considering other options. I am just genuinely curious.

(This is probably the part where I mention I'm in ROTC.)

In practice due to the way military budgets are authorized, AFPC has bipolar disorder in terms of recruiting health officers. AFPC see-saws between recruiting huge classes and then RIF'ing a bunch of mid-career officers. I think within the last 40 years, the likelihood that the career (20-year) pharmacist would have not seen and survived at least one Reduction In Force (RIF) is 0. To everyone who I knew worked for AF and Navy, the general consensus is that they enjoyed the pharmacy part, but that they spent more time as an officer than a pharmacist and a lot of the officer duties are related to running the adult day-care center especially if you draw duty officer watch. Quite a number of the older pharmacists fell to Clinton-Cohen RIF and other matters. During my time, AFPC and USN BUPERS only offered reserve commissions due to the current Pentagon practice, and those who were military and were in school due to the GI Bill thought that was a bastard deal as it would make the O-4 to O-5 competition a crying game (and a decade later, that did bear out).

Also from having to employ and supervise uniformed personnel in my department, there is no such thing as a 40 hour week for them. It's normally a 60 hour week due to the random qualifications chasing that all officers have to do in addition to their 40-hour a week jobs. I would say that the normal pharmacist officer (maybe even just standard line officers in general) spend a third of their careers in education and training, and much of that is on their own time. It's hard on families as you are physically there, but not necessarily there emotionally. As well, I actually don't have a moral problem assigning forced OT to uniformed personnel even now where I'm leery of even requesting OT to civilians due to the funding requirements (if I can get someone to work 60 hours for 'free', why don't I and there isn't a strong order appeal process for uniformed personnel?). I don't ask that of CC uniformed, but if they are military uniformed, that's part of the deal for them.

I guess if I were to put it directly, pharmacist officers think they are signing up to be a pharmacist who is an officer in the military. The military views it as another young man or woman is signing up to be an officer that happens to have a specialty that is kind of needed, but can be put aside if there are more important bureaucratic things for them to do. Uniformed life is not a bad life (especially for non-combatants), but it's sure a lot more bureaucratic and detail oriented and life controlling than most give it credit for.