HPSP vs HSCP vs FAP vs USUHS

[penguinluvinman]

Here is a side by side comparison of the 4 main programs for becoming a military physician.

DISCLAIMER: I am just a pre-med student who made this for my own benefit based on my own research (most of which came from these forums, I just compiled it). People who are currently in or have previously completed these programs PLEASE correct or add information as you see fit.
Also I am planning to go into the Navy, so that is what my information is catered to if that makes a difference in some of these.
Hope this helps out some new people who have no clue about any of this stuff like I did when I started looking here. And a big thank you to those who have tried to help us noobies along, and please forgive me if I plagiarized. I just copied things down as I found them all along and couldn’t take the time to go back and give credit to the original author.

HPSP- Health Professions Scholarship Program
Under the HPSP, students can attend any accredited medical school and have the tuition and fees covered by the military. The commitment is year per year (if the scholarship pays for all 4 years of medical school, you owe 4 years of service; residency does not count towards the 4 years, nor does it add to your obligation). The HPSP is offered by the Army, Navy, and AF. While in school, you will receive a stipend (~$2088/month*), as well as active duty pay for 45 days a year. During the first or second summer break in school, you will attend ODS. While at ODS, you’ll be paid the salary and allowances of O-1, which will be about $5,000 for the five week course. The Navy will pay your roundtrip travel costs from your school to Newport.
You have the option of doing either a military or civilian residency program (with approved deferral).

HSCP- Health Services Collegiate Program (Navy only program)
HSCP is not a scholarship that pays for tuition; instead it allows medical students to be paid a military E-6 salary (~$30,000-40,000/year*) while in school. This is probably the better option for those going to cheaper, in-state schools. Total commissioned obligation is eight years; active duty obligation is year for year (min 3 years). You do get credit for active duty time towards pay/retirement while in school (can someone please verify?).
Upon graduation from school you will go to ODS and become an active duty O3E.

FAP- Financial Assistance Program
Under FAP, students receive an annual check annual check (~45,000*) as well as a monthly stipend (~$2,088/month*) while in school. Upon graduation, you must pay back year for year plus one (if you receive program benefits for 3 years, you must pay back 4 years of active duty). You get to do a civilian residency in a specialty of your choosing. You start your service in the Navy after residency as a full practicing physician, and a commissioned officer.

USUHS- Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
USUHS is not any kind of scholarship or program to pay for med school, it is a medical school. It has no tuition, and you are considered to be on active duty while attending school and receive O-1 active duty pay (~$45,000/year*) and benefits. This also means you wear a uniform, and must follow strict standards for conduct, behavior, and fitness; you are no longer a civilian. There is no rank progression while in school, but you are automatically promoted 0-3 upon graduation.
Students commit to serving at least seven years in the uniformed services after graduation, internship, and residency are complete. All in all: 4-years at USUHS + 1-year internship + 3-year (minimum) residency + 7-years payback = 15+ years in the military. USUHS = military career. Time in school does not count towards your pay (you will be paid as O-3 with 0 years service upon graduation) initially does not count towards years in service for retirement, however once you reach the 20 year mark, then your USUHS time will count towards payback (if you retire 20 years after graduation, you will get paid based on 24 years in service).
Admission info:
-Avg GPA = 3.6*
-Avg MCAT = 31O composite*
-Acceptance rate 15.5%*
When applying for the school, you rank which service you would like to join (Army, Navy, or AF). Each branch has a certain number of spots, so this can make a big difference in your admission.

* Numbers based on info for 2012

Summary
HPSP is a good route if you are going to a more expensive school, as the tuition is covered with no cap and a small stipend. HSCP is a better bet if you are going to a cheaper school, and the total cost of tuition + living expenses is a good deal under your yearly active duty salary. Do some math and figure out which is financially better for your specific case. USUHS is the best route if you are looking for a career in military medicine.

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[anonimoose]

Cool. I did something similar here:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=923024

 

[Cooperd0g]

Time spent in the HSCP program does count for retirement purposes. You will not be an O-3E as you won't have over four years, but just under.

 

[Ballints]

😀Regarding Fap: do you get $45,000 cash (even if you have no loans) at the beginning of each year of residency? What specialties are presently acceptable for fap? Would you apply for it at the beginning of MS4 if you want to be paid for the 1st year of residency? Do you get 4weeks vacation during your civilian residency or must you do something military?

What would your military assignment consist of? Any chance you could work at a nice base like Germany, or you'll be assigned the base that nobody else wants? Alternatively, could you do some type of "operational tour" where you get to travel places, live on a ship, or are you tied to a single base? Would such "operational tour" be a possibility for any specialties other than primary care? Thanks!

 

[Walter Reed]

Hey all! Awesome summary. I got off the phone with an army recruiter yesterday regarding the HPSP. He stated that residency does ad to your obligation if that residency surpasses a length of 4 years. In other words, he said whichever is longest, medical school or residency, will be the determining factor of how long you serve. All three programs are awesome and they all serve their place. I will be applying to medical school next year as a junior in college. I will be applying to USUHS. It is said to be common practice to apply to the HPSP while applying to medical school. I talked with the recruiter and discussed how I will be applying before senior year, and did not know if that was permitted. He called his supervisor and told me you MUST have your bachelors before you can be accepted into the program. So regardless if I am accepted into an accredited medical school, I still will be waiting for the HPSP.
Once again, thanks for you list, I found it really helpful, and USUHS, like you said really is a 15 year commitment. Personally, I think this is a good thing, it deters people who are seeking military medicine more in for the financial gain than other reasons.

 

[Walter Reed]

Just to repeat, this is what the recruiter told me, not what I have read (so I apologies if this is not correct).

 

[Navy Flight Doc]

I went to USUHS, and every time someone tried to explain the payback, it was confusing. I finally get it, but hope I can convey it... While you are in training in a military residency (i.e., at Walter Reed, San Diego, Portsmouth, etc), you will be paying back your time owed (1 year served = 1 year paid back), but if you are in training, you are also accruing a new debt. So while you are paying down your medical school time, you are accruing a new debt for military residency. If you owed 4 years for HPSP and immediately started a military residency (and opted to go straight through) in neurosurgery, for example (I think it's still 7 years), at the end of your first year of residency you'd owe 3 years for school (1 paid back), but have accrued 1 more year for that year of residency, so total owed is still 4 years. End of 2nd year, you'd owe 2 years for HPSP, but accrue another year for residency, so still owe 4 years. End of 4th year of residency, you'd have paid back all 4 years of med school, but now up to 4 years owed for residency...and counting. If this were a 4-year residency, you'd owe 4 years when you're done (the time accrued for the military residency). For a 7 year residency, you'd owe 7 years when it's done (all of your residency time). If it were a 3 year residency, you'd still owe 4 years (1 left for med school and 3 for residency). It's easy to think of it as the time standing still while you're in military residency for the payback years (4 for most people I think). Important distinction, because if you're in civilian residency, that time does not count toward payback, so you'd owe your med school time at the END of residency. (Gets complicated there, because there are different pathways to civilian residency -- deferment vs Full Time Out Service (FTOS)).

One side note -- while residency training accrues a debt, flight training (for flight med) doesn't. Also, while on a GMO/flight/dive tour, you are actually paying back debt without accruing any more (and getting a nice hefty annual physician bonus -- $15000 extra a year before taxes). You could actually graudate from med school, do PGY1 in anything, then do all of your payback as a GMO/flight/dive doc, and be completely out of the military if you want. I don't think that's scamming the system -- right now they need flight/dive/GMOs pretty badly. I've known more than a few HPSP to do that. I'm USUHS and am only 3 years away from doing that myself (but I'm probably not going to. My does time fly!) Going straight through residency may have advantages, but taking a little time between med school and residency can also have some advantages (and boy am I glad I did it!)

Hope that helps...

 

[DrThom]

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[NavyFP]

While you are in training in a military residency (i.e., at Walter Reed, San Diego, Portsmouth, etc), you will be paying back your time owed (1 year served = 1 year paid back), but if you are in training, you are also accruing a new debt. So while you are paying down your medical school time, you are accruing a new debt for military residency. ...

Sorry, but this is one of those statements that is routinely made but absolutely wrong.

While you are in training you are not paying back any of your HPSP obligation. It is still there. Not increasing or decreasing. If the DoD was to kick you out of the service for bad performance or behavior and you had spent zero time on active duty not in training, they could give you the entire bill for medical school and you would have to pay it.

What actually happens is called concurrent pay back. You pay back HPSP and Residency AT THE SAME TIME.

Obligated service is a very complex issue. It took a good six months and hundreds of calculations to learn all of the ins and outs. And there are some rules even us experts have disagreements on interpretation. But don't think you are paying back time in Residency. (We won't address minimum service obligations or IRR, throw those in and you get an even bigger headache.)

 

[Loupa337]

I am 4th year medical student, could I now sign up for HPSP? and what exactly are the benefits, and how much time would I owe back??
THanks

 

[teacherman84]

Yes, you can start the application processnow and submit your application once you have an acceptance. The other questions were addressed in the first post of this thread. If you still have questions read the other numerous threads on HPSP here

 

[hpsphopeful]

I have an important question, the nearest Air Force and Navy AMEDD recruiting offices are 6-7 hour drives for me. Will I actually have to meet the HPSP recruiters or can we just talk over the phone and maybe they can mail me the papers I need to sign?

 

[Perrotfish]

I am 4th year medical student, could I now sign up for HPSP? and what exactly are the benefits, and how much time would I owe back??
THanks

Benifits: 20K signing bonus, 25 K/year stipend+active duty pay (you do a 4 week rotation every year), all tuition, fees, and books. You're comissioned as an officer when you take the scholarship, and you're promoted when you gradute. Then in residency they pay you about twice the going rate for residents. As a physician you will make an amount that can be the market rate for your specialty (Peds), significantly less (EM and Gas), or so much less that you'll lose millions of dollars over the course of your obligation (Plastics and Ortho).

Obligation: 1 year for every year of HPSP you take beginning when you finish residency. Or the length of your residency (not counting Intern year). Whichever is more.

Can you sign up now?: If your GPA and MCAT are high enough the recruiter will let you start filling out paperwork now. If not you'll need to wait until you get a letter of acceptance from a medical school. Then you apply for the scholarship. There's no obligation to start the process and fill out the scroll form so go ahead and do it. However don't sign the contract and take the oath until you're 100% sure you know what you're doing.

Things you need to know:

1) When you join the military, you're stuck in their residency system. You apply for the military match in December, no the match with the rest of your classmates in March. Some residencies, like emergency medicine or Peidatrics, are way more competitive in the military than in the civilian world. Others, like combined residencies or PM&R, don't exist at all. You will have the opportunity to apply for the civilian match but that opportunity is almost never granted.

2) In the military (much less so in the Army than the other two) you may not get to do your residency all at once. In most AF and Navy residencies you apply for just an Intern year, and then apply for the rest of residency after that. A large percentage (almost 75% in the Navy) don't get get to continue on with residency immediately and instead spend two years as a kind of basic general practice doctor seeing pilots, Sailors, or Marines. That's called a GMO tour. Make sure you understand it before you sign.

2) You can't quit. Not even if you're willing to pay back the scholarhship. In the military quitting = AWOL = jail. If they send you to afghanistan, or the middle of nowhere Iowa, or make you pick up garbage in the parking lot, or tell you they don't like the way your hair looks, you need to go along with their plan because there is no escape until your obligation is up.

 

[Perrotfish]

I have an important question, the nearest Air Force and Navy AMEDD recruiting offices are 6-7 hour drives for me. Will I actually have to meet the HPSP recruiters or can we just talk over the phone and maybe they can mail me the papers I need to sign?

I don't know but I promise you this is the sort of question any recruiter would be thrilled to answer.

 

[NeedToStudy]

I have a question about the FAP. Say you take the FAP for 4 years in medical school. That means you owe 5 years. Can you serve your obligation by doing a military residency and one year as a active duty physician in the military? Or do you have to do a civilian residency before going into the military?

 

[Ziehl-Neelsen]

I have a question about the FAP. Say you take the FAP for 4 years in medical school. That means you owe 5 years. Can you serve your obligation by doing a military residency and one year as a active duty physician in the military? Or do you have to do a civilian residency before going into the military?

FAP is only for physicians who have already graduated medical school and are enrolled in (or accepted to) an accredited civilian residency/fellowship that has been deemed a specialty of "need" by the particular service. After completion of residency/fellowship, payback begins.

If you want the money during medical school its HPSP/HSCP/USUHS which comes with its own set of regulations/commitments summarized above.

 

[asdf123g]

1) What are the advantages of doing a military residency, serving your time, then leaving VS 4 years GMO then leaving? I understand the latter is the fastest way out of the military. Is there anything else I am missing? More pay in the form of bonuses perhaps? With the latter, I hear 2 opininons, 1) when you apply for civ residency after your stint in the military, you are favored because you're a vet 2) Ive heard you are actually disadvantaged because of knowledge atrophy. Can anyone clarify any of this/offer an opinion??

 

[68PGunner]

1) What are the advantages of doing a military residency, serving your time, then leaving VS 4 years GMO then leaving? I understand the latter is the fastest way out of the military. Is there anything else I am missing? More pay in the form of bonuses perhaps? With the latter, I hear 2 opininons, 1) when you apply for civ residency after your stint in the military, you are favored because you're a vet 2) Ive heard you are actually disadvantaged because of knowledge atrophy. Can anyone clarify any of this/offer an opinion??

Isn't the answer to this question already common sense? You spend your years to become a board certified doc. Once you get into the system and realize how messed up it is, you will learn to bite your tongue, suck it up, and endure the four years. GTFO via the GMO route doesn't make any sense. If you elect to go this route, you make a grave mistake in joining the military. Again, the #1 overwhelming factor should be your desire to be in the military and treat soldiers. If you don't feel that way, HPSP isn't for you. In the military, a board certified doc normally gets pay less than their civilian counterparts while working more hours. The only redeeming factor is the retirement benefit, but the civilian match plans out there are very competitive with the new military retirement plan. Let me put it to you this way. If you put 20 years into the system as a doc, you will get about an annual check of $50,000. However, you will be forever underpaid relative to your civilian counterparts for the majority of your military career.

There is no bonus. The vet preference is straight up bs. You might be slightly preferred if you're applying for a federal job. However, in the private sector, nobody cares considering that 99% of the US doesn't even know the hardships that regular soldiers endure on a regular basis.

 

[Red Lobster Actual]

GTFO via the GMO route doesn't make any sense.

Makes alright sense to me. I don't fault anyone for fulfilling their contract and GTFO. They did their part and what they could. They got their school paid for and the military received their pound of flesh. And from the 4-5 docs I talked to that did this they wound up alright in the end. One on this forum matched in PM&R at the Mayo Clinic and the 3-4 others I know of personally wound up in good residencies in decent locations. And beyond that two of them are now clinical professors.

There is no bonus. The vet preference is straight up bs.

One of the posters here says vets take care of vets and I think there is some truth to it but even if it isn't...

The Navy graduates about 200-250 new physicians every year from HPSP and USUHS. Let's say 100 of them do the 4 years and GTFO and start applying to civilian residency. Imagine they all did 4 years in BFE punching themselves in the eye everyday doing admin work and sick call. But on their applications they start labeling what they did as things like, Chief Medical Officer of the Battalion Aid Station, Marine Aircraft Group Flight Surgeon, etc.

Now compare that to a neophyte medical school graduate, the other 18,000 of them, whose greatest accomplishment in medical school was being a Vice President of the Surgery Club, presenting a poster on gastritis, and volunteering a few hours in the free clinic. Suddenly those 100 applicants (assuming decent numbers) are looking like pretty unique snowflakes.

Though I still absolutely agree taking care of the warriors is #1 but I personally don't think there is anything wrong with the GMO and out crowd.

 

[Red Lobster Actual]

Ive heard you are actually disadvantaged because of knowledge atrophy.

This is absolutely true. But if given the rock and hard place choice of GMO after intern year vs GMO after residency I believe you would lose far far far more knowledge post residency as opposed to post internship.

I think worse comes to worse you redo intern year following the 4 year and out plan and matching in a civilian program.

 

[68PGunner]

Makes alright sense to me. I don't fault anyone for fulfilling their contract and GTFO. They did their part and what they could. They got their school paid for and the military received their pound of flesh. And from the 4-5 docs I talked to that did this they wound up alright in the end. One on this forum matched in PM&R at the Mayo Clinic and the 3-4 others I know of personally wound up in good residencies in decent locations. And beyond that two of them are now clinical professors.



One of the posters here says vets take care of vets and I think there is some truth to it but even if it isn't...

The Navy graduates about 200-250 new physicians every year from HPSP and USUHS. Let's say 100 of them do the 4 years and GTFO and start applying to civilian residency. Imagine they all did 4 years in BFE punching themselves in the eye everyday doing admin work and sick call. But on their applications they start labeling what they did as things like, Chief Medical Officer of the Battalion Aid Station, Marine Aircraft Group Flight Surgeon, etc.

Now compare that to a neophyte medical school graduate, the other 18,000 of them, whose greatest accomplishment in medical school was being a Vice President of the Surgery Club, presenting a poster on gastritis, and volunteering a few hours in the free clinic. Suddenly those 100 applicants (assuming decent numbers) are looking like pretty unique snowflakes.

Though I still absolutely agree taking care of the warriors is #1 but I personally don't think there is anything wrong with the GMO and out crowd.

Being in the military is like being in an elite fraternity. Yes, we do look out for each other. If I am in a position of power, I would look for my boys and girls also considering that I know personally what they go through on a regular basis. However, let's think about this for a second. Only 1% of Americans serve in the military. I assume that the percentage holds true in the medical field also. I would say that the large majority of them work a federal job after retirement bc they want to continue treating soldiers. In prestigious civilian programs, most of these programs are run by people that have no idea what the military means and stands for. So, your military experience is a nice * in your resume, but it doesn't elevate your competitiveness for prestigious programs much.