Insurance premiums/practice in Spine Physiatry

[JiminyCricket]

I am interested in applying for a spine fellowship in Physiatry and had a few questions that I havent read on other forums.

1. Since the existing Interventional Spine fellowships are non-ACGME accredited, what restrictions/problems if any does this give to graduates who want to practice pain medicine and physical rehabilitation as they pertain to the spine. I have heard that insurance premiums are exorbitant if the fellowship is not ACGME accredited and wanted to know if there was any truth to this.

2. Do Spine fellowships provide fellows opportunities to do research and learn about different non interventional therapies to treat spinal conditions.

3. If you are interested in spine but do not go to a residency that has a spine or pain fellowship, are there ways that you can still participate in research projects with other institutions? Would you be able to get a fellowship coming from a program that is not ranked highly?

4. For someone interested in solely treating back/neck pain, which fellowship is better, pain or interventional spine?

Thanks for your time and help.

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[PMR 4 MSK]

1 - I've had some troubles getting pain privaleges at some hospitals without an ACGME-Fellowship. I've talked with others who have too. Other hospitals are not even aware of the difference apparently. I've had no problem with insurance premiums. Haven't heard of any.

2 - highly variable

3 - No knowledge on this one.

4 - IS. Pain will also train you to do a lot of peripheral procedures, but both are heavy into spine.