Military Pay breakdown for Residents and Attendings

[Fried Plantaris]

For purposes of this thread, I am considering going into the Army 4 year HPSP. I have a desire to travel the world and also serve my country, but financials are going to be considered in the decision too. I am running a couple forecasting projections to compare different routes. Some information I am having trouble obtaining online, despite extensive searches (I'll have you know).

Specifically the figures for:

Base salary
BAH
Incentive Specialty pay
Variable specialty pay
Any other categories I may have missed

...both as a resident and attending. [Intended Specialty right now is Rads] I'm looking for direction to an official document [Army], and a little help in understanding how to interpret said document. Additional input related to military pay is also appreciated!

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[Ziehl-Neelsen]

Everything you seek can be accessed here (though ISP and VSP no longer exist--now they are incentive pay and retention bonus):

https://www.dfas.mil/militarymembers/payentitlements/Pay-Tables.html

BAH is dependent on where you live--in the mountains, in the prairies, near the oceans, white with foam. The DoD's calculator for BAH can be accessed here:

BAH Calculator

You will enter residency as an O-3 with no time in service (assuming you are not prior service). In general, every 6 years in service as a doctor you can expect a promotion to the next grade (with the corresponding pay raise).

If you have specific questions on interpretation after you've worked on it for a while, come back and ask.

 

[Fried Plantaris]

Everything you seek can be accessed here (though ISP and VSP no longer exist--now they are incentive pay and retention bonus):

https://www.dfas.mil/militarymembers/payentitlements/Pay-Tables.html

BAH is dependent on where you live--in the mountains, in the prairies, near the oceans, white with foam. The DoD's calculator for BAH can be accessed here:

BAH Calculator

You will enter residency as an O-3 with no time in service (assuming you are not prior service). In general, every 6 years in service as a doctor you can expect a promotion to the next grade (with the corresponding pay raise).

If you have specific questions on interpretation after you've worked on it for a while, come back and ask.

Hey @Ziehl-Neelsen,

your files definitely helped me out. I was able to get some numbers, using the process below, which I would appreciate if you could check for accuracy.

The projection was assuming that I go into DRads...entailing a 1 year internship, 4 year residency, and 4 years of payback.

For base pay I said I'd be starting at O-3 w/ less that 2 years. From there after I had experience to move into the next box over (still on O-3), I used that rank until the 2nd year as an attending, then moved up, and over there onward. You say every 6 years in service you can expect a promotion...does that mean on the 6th year you are promoted (off the timeline above that would be the 1st year of attending) or after 6 years total (2nd year as attending) ?

For BAH I simply selected a location and rank based off that particular year and added it into the total.

Now for IP, I came across this site:

https://mccareer.files.wordpress.com/2018/03/health-professions-officer-special-and-incentive-pay-plan.pdf

Using that an intern would recieve $1,200, a PGY2 gets $8000, and every year as an attending is $59,000.

Next, how does the retention bonus work? I am under the impression if you still have an obligated payback, then you do not receive this amount. So if doing a 4 year HPSP it wouldn't be until the 5th year as an attending that you could receive one, if you accept more service...Is that correct?


Lastly can you confirm that the four years of residency count toward your pension or retirement plan (I realize it does not count for your service requirement)? Thank you for your time.

 

[EasyEveryoneWouldDoIt]

that is correct retention bonus is only available after you serve your payback obligation. and yes residency does count towards your pension and retirement (assuming you serve 20 years). though i would caution against assuming any speciality with DHA still at it infancy; no one knows what is going to be on the table in 4 years. also you can't assume you'll get a chance to travel and see the world in the military. i know people who have had that luxury but i have also known people who have been stuck in the same location for years. it depends on how many slots for the speciality are available at a specific location and a bit of luck to get those slots once they become available.

 

[SirGecko]

For your promotion question you get selected up to a year before you actually pin on depending on your lineal number. But that winds up being roughly (for most a few months over) six years from graduating to promotion to o4. After that services will differ in how competitive it is to promote to o5 btw. Talking to the Air Force it sounds like they are pretty much guaranteed to promote but the Navy has been a bit stingier lately for O5 and O6.

 

[Chonal Atresia]

For your promotion question you get selected up to a year before you actually pin on depending on your lineal number. But that winds up being roughly (for most a few months over) six years from graduating to promotion to o4. After that services will differ in how competitive it is to promote to o5 btw. Talking to the Air Force it sounds like they are pretty much guaranteed to promote but the Navy has been a bit stingier lately for O5 and O6.

I would add that “competitiveness” has nothing to do with clinical competency or productivity (like the civilian world; rather, it is based on drinking the military kool-aid and completing military education courses (CCC, ILE, etc), taking on non-clinical admin positions and deploying oneself on a frequent basis. If these things sound great to you, than you will be “competitive” for promotion to 0-5 and 0-6. Hey, you may even make 0-7 and take a pay cut with it!

 

[vom-]

Do prior service make O4 faster or is it still generally 6 years after O3?

 

[EasyEveryoneWouldDoIt]

its 6 years. prior service only gives you that O3E pay when you are a O3 assuming you did more than 4 years as an enlisted person. though the math might be different if you were prior officer going into med school

 

[BunsenBeaker]

its 6 years. prior service only gives you that O3E pay when you are a O3 assuming you did more than 4 years as an enlisted person. though the math might be different if you were prior officer going into med school

Prior officer can also be where the "Save Pay" provision in the DoD Finance regs comes in, depending on rank.

 

[USArmyHPSP]

its 6 years. prior service only gives you that O3E pay when you are a O3 assuming you did more than 4 years as an enlisted person. though the math might be different if you were prior officer going into med school

The O3E option is ONLY for prior enlisted. All officers are granted constructive credit which will amount to one half day of credit toward promotion for each day served. In other words, three years as an O3, will equate to O3 over two (one and half years constructive credit for prior service). This is outlined in DoD! 6000.13. The Save Pay option is outlined in Title 10, chapter 105, para 2121 a. (2) which says in a nutshell, all medical students may receive pay at the rate they were otherwise entitled to prior to joining the HPSP. Just remember, this applies to PAY not stipend, so, it will only apply while on ADT while in the program.

 

[Setih]

The O3E option is ONLY for prior enlisted. All officers are granted constructive credit which will amount to one half day of credit toward promotion for each day served. In other words, three years as an O3, will equate to O3 over two (one and half years constructive credit for prior service). This is outlined in DoD! 6000.13. The Save Pay option is outlined in Title 10, chapter 105, para 2121 a. (2) which says in a nutshell, all medical students may receive pay at the rate they were otherwise entitled to prior to joining the HPSP. Just remember, this applies to PAY not stipend, so, it will only apply while on ADT while in the program.

Minor detail, constructive service credit is for the date of rank and is different for time in service for the O3E. You also need at least 4 years as enlisted for the O3E. the E doesn’t affect your next promotion but constructive service credit does. U r getting CSC for promotion to LT, yes, but not for ur enlisted time.