The reason why all Podiatry residents in state of PA (except for the VA residents in PA) must take and pass the June administration of the Part III exam is that they need to obtain a full PA Podiatry State License prior to start of residency, in order to obtain medical malpractice insurance for his/her residency training.
In regards to an incoming resident failing Part II or Part III, most programs will either drop the incoming resident or delay the start date of the incoming resident by 6 months so that he/she can take the December administration of the Part III exam. There are one or two programs that have actually allowed that incoming resident to start the residency training in July but have restructured the training schedule so that he/she are doing rotations where there is minimal or no patient contact (such as medical imaging, pathology, etc....) for the first six months. This situation is very rare because most hospitals do not want to open themselves up to a huge liability situation. For the incoming resident that has been dropped from PA residency program due to inability of passing Part II or III, he/she will either try to scramble into any available residency spots in states that do not require Part III exam during the first year of residency training (such as New York or New Jersey) or just take the year off and try for another residency spot the following year. Failing the Part III exam puts a lot of stress on that incoming resident because he/she does not find out the results of the Part III exams until the end of June, which leaves he/she very little time to scramble for another spot. I had also mentioned that the incoming residents in the VA residency programs in PA do not require the incoming resident to pass Part III prior to start of the residency training. Since the VA residency programs operate under federal guidelines, the incoming residents have until end of the 1st year of residency training to take and pass Part III exam and obtain a full license prior to the start of the second year of residency training.
Lastly, a quick word about Part II exams. For those students interested in doing a residency in PA, you must take and pass the March administration of Part II exam, in order to sit for Part III exam. If he/she waits to take Part II exam in May, it will be too late for that student to qualify for the Part III exam.
