Transitional year IM vs Preliminary IM?

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IMprospect

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I am applying this year match. Can anyone elaborate me the differences between Transitional year vs Preliminary year?

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I am applying this year match. Can anyone elaborate me the differences between Transitional year vs Preliminary year?

IM TY is basically a "make-your-own-schedule" intern year (with some limits) while IM Preliminary is a year you're treated exactly like an IM categorical. Which one you need depends on your situation. Doing Dermatology and want an extension of 4th year? Do TY. Are you struggling to match IM (failing Steps, IMG, etc.)? If so, you're better off with the prelim.
 
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Hello everyone, this is a topic that also concerns me a lot.

My question would be that: What if an applicant (IMG or USMG) completes a prelim year? How easy is it to get into a categorical PGY-1 (no mistakes I really mean PGY-1) position?
One would say pretty easier than before because he/she now has a 12-month clinical experience.
However I recently read the AAMC's Medicare payments for GME brochure ( https://members.aamc.org/eweb/upload/Medicare Payments for Graduate Medical Education 2013.pdf )
It is stated there that if you match ONLY in a prelim year, you are considered a PGY-1 for IM and your training time (3 years) starts counting down as such. That means that if next year you decide to go into an IM categorical program, Medicare will give to the hospital the whole amount of money that it should get for a resident (you) only the first 2 years and during the third only the half.

So, does anyone know if that's still the way it is? And if yes, is there any possibility that it counts as a BIG red flag during next year's MATCH?
 
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