Potential radiology residents, particularly the several hundred who did not make the last match, can turn to the U.S. Air Force for help.
To combat its critical shortage of radiologists, the USAF Medical Corp has initiated a radiology residency sponsorship program for civilian medical students and interns in exchange for a commitment of service.
In addition, residency programs, constrained by Medicare funding caps, can essentially get an "extra" resident fully funded at no cost to the institution.
"I've received firm interest from 15 residency program directors, even though the sponsorship program was just approved this week," said Dr. Gary George, a colonel and consultant in diagnostic imaging to the Air Force Surgeon-General.
The residency programs acquire an extra resident or two at no cost to them, and the potential residents, in a very competitive situation, are able to get into a program outside the National Residency Matching Program. Meanwhile, the Air Force shores up its supply of radiologists.
"Any time there's free money being given out, word travels fast," said Dr. Allen D. Elster, chair of the radiology department at Wake Forest School of Medicine.
Elster has let it be known that his department is interested in the scholarship recipients.
Out of the 140 radiologists the Air Force should have, it currently employs about 70. George hopes that by at least 2007, the numbers begin to climb back up.
Residency and fellowship sponsorships by military branches are not unusual, but two factors make this program unique, according to George. The applicant does not need to have any prior commitment to the Air Force, and he or she gets into a program outside the match.
Typically, monies are available for medical students and residents through the Health Professions Scholarship Program (HPSP) and the Financial Assistance Program (FAP), both of which require military service as payback. HPSP recipients receive money in the beginning of medical school, and FAP monies are given to residents who have already been matched.
Accepted scholarship applicants will go through an Air Force entrance-training program and then be classified as commissioned officers with the status of inactive reserve. After residency, they will become practicing physicians in the military. For every year of scholarship received, they owe the Air Force one year of service, up to a maximum of five years.
How many will remain in the military after their debt is paid is anybody's guess. Right now, the retention rate is very low, according to Dr. Mark T. Nadeau, a colonel and chief of the Air Force's physician education branch.
Low pay and the acute staffing shortage are two reasons that contribute to the poor retention rate, Nadeau said. On average, Air Force radiologists earn half of what civilian radiologists earn, and, with the shortage, they're being asked to do more.
The total number of available training positions in radiology residency is about 900 each year, far fewer than the pool of qualified applicants. This year around 300 medical students went unmatched.
The Air Force has modest ambitions for the first year of its radiology residency scholarship program. It has set aside a minimum of five positions and a maximum of 20. If the program is successful, the number of slots will increase, Nadeau said.
"This program could potentially change the landscape of radiology training," said Dr. Douglas P. Beall, a major and a musculoskeletal radiologist at Wilford Hall Medical Center in Texas.
"If unmatched medical students have the potential to be enrolled in radiology residency programs outside the match, radiology could increase its workforce by 30%. I call that significant," Beall said.
It's not likely that all 300 unmatched medical students will jump at this opportunity, but the potential is there, Beall said.
Air Force application deadline is December 1, 2001, and decisions will be made in January -- before the civilian match in March. By the time candidates match, they'll know whether they have support and assistance from the Air Force, Beall said.
-- By C.P. Kaiser
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