I am recent graduate (2012). I was not successful at getting a residency and would like to start working as a non-surgical podiatrist in PA. If I have an active license, will it be difficult or is there anything that will prevent me from joining Medicare or the commercial insurances as a provider? Is residency required to get a Medicare number, or get reimbursed by insurances?
You do not have to have a residency do obtain a license. You may have a difficult time obtaining other insurance contracts without residency or board eligibility.
I'm not sure whether your plan is to service nursing homes, work for someone or open cold. I would highly recommend you seek a preceptorship. This can act as a mini residency and in many hospitals you can obtain surgical privileges with the supervision of your employer. Of course this is case dependent and only in the 4 states where you can practice with no residency.
There is no good answer, but I would recommend aggressively seeking a preceptorship. I believe those who did preceptorships had a better chance of getting a residency the following cycle.
In my opinion, a preceptorship should pay fairly, and similar to a first year resident. But if YOU do your homework and present the possibility as a "business plan" to some practices, I would recommend that income does not become an issue. If someone bites on the idea but doesn't want to pay much.........take it.
Once again, we have had preceptors and are strongly considering it again, and that would include a respectable salary. But other docs may offer you a preceptorship with a low ball salary. Then you have to make a very important decision.
BTW, when I graduated, about 50% of my class did not obtain a residency. People were doing programs for nominal pay or no pay to help their future. There are times when money must not be the issue. This is one if those times.
