Are you trying to become board eligible/qualified to take AP or CP or both? I would make sure you have a clear idea what kind of rotations are required for your supplemental year e.g. 6 mo. AP + 6 mo. CP, 12 mo. AP only, etc. A fellowship is acceptable training, but it'll be all or nothing e.g. if you did a surg path fellowship, you won't get any CP training which may be required to sit for CP boards. On the other hand, for example, if you're only planning on taking CP boards only, you could apply for a formal fellowship in let's say BB/TM to meet the training requirements. However, if you want to be eligible for both AP & CP, I'm not sure if BB/TM would qualify you to sit for both AP & CP exams. If that's the case, it would mean you'd need an individually tailored 1 yr program combining AP+CP which would obviate applying for a formal fellowship. I'm not sure about this, so check with ABP. Also, double check if the training has to be ACGME accredited or not e.g. if you wanted to take AP boards only and applied for a formal surg path fellowship, most are not ACGME accredited and that may or may not be criteria you would have to meet.
As far as application procedure, I'm positive you wouldn't go thru the match because you're not applying for a traditional residency: you already completed it. Plus, you were already allotted your GME funding for those years. I don't even think you could go thru ERAS if you tried; as ERAS is for 4 yr AP/CP or 3 yr AP or 3 yr CP only applications.
The best place to start would be contacting your former program. If your same PD is there, I'm sure they'll understand and work something out to help you. If you've moved to a different location from where you did residency, then try contacting programs in your area, but they might be less sympathetic to your situation than where you originally trained. Worst case scenario, if programs in your area won't offer you a 1 yr spot, hopefully your original residency program does and you may have to move back there for the year. Do not wait for scramble, SOAP, or whatever the hell they call it now. You're not applying for residency. You are in a unique situation and if you're trying to become board eligible again, you need to start making plans now so the potential program can figure out how to accommodate you for 1 yr whether it's a formal fellowship or individually tailored year of training.
There are a few times when I was in training I recall people doing similar 1 yr stints. The first was a former graduate from our program who went into forensics and never passed boards. He came back [to our program] and did something similar to what you're referring to i.e. supplemental training, and our PD signed off on the form/application to the ABP verifying his training, so he met the necessary requirements. The other person was from where I did fellowship (different than my residency program) and was an IMG who did 4 years AP/CP there, never took boards, and went back to their country. Then, they came back 5+ years later and were board ineligible, so they did a fellowship at their former residency program and got approved and took boards. This is not common, but not unheard of either. Call and make some contacts asap. Best of luck and if you're on the West coast now you can take boards in Tucson!
