Navy Conference are back

[Perrotfish]

Just thought I would mention it: we just got an email that we are now back to the old policy on conferences. They can be approved at the local level, no BUMED involvement at all. I will be requesting my first military conference in a week and will see if it really is that easy.

If they really do stick to this policy then with any luck I will be able to finish my FAWM while still active duty.

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[Ziehl-Neelsen]

My civilian fellowship program director was incredulous when, on the way to a conference, I informed him that it was the first conference I had attended in 10 years as a physician.

 

[Homunculus]

i'll believe it when i see it. this is tdy? like they pay for the conference and lodging and stuff? i feel like this is some kind of trap, lol

--your friendly neighborhood admiral ackbar caveman

 

[Perrotfish]

i'll believe it when i see it. this is tdy? like they pay for the conference and lodging and stuff? i feel like this is some kind of trap, lol

--your friendly neighborhood admiral ackbar caveman

I am told that the departments have actually had a reasonable budget for conferences for awhile. We just haven't been able to spend it because BUMED would never approve the conference itself unless it was like 3 days before, which was too late to get the paperwork through.

 

[backrow]

I am told that the departments have actually had a reasonable budget for conferences for awhile. We just haven't been able to spend it because BUMED would never approve the conference itself unless it was like 3 days before, which was too late to get the paperwork through.

BUMED approved every conference I applied for except for the very first year the requirements were put in place. What happened more often was the request wasn't made 90 days in advance and therefore wasn't accepted. In all reality travel has been available, those who didn't go over the last few years either didn't know how/or were overwhelmed with the paperwork requirements to get approval. The approval process worked, it was just extremely onerous and you never got approval more than a week in advance and sometimes approval would come the day before travel was to start. The approval process started with the specialty leader, so if they didn't want to do the work then many times you were out of luck. I've definitely seen folks travel to AAP in the last few years.


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[backrow]

i'll believe it when i see it. this is tdy? like they pay for the conference and lodging and stuff? i feel like this is some kind of trap, lol

--your friendly neighborhood admiral ackbar caveman

Army and Air Force changes their policies for the better last year. The Navy has finally caught up!


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[Perrotfish]

BUMED approved every conference I applied for except for the very first year the requirements were put in place. What happened more often was the request wasn't made 90 days in advance and therefore wasn't accepted. In all reality travel has been available, those who didn't go over the last few years either didn't know how/or were overwhelmed with the paperwork requirements to get approval. The approval process worked, it was just extremely onerous and you never got approval more than a week in advance and sometimes approval would come the day before travel was to start. The approval process started with the specialty leader, so if they didn't want to do the work then many times you were out of luck. I've definitely seen folks travel to AAP in the last few years.


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I don't understand how you got the conference paid for. All of my commands wouldn't begin the process to approve TAD until BUMED said yes. The physicians who applied from BUMED approval would get approved no more than a couple of days before the conference, at which time it was too late to get the approval through the local TAD process. Was your command approving the TAD in advance of BUMED approval? What if it didn't come through, were you just on the hook for the costs?

 

[backrow]

I don't understand how you got the conference paid for. All of my commands wouldn't begin the process to approve TAD until BUMED said yes. The physicians who applied from BUMED approval would get approved no more than a couple of days before the conference, at which time it was too late to get the approval through the local TAD process. Was your command approving the TAD in advance of BUMED approval? What if it didn't come through, were you just on the hook for the costs?

You are correct that they would not process the TAD request until the approval came; however, that process can take as little as a few hours. Usually what would happen is the Specialty Leader would let us know that the conference was on track to be approved and we would give our Dept Head, Director/Asst Director, and the travel office a heads up. As soon as the approval was given it was a mad rush to get the stuff signed off which usually required hand carrying the forms and taking proactive steps to ensure it was signed off without delay. We did this for one conference the day before the conference.

If it didn't get approved then I wasn't on the hook because I wouldn't put anything on my own card or make any non-refundable reservations. Many of the conferences were very understanding of our predicament and would allow us to register the day of and sometimes even give the early bird reduced rate. Flights were booked through DTS. Hotels were either booked last minute or booked with the ability to cancel up to the day before.

Yes, it was onerous and nerve wracking at times, but it was definitely possible. I also paid for a few conferences out of my own pocket over the last few years when the approval process fell through for whatever reason (but never due to a rejection.....usually due to late submission)


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[dr zaius]

i'll believe it when i see it. this is tdy? like they pay for the conference and lodging and stuff? i feel like this is some kind of trap, lol

--your friendly neighborhood admiral ackbar caveman

Each day at a paid for conference incurs an additional 4 year ADSO.

 

[deuist]

When the Air Force reversed its conference policy last year, I immediately signed up for ACEP and got the whole trip paid for. I am the only person in my office who has gone to a conference in four years.

 

[Mace1370]

Is this Navy only or does it apply to Army too?

 

[backrow]

Is this Navy only or does it apply to Army too?

The Air Force changed (i.e. eased) their rules about a year ago. I thought the Army did at about the same time as well. The Navy just changed theirs. They are all now pretty similar for the vast majority of medical conferences.


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[Mace1370]

The Air Force changed (i.e. eased) their rules about a year ago. I thought the Army did at about the same time as well. The Navy just changed theirs. They are all now pretty similar for the vast majority of medical conferences.


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Interesting. Maybe I'm having a hard time going to conferences because I'm a resident? I had several posters accepted to various conferences and all were rejected for funding because they said that residents only get 1 funded conference per residency.

Has there been any guidance on how many funded conferences attendings get per year?

 

[Perrotfish]

Interesting. Maybe I'm having a hard time going to conferences because I'm a resident? I had several posters accepted to various conferences and all were rejected for funding because they said that residents only get 1 funded conference per residency.

Has there been any guidance on how many funded conferences attendings get per year?

Funding and approval are separate issues. Our directorate has a hard cap on conference funding that is not enough for one conference per physician per year even if they're all within driving distance, and that hasn't changed. What has changed is the process for getting the conferences approved. Previously the process to get the conferences approved so that directorates could spend that limited budget was so onerous that nobody actually spent anything. In the Navy the process got a lot simpler, so I imagine they are not going to need to actually start making tough decisions about how to spend that budget.

 

[jabreal00]

While I was in (I got out summer 2016) only those presenting got funded to go on conferences. I still went to one a year. It was on my own dime and I tried to do the local or regional ones. My payback years after fellowship was the height of sequestration and government shut downs, not to mention that GAO conference scandal. Nothing was getting approved, especially at the MTF I was at with no residency programs.