Mass General Brigham confirms its commitment to selecting trainees based on merit – without regard to DACA status.

As we begin recruiting trainees after discontinuation of the DACA program was announced, we are reaching out to affirm our commitment to selecting trainees based on merit – without regard to DACA status – across all GME programs and with the strongest endorsement from leadership across all Mass General Brigham teaching hospitals.

Please know that if a DACA candidate accepts a position within or outside the match – but cannot matriculate or continue in a program without a work authorization – the institutions will do everything possible to help. Depending on the circumstance, this may include:

• Providing immigration-related advice to the individual (via Mass General Brigham Office for International Professionals and Students and/or legal counsel) about potential alternative approaches to obtaining a work authorization and, if they cannot come, then
• Helping the program navigate NRMP rules, where needed, in order to fill a DACA-related vacancy with another candidate
• Working with the department to address clinical coverage issues (if no other suitable candidate is available), including funding for moonlighting shifts and/or other providers at least at the level of the unused salary line – and potentially more where there is a need.

Program-specific information can be found by visiting the websites listed for the residencies and fellowships and/or by contacting the program office.

We understand that living in Boston is expensive. Our hospitals (Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, Mass Eye and Ear, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, Newton-Wellesley Hospital, and McLean Hospital) want to provide financial assistance to residents with significant financial challenges who might not otherwise be able to train here. 

We are delighted to announce the continuation of our program:

Cash stipends (in addition to standard PGY-level salary) will be provided to physicians-in-training who match to our residency programs in 2024 and meet any of the criteria below and affirm that they have significant ongoing financial need.

• Were approved for the AAMC’s “Fee Assistance Program (FAP)” as an AMCAS applicant 
• Received a "Loan for Disadvantaged Students" (LDS) in medical school. This is defined by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (please refer to the LDS section). We are aware that, unfortunately, LDS is not offered by all schools.
• Received a Pell grant

The total stipend amount of $30,000 will be distributed in 3 installments of $10,000 at the beginning of each academic year (typically in the July paycheck) for the first 3 years of the residency program. Every effort will be made to bring resources to the incoming qualifying trainees in time to assist with moving expenses, often (depending on circumstances) in May or early June.  

Stipend details

• Applies to physicians that match in 2024 to enter residency programs that are at least three years in duration, sponsored by any of the hospitals noted above and programs listed below. (See examples below illustrating eligibility.)
• After matching to one of our residency programs, eligible incoming residents will be prompted to provide documentation of at least one of the following. If you are uncertain about whether you utilized any of these programs, you are strongly encouraged to obtain the documentation now so that you will know in advance that you qualify for the stipend. 
  
  • For FAP: The AAMC's email indicating approval of their Fee Assistance Program (FAP). (We recognize this will be 4+ years old.) Applicants can obtain a copy of this documentation by emailing FAP@AAMC.org.
  • For LDS: financial aid award statements or letter(s) provided by your medical school verifying your receipt of a "loan for disadvantaged students," with the amounts received. (Most financial aid statements should include all medical school financial aid awarded.) If you did not retain a copy, you can request this from your school.
  • For Pell: Documentation can be obtained if you log into NSLDSfap.ed.gov using your FSA ID login to view and save a copy of your loan and grant history. Create a FSAID login here. 
• A statement affirming that you continue to experience need will also be provided for you to submit. 
  

Please note:

1. Stipends will be provided by the institution without involvement of individual residency programs or departments.
2. Stipends are considered taxable income.

For additional questions, please contact Jean Tammaro in the Mass General Brigham GME Office.

Examples

1. A student matches to a ≥3-year residency program sponsored by Spaulding Rehab, Mass Eye and Ear, BWH or MGH in 2024 and is due to start in June/July 2024. Upon receipt of the documentation outlined above, the first stipend is sent in spring 2024. Efforts will be made to send it in time to assist with moving expenses.
2. Two students, married to each other, were individually included in the FAP program as ERAS applicants and have now matched at MGH in Pediatrics and at Spaulding for PM&R. Both students will receive the stipend, as their marriage doesn’t negate their individual eligibility. (This would be the case even if they were in the same residency at the same participating hospital.)
3. A student matches in 2024 to MEE’s Ophthalmology residency and to BWH’s preliminary surgery track. They are eligible for the stipend through the Ophthalmology residency but can receive the first of three stipends as she begins the prelim year (in 2024).
4. A student matches to the Mass General Brigham Neurology program in 2024 to start in 2025, and will be coming to Boston for a Medicine internship at another hospital (not involved in this program) in June 2024. The student will be eligible to receive the stipend as a Neurology resident, with distributions in July of 2024, 2025, and 2026 – but not during the prelim year at a different institution.
5. A student matching in March 2024 for one year of preliminary Internal Medicine training at the MGH (prior to Anesthesia residency out of state) is not eligible because the one-year preliminary program does not meet the duration requirements of a residency of three years or longer. (Similarly, a student matched in 2024 to a preliminary surgery track at BWH or MGH, without simultaneously matching to a MGH, BWH, MEE or Spaulding residency program, is not eligible for the stipend.)
6. An individual matches to the BWH Pathology program after initially beginning residency in another specialty at another institution. They can utilize the stipend since they have matched to an eligible residency program and received a Pell grant in college; the prior training does not disqualify them.
7. A student who received a Loan for Disadvantaged Students in medical school, has since married a financially successful hedge fund manager. As an incoming intern they determine that they cannot attest to ongoing financial need and thus does not utilize the stipend.

Residency programs

Below is a list of participating residency programs whose names are listed as they are in the national matching program listing:

Anesthesiology

• BWH Anesthesiology Residency Program
• MGH Anesthesia Residency Program

Dermatology

• Mass General Brigham Harvard Combined Dermatology Residency Training Program
• Mass General Brigham Harvard Combined Medicine-Dermatology Residency Training Program

Emergency Medicine

• Mass General Brigham Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency Program

Internal Medicine

• BWH Internal Medicine Residency Program
• MGH Internal Medicine Residency Program

NWH Transitional Year Program

Medicine-Pediatrics

• Harvard BWH/BCH Internal Medicine-Pediatrics Residency Program
• Harvard/MGH Medicine-Pediatrics Residency Program

Neurology

• Mass General Brigham Harvard Neurology Residency Program
• MGH Child Neurology Residency Program

Neurosurgery

• MGH Neurosurgery Resident Training Program
• BWH/BCH/HMS Neurosurgery Residency Training Program

OB/GYN

• Mass General Brigham Integrated Residency Program in Obstetrics & Gynecology

Ophthalmology

• Harvard Ophthalmology Residency Training Program

Oral Maxillofacial Surgery

• MGH Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Residency Program

Orthopedics

• Mass General Brigham Harvard Combined Orthopaedic Residency Program

Otolaryngology

• HMS Residency Program in Otolaryngology

Pathology

• Mass General Brigham Pathology Residency

Pediatrics

• Mass General Hospital for Children Pediatric Residency Program

Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

• HMS Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) Residency

Plastic Surgery

• Mass General Brigham Harvard Plastic Surgery Residency Program (Integrated)

Psychiatry

• BWH/HMS Psychiatry Residency Training Program
• MGH/McLean Adult Psychiatry Residency Program

Radiation Oncology

• Mass General Brigham Harvard Radiation Oncology Program

Radiology

• BWH Diagnostic Radiology Residency 
• BWH Integrated Interventional Radiology Residency
• MGH Diagnostic Radiology Residency Program
• MGH Integrated Interventional Radiology Residency

Surgery

• BWH General Surgery Residency Program
• BWH Thoracic Surgery I-6 Residency Program
• MGH General Surgery Residency Program
• MGH Integrated Vascular Surgery Residency Program

Urology

• BWH Urology Residency Program
• Harvard Urologic Surgery Residency Program

Some fellowships receive industry support to help offset the cost of the fellowship program. Under new Federal law, the Physician Payments Sunshine Act (“Sunshine”), companies are required to report any direct and indirect payments and transfers of value to physicians and teaching hospitals.

A number of clinical fellowship programs at Mass General Brigham hospitals receive industry funding to help off-set costs associated with the program. This type of funding helps the hospitals within the Mass General Brigham System to provide the highest quality training opportunities for fellows. Mass General Brigham has implemented policies to ensure that a fellow’s training experience is designed exclusively by physician educators and not inappropriately influenced by industry support. For instance, all industry support to a clinical fellowship program is vetted by the Mass General Brigham Education Review Board (“ERB”), which requires that each industry-supported program have at least two industry supporters and that the support be directed to the departmental program, not the individual trainee. For more information about these policies, please contact the Office of Interaction with Industry.

Under Federal law, the Physician Payments Sunshine Act (“Sunshine”), companies are required to report any direct and indirect payments and transfers of value to physicians and teaching hospitals. Any industry support provided to a fellowship program will likely be reported on a publicly-accessible website by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in two ways. First, the payment will be reported as a direct payment from the company to the hospital. In addition, under the “indirect payments” provision of Sunshine, we anticipate that industry will likely report these funds as indirect payments from the company to any physicians or fellows participating in the program. Our expectation is that companies may report these indirect payments divided among the total number of fellows in each program. Therefore, if you participate in a fellowship that receives or intends to receive industry support, you should anticipate that it is likely you will be reported as having received an indirect payment from the companies supporting your fellowship—even though industry payments are made to your teaching institution and not to you directly. If you are in a fellowship that intends to receive industry support, but is unable to secure such funding, you will not be reported to CMS as receiving an indirect payment from the company.

For indirect payments, companies must provide specific information to CMS, including the physician’s name and NPI number. Since the companies are required to provide this information under Sunshine, Mass General Brigham has to provide companies with the names and NPI numbers of fellows in industry-supported fellowship programs. However, before providing this information to the companies, we verify that the companies will not share or use such information for the purposes of sales and/or marketing. 

If you have any questions about the Sunshine Act and how it could affect you, please  contact the Program Director of the fellowship to which you are applying, or contact the Office for Interactions with Industry.