GME Fast Facts 2024 - 2025

A Special Welcome to our Incoming Residents and Fellows for July and August 2024!

1. Residents and Fellows in the Statewide University of Tennessee Health Science Center Graduate Medical Education Program are considered Special Student employees.
   
   
2. As a student employee of The University of Tennessee, you will be paid by the University. Residents, Fellows, Faculty, and exempt administrative staff are all paid on a monthly basis.  Residents and Fellows in the UTHSC Statewide Graduate Medical Education Program participate in Social Security. Payday is the last working day of the month. Direct deposit is mandatory for all employees. You will need to complete an online Direct Deposit from as part of onboarding within New Innovations and then upload it to our Office of GME by mid-June.  You should have your banking established by then.   You will need to upload a voided blank check into the onboarding checklist.   You will need to select a bank or other financial institution (such as a bank or credit union) in which to deposit your checks.
   
   
3. The official start date of GME training for most of our incoming Residents and Fellows is July 1, 2024.  That will be the date that you are actually on payroll.  Surgical Fellows (Colon and Rectal Surgery, Orthopaedic Trauma, and Vascular Surgery begin training on August 1, 2024, so that is their first date on payroll.   We have required orientation sessions (some sponsored by the Sponsoring Institution, UTHSC College of Medicine - Chattanooga) and others sponsored by individual departments and programs.  You will be receiving a schedule of all required activities and dates in early May. 
   
   
4. Our DIO has set Mon, June 10, as the first day of in-person GME Orientation at our campus.  All Residents and Fellows who begin clinical duties on July 1, 2024, are required to attend this orientation session on June 10 from 9 - 11 am in the Erlanger Probasco Auditorium.  Please contact your Program Director and Program Coordinator if you cannot be present for this session and discuss with 
   
   
5. Residents and Fellows, as Special Employees, are paid on a monthly basis.  For those whose first working day is July 1, your first paycheck will be issued on the last working day of the month.  Those trainees will receive your first UT paycheck on Wednesday, July 31, 2024.  That first check will include your GME Orientation and Electronic Communication Stipend (a total of $950).  You will not receive a separate check for that payment.  The additional amount must, by law, be reported as income so it will be subject to federal income taxes.  Note:  If you are a surgical-related Fellow or someone who is delayed due to a special circumstance, your starting date on payroll would be Thursday, August 1, 2024.  Your first paycheck in this instance will be Friday, August 30, 2024.)
   
   
6. As a State of Tennessee Special employee and Resident or Fellow in our GME Programs, you actually have immunity from professional liability when you are functioning as a Resident or Fellow physician supervised by Faculty.  If you are involved in a malpractice case, the actual defendant would be the University of Tennessee and your "protection" is provided through the Tennessee State Claims Commission Act of 1985. The State is self-insured so there is not an insurance company or policy number. Coverage is similar to that of a malpractice policy, and the limits of award are $300,000 per claimant and $1,000,000 per incident.
   
   
7. The Chattanooga Office of GME and the Office of General Counsel for the main University of Tennessee Knoxville Campus must be notified if you receive a subpoena. The phone number for the Chattanooga Office of GME is 423.778.3894. The phone number for the Office of the General Counsel in Knoxville is 865.974.6583. An attorney in the UT General Counsel's Office is assigned to communicate with Chattanooga Residents and Fellows (usually Joshua Walker, UT Associate General Counsel).  His paralegal is Diana Jo Garner (865.974.6583)  She can also be reached at dgarner2@utk.edu.
   
   

8. Monogrammed white lab coats are distributed at orientation during the last week of June. Your size and the way your name should read should have been included on one of the Onboarding documents. If you are not sure of your size, you can try on a coat at a uniform shop or stop by our Office of GME in Chattanooga and try on our sample coats in all sizes.

9. The Hospital provides mail boxes for our Residents and Fellows in the main hospital Post Office; however, some programs have boxes in their departments. Please check with your department regarding procedures for mail.
   
   
10. The University of Tennessee provides health insurance to all GME trainees.  As of July 1, 2024, United Health Care is the company providing GME Residents and Fellows with health, dental, vision, and prescription insurance coverage. The agency that will administer these insurance programs for the UT Statewide GME System is Holland Insurance Agency (which has been our insurance agency for a number of years.  Holland Insurance is based just outside of Memphis and administers these plans to make it easier to communicate with the large insurance providers.  Enrollment is not automatic -- you must complete all required forms.  As part of onboarding (usually in May), you will receive information about online enrollment through the Bernie Portal. 
    
    Both the University and Erlanger require that you participate in the UT resident health insurance plan (which includes hospitalization, behavioral health, prescriptions, dental, and visions benefits) or be covered under another policy.  You are covered by health insurance the very first day you are on payroll.  The 2024-2025 health insurance monthly employee portions of premiums are listed below (effective July 1, 2024) and will be deducted from your first payroll check for the month of July:
    
    • Individual $120
    • Employee and Spouse $240
    • Employee and Children $210
    • Family $325
      
      Information about health, hospitalization, behavioral health, prescriptions, dental, vision, life, and disability insurance are provided via special online or Zoom sessions prior to each Resident's or Fellow's start date.
      
      
11. Identification badges are made by the Erlanger Employment Office. The badge denotes that you are a physician and UT Resident or Fellow. You must wear this photo ID at all times in the hospitals where you assigned.
    
    
12. Our web site is located at www.uthsc.edu/comc. Our GME and Erlanger policies are now located at https://www.uthsc.edu/comc/gme/institutional-policies.php.
    
    
13. The University of Tennessee provides individual disability insurance coverage for participants in the Statewide UTHSC College of Medicine Graduate Medical Education Program.  You will receive zoom links as part of our onboarding checklists so you can view information and select the level of benefit you desire for disability coverage ($1500 per month is the minimum you can select). Since you receive a $60 offset in your monthly paycheck, you are required to select at least the $1500 per month coverage to ensure that you will have appropriate benefits -- even if you have other coverage.
    
    
14. The University of Tennessee also provides a $100,000 life insurance benefit to all residents.  The cost is currently less than $6 per month.  Again, you must elect this coverage and complete an appropriate form designating your primary beneficiary and a secondary beneficiary if you desire.
    
    
15. Erlanger requires that every Resident and Fellow must receive a TB skin test every year. Incoming Residents and Fellows will have a TB skin test as part of the Erlanger Employee Health Screening during June before beginning duty on July 1.
    
    
16. The UT required online training modules that include HIPAA, compliance, FERPA, sexual harassment, infection prevention, and sleep and fatigue education must be completed prior to being placed on payroll.  You will complete these online sessions once you have been assigned your UT Net information, set up Duo Mobile Pass as your UT two-factor authentication, and then proceed to the training via links set up in an online portal called "Blackboard."
    
    
17. The CITI research course must be completed online prior to beginning residency or fellowship.  You will receive information and links to complete the training and receive a certificate as part of onboarding checklists before your official start date of July 1 or August 1, 2024.
    
    
18. The Statewide UTHSC GME System utilizes a web-based software to manage most aspects of your residency training and demographic information. At the UTHSC College of Medicine - Chattanooga location, the GME Office maintains your biographical data, block schedules, call schedules, evaluations about you, evaluations completed by you, and duty hours tracking via this system, known as New Innovations Residency Management Suite. Incoming Residents and Fellows are sent a login and password as well as instructions for using various modules within the system soon after Match results are announced. The login page address is www.new-innov.com/login. Some programs also utilize the system for tracking conference attendance and keeping track of scholarly activities. You will be able to log your own duty hours, complete your evaluations, view evaluations completed about you, and enter presentations, abstracts, research proposals, etc., as part of your research and scholarly activity file.