Accreditation & Innovation

CI Theme 2: Use accreditation to stimulate and reinforce program and institutional innovation

To increase relevance and utility in promoting innovation in the learning environment, the accreditation standards and the accreditation approach need to incorporate information gleaned from the study of innovation and excellence in the learning environment.

CI Recommendation: Develop a set of ACGME-supported accreditation pilots to assist the Review Committees in advancing innovation in the learning environment and meeting the ACGME’s strategic priorities. RCs may select from among the options those pilots that best allow them to meet their specific goals.

• Accreditation innovations to be tested through pilots will include refinements to selected duty hour standards and validation of tools for the six general competencies. Additional future pilots could be directed at broadening the use of learning portfolios, simulation and rehearsal and other innovative approaches. Particular focus will be on pilots that meet the strategic priorities of fostering innovation and improvement in the learning environment and those that increase the accreditation emphasize on educational outcomes.
• Accreditation incentives under these pilots could include shortened program information forms, extended review cycles and delays of accreditation site visit until the conclusion of the pilot. The pilots could also be used to create temporary exemptions from certain standards in a collaborative initiative between the RC and programs, similar to the Internal Medicine RC’s Educational Innovation Project.
• An important attribute of the pilots will be tools and approaches to evaluate their effectiveness, with the aim of facilitating validation of the approaches and reduce burden in accreditation for the RCs, programs and sponsoring institutions. Pilots will be implemented for a period of 24 months, to allow collection of data on the impact on patient care, learning and other relevant outcomes.

At their meetings in fall and winter of 2007/08, the review committees are discussing the CI duty hour and competency pilots and selecting the pilots they will offer to programs. A final list of CI pilots will be shared here once the review committees have made their selections.