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What is the ACGME?
The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education is a private, non-profit organization that accredits more than 8,000 residency programs in 120 specialties and subspecialties. Formed in 1981 through a consensus need in the medical community for an independent accrediting organization for residency programs, the ACGME’s mission is to improve the quality of health care in the United States by ensuring and improving the quality of graduate medical education programs. The ACGME’s member organizations – the American Board of Medical Specialties, American Hospital Association, American Medical Association, American Association of Medical Colleges and Council of Medical Specialty Societies – nominate members to the ACGME’s Board of Directors. The board also includes two resident representatives, the chair of the Council of Review Committees, three public members and a federal government representative.
Accreditation is voluntary. However, residency programs must be ACGME-accredited to receive Medicare graduate medical education funds, and residents must complete an ACGME-accredited residency program to be eligible to take board certification exams.
Twenty-seven residency review committees (one for each of the 26 specialties and one for transitional year programs) are responsible for reviewing programs. Each residency committee comprises 6 to 18 volunteer physicians appointed by the ACGME's member organizations and the appropriate medical specialty boards and organizations. The RRCs meet two to three times a year to review programs. They are assisted in their work by more than 100 ACGME staff members.
Residency programs are visited onsite by an ACGME field staff member, on average, once every two to five years. Before a site visit, the program director fills out a program information form, or PIF, in which the program director provides information and documentation about the program. Residents also complete confidential online surveys a few weeks before the site visit. After the ACGME field representative conducts the one-day site visit, he or she writes a report on the program. The RRC makes its decision on whether to grant accreditation based on its review of the PIF and field staff report. In order to be accredited, programs must substantially comply with the ACGME’s common program requirements and the specialty-specific requirements. Programs in good standing receive full accreditation, while those with deficiencies that must be corrected are put on probationary accreditation. If a program fails to correct its deficiencies, accreditation can be withdrawn. In that case, the program must shut down. In most instances, the sponsoring institution may reapply for a new program in that specialty, but this new program must comply with all accreditation standards in that specialty.
For more information about the ACGME, visit our Web site at http://www.acgme.org.
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