Data Enhancements

The ACGME has developed processes addressing ACGME-accredited programs that seek to create “rural tracks” as defined in rules and regulations of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in 42 CFR §413.79(k). An ACGME Rural Track Program (RTP) is an ACGME-accredited program in which all or some residents/fellows gain both urban and rural experience with more than half of the education and training for the applicable resident(s)/fellow(s) taking place in a rural area (any area outside of an urban Core-Based Statistical Area (CBSA)). Learn More.

The ACGME’s Rural Data Enhancement (RDE) project facilitates more reliable identification of programs that educate residents/fellows in rural and underserved areas and enables the measurement of GME presence in these areas. The RDE project aims to enhance the accessibility, accuracy, and reliability of ACGME location data in alignment with several ACGME strategic objectives:

• RDE Objective 1: Updated Taxonomy and Participating Sites Instructions
  • The first part of the RDE project reclassified Sponsoring Institutions and participating sites to more comprehensive and mutually exclusive categories, for which a data dictionary of the new taxonomy and a data dictionary of the updated ownership/control type categories were created to provide definitions to increase consistency and accuracy of data. The participating site instructions were updated to provide more guidance and increase accuracy of GME location data. FAQs are also available. The reclassification provides ownership of participating sites by the Sponsoring Institution with the largest number of programs at a site. This also encourages greater accuracy in reporting where residents are training by removing health system, consortia, and non-medical school educational foundation/organization from participating site options.
  • Data Dictionary for Sponsoring Institution and Participating Site Types
  • Data Dictionary for Sponsoring Institution and Participating Site Ownership/Control Types
  • FAQs for Taxonomy of Sponsoring Institutions and Participating Sites
  • Participating Site Data Collection Tool for Sponsoring Institutions
  • Walkthrough for Update Taxonomy of Sponsoring Institutions and Participating Sites
  • Sponsoring Institutions: Participating Site List “Not in Use” and “Star” Indicators
  • Participating Site Changes
• RDE Objective 2: Enhanced Accessibility of Participating Site Data
• An advanced participating site search is now available in ACGME Cloud | Analytics. This allows ACGME stakeholders to identify participating sites by academic year, specialty, city, state, and participating site type, with drill-downs to see specific programs and Sponsoring Institutions using each site. The data is exportable to Microsoft Excel. Future enhancements will include the rotation months per year at each site by program and the ability to search by county.
  • ACGME Cloud Analytics – Explore Participating Sites Data
• RDE Objective 3: Geographic Attribution of Participating Sites
  • A current RDE priority is to match participating site addresses to publicly available datasets with different geographic characteristics and allow stakeholders to identify participating sites that meet various rural classifications, are in health professional shortage areas, and have certain vulnerability indices. This will allow the ACGME to measure the growing presence of GME in rural and underserved areas over time and provide enhanced public data for research, funding eligibility, policymaking, recruitment, networking, and more.
• RDE Objective 4: Integration of External Federal Datasets
  • This will tag participating sites as meeting federal classifications, such as Federally Qualified Health Centers, Teaching Health Centers, Indian Health Service sites, Tribal sites, Urban Indian sites, Critical Access Hospitals, Rural Health Clinics, etc. Public reports will identify GME experiences in sites that meet these federal classifications.
• RDE Objective 5: Rural and Underserved Pathways and Focus Areas
  • An infrastructure for program directors to identify various rural and underserved pathways for some residents/fellows within their program or focus areas as part of the overall program curriculum will identify programs that have these experiences in public reports.
• RDE Objective 6: Tracking Graduate Outcome Data
  • This will enable the ACGME and its stakeholders to study the impact GME experiences have on post-residency practice location. Additional data enhancements to better identify the duration of GME experiences are being considered.