The accreditation system merger is now underway. As of Jan. 1, the accreditation systems for allopathic and osteopathic graduate medical education (GME) programs are partners, driving forward the implementation of a single accreditation system for all GME programs in the country. The move is another significant milestone on the path to creating an ideal medical education continuum.
The American Osteopathic Association (AOA) and the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM) now are members of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). Eventually, the partnership will lead to a system in which graduates of allopathic and osteopathic schools will complete their residency or fellowship in ACGME-accredited programs and demonstrate achievement of common competencies. Currently, the ACGME and AOA maintain separate accreditation systems for all allopathic and osteopathic programs.
Beginning July 1, AOA-accredited programs will launch a five-year transition to ACGME accreditation. Osteopathic standards will be added to ACGME standards to define osteopathic programs, and MDs and DOs will be eligible for all residencies, meaning graduates will be able to transfer from one accredited program to another without being required to repeat education.
The organizations agreed last year to unite under a single system designed to align GME structures and foster greater accountability to the public. The move comes at a time of rapid growth in osteopathic medicine—of nearly 5,000 DO graduates seeking residencies in 2014, 45 percent entered ACGME programs, according to the AOA.
The AOA and AACOM have appointed two members from each organization to serve on the ACGME Board of Directors and two new ACGME osteopathic review committees will evaluate and set standards for osteopathic aspects of GME programs.
The shift to a single system will provide “the greatest opportunity for optimization of use of the GME resources provided by the public to the profession and maximizes opportunities for the residents of today and tomorrow,” Thomas J. Nasca, MD, CEO of the ACGME said in a letter last year.
The accreditation systems of allopathic and osteopathic medical education have largely followed separate paths, according to a report from the AMA Council on Medical Education that explores some principles for an ideal medical education continuum. The report discusses how to foster a medical education continuum, which would follow a learner from premedical education through medical school and residency training and into practice.
“In the ideal continuum, there is coordination of the processes for both the accreditation of educational programs and the assessment of learners,” the council report states. Read more at AMA Wire® about the medical education continuum and the role of the single GME accreditation system.
