New standards protect residents during single GME accreditation transition

The AOA Board of Trustees last month approved several key postdoctoral standards to protect residents during the transition to the single GME accreditation system.

According to the new standards, AOA programs that do not apply for ACGME accreditation cannot accept new trainees after July 1 of the year in which the resident can complete their training by June 30, 2020. This means that AOA-accredited residency programs that have not entered into the ACGME accreditation process cannot accept a resident if the resident’s expected training completion date is after June 30, 2020, when the AOA will cease its accreditation functions.

The purpose of the standard is to protect the resident by giving some assurance they would complete their training in an accredited training program. For example, family practice programs are three years in length. Residents accepted on or before July 1, 2017, would be expected to complete their training by June 30, 2020. Residents accepted after July 1, 2017, would be expected to complete residency training after June 30, 2020.

AOA programs that do not apply for ACGME accreditation cannot accept residents if the resident’s expected training completion date exceeds June 30, 2020. If an AOA-accredited family practice training program entered into the ACGME accreditation process on or before June 30, 2017, it would be able to accept residents on July 1, 2017. If the residency program planned to not recruit residents in 2017 but planned to accept students in July 1, 2018, the program could satisfy the approved standards by entering into the ACGME accreditation process before July 1, 2018.

It is important to note that five-year and seven-year programs have not violated this policy because they accepted trainees before the policy was approved. The policy does not apply retroactively. Thus, the new standard does not apply to seven-year programs that accepted residents in 2014 or 2015, nor does it apply to five-year programs that accepted residents in 2015. However, it will apply to these programs moving forward. Five-year and seven-year programs will need to enter into the ACGME accreditation process to accept residents henceforth.

View a complete list of new transitional standards.