Final DO Match Day produces more than 500 primary care residents

More than 500 new osteopathic physicians participating in the final AOA Match placed into primary care residencies, with a total of 886 osteopathic medical school seniors and recent graduates receiving placements in 21 specialties, the AOA announced today.

The AOA Match has operated in its current form since 1995. It was preceded by an osteopathic intern placement system that began in the 1950s.

Primary care emphasis

Slightly more than 19 percent of graduating osteopathic medical students—of the anticipated 6876—joined approximately 296 past DO graduates to participate in this year’s AOA Match. Some 54 percent of participants matched into residency programs.

Specialty choices in today’s Match results align with the osteopathic profession’s historic emphasis on careers in primary care, with 56 percent choosing family and internal medicine. Find more Match details about specific programs here. The top five specialties by number of matches are below.

In all, 380 positions were filled in non-primary care specialties and 390 positions were not filled through the initial Match process. Historically, many of these positions are filled after the Match announcement.

Transition to a single GME accreditation program

The AOA Match is ending as the AOA and the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) wind down the fourth year of a five-year transition to a single accreditation system for graduate medical education. To date, 80 percent of all osteopathic training positions have transitioned to ACGME accreditation, with additional positions expected over the next 17 months.

DOs have historically been able to choose between multiple matches for post-graduate placement. In the single accreditation system, most DO and MD students will participate in the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP), in which participants will have the opportunity to choose residency programs that received osteopathic recognition from the ACGME Osteopathic Principles Committee.

As the transition to a single GME accreditation system continues, more AOA programs and osteopathic medical students are choosing to participate in just the NRMP match, which last year saw all-time highs in the number of osteopathic medical students and graduates who participated and successfully matched.

Further reading:

What the final AOA Match means for DO students