AOA-ACGME single accreditation system effects

[D0CYAN]

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I go to TouroCOM in New York and our dean just announced that the AOA and ACGME have entered into an agreement for a "single, unified accreditation system for graduate medical education" starting in 2015, the year I'm supposed to start residency. Initially I thought this was a good thing, making postgraduate fellowships and maybe even allopathic residency spots more accessible. But some people in my class are saying that the ACGME is going to use this to shut down AOA-accredited specialty residency programs like ortho and shunt an even higher percentage of DO grads into primary care.

I don't know whether to be excited or concerned. I'm excited at the prospect of doing an allopathic fellowship after a DO ortho residency, but if it's going to be even harder to land a residency spot because they shut down half the ortho programs I might have to seriously consider another path.

Does anyone have any more information or insight on this?

 

[Dissected]

I go to TouroCOM in New York and our dean just announced that the AOA and ACGME have entered into an agreement for a "single, unified accreditation system for graduate medical education" starting in 2015, the year I'm supposed to start residency. Initially I thought this was a good thing, making postgraduate fellowships and maybe even allopathic residency spots more accessible. But some people in my class are saying that the ACGME is going to use this to shut down AOA-accredited specialty residency programs like ortho and shunt an even higher percentage of DO grads into primary care.

I don't know whether to be excited or concerned. I'm excited at the prospect of doing an allopathic fellowship after a DO ortho residency, but if it's going to be even harder to land a residency spot because they shut down half the ortho programs I might have to seriously consider another path.

Does anyone have any more information or insight on this?

Nobody knows what is going to happen. However, it makes it that much more important to choose a residency carefully--one that is unlikely to be affected by being re-accredited. I know that not everyone can be choosy with ortho placements, but you have to weigh in the fact that a weaker/smaller program could potentially get put on probation or even shut down if the regulations are strict enough.

For now, work hard and kill those boards.

 

[D0CYAN]

Good point. Nice to have even more layers of uncertainty thrown into the mix. I guess the best bet at this point is to keep a close eye on how the re-accreditation is going to work and keep tabs on which programs are likely to survive.