AOA residency without ACGME accreditation, does it matter?

[FLdoc2be]

Hey, 4th year D.O. med student applying to both AOA & ACGME match....just curious about a question regarding the 2020 merger.

Is it risky for me to rank a program for the AOA match that does not have ACGME accreditation yet (it's AOA only, not dually accredited)? I have heard such programs are at risk of shutting down if they do not get accreditation by ACGME by 2020.

If I do decide to do the AOA match, should I only go for the ones that are receiving ACGME accreditation (or already have)? Or is it fine to attend a program that is AOA only.....

Would appreciate any input, thanks.

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[NotAProgDirector]

All programs are required to have ACGME accreditation by July 2020. If the program you're considering is still in the process of obtaining it, then that's a risk you'll need to consider. In general, the ACGME would like to accredit all AOA programs, and is likely to be very flexible to try to make that happen.

If you are at a program that does not have AOA accreditation after July 2020, then that program will need to apply for "special permission" to continue its AOA status. The process for doing so has not been determined. My guess is that the AOA would approve this for most/all programs, but they would not be able to bring in any new residents so the program would be on the road to closure. You would still be able to get AOA board certification, assuming that the AOA continues that process -- but you would not qualify for ABIM certification.

 

[ortnakas]

I wouldn’t rank anywhere without at least pre-accreditation at this juncture.

 

[AdmiralChz]

I can only speak from my specialty, anesthesiology, but the word is from the DO community is that credentialling can be an obstacle (as you aren’t certified by the American Board of Anesthesiology with AOA training). Whether this is a fair bias or not I won’t comment on, but it’s a concern.

This is one of the many reasons why a merger makes so much sense. You shouldn’t be worried about being allowed to work at X hospital after completing your training.

If your program doesn’t have pre-accreditation yet, what is their plan? 2020 is next year, and it would suck to be out of a place to train after only an intern year (which is AOA and might not be recognized by ACGME programs!).

 

[Shinken]

As someone who's gone through the process of ACGME accreditation, I would strongly recommend you steer away from AOA programs without any form of ACGME accreditation at this point.

Don't underestimate the amount of money, work, and time it takes to successfully go through the process. If an AOA program tells you "no problem, will get accreditation eventually...", be wary. ACGME accreditation is not something you can pull off in a couple of months. If the program hasn't started the process already, I would be very cautious.