Osteopathic Recognition and MD Applicants

[Dr. Doctor MD]

With the new merger I know that there are some previously AOA programs that converted but now have osteopathic recognition.

What exactly does "osteopathic recognition" mean? and more importantly are these programs likely to interview or rank MD applicants or is it a waste of time and money to apply to these programs?

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[ciestar]

Ive been wondering this myself, but when looking at some of their resident bio’s, many of these programs do have MDs in their classes

 

[libertyyne]

Apply, and see what happens . It is anyone's guess right now.
It might just mean you have to be willing to learn how to do cranial when the time arises and you may get to learn the secret osteopathic handshake.

 

[Ho0v-man]

With the new merger I know that there are some previously AOA programs that converted but now have osteopathic recognition.

What exactly does "osteopathic recognition" mean? and more importantly are these programs likely to interview or rank MD applicants or is it a waste of time and money to apply to these programs?

From what I’ve gathered, you have to learn some fundamental omm because in order to keep ORec a program has to be involved in omm research at some level so the program can retain it. Having ORec is just one more annoying thing to do so that’s why even our programs that will prefer DOs post-merger never applied for it.

Now relax. If you attend one of these programs, you’ll never actually have to do omm outside of the FM/OMM combo. But if there’s a research project about rib-raising in PACU patients (I’m just making up some random example. I have no clue if this is a thing) and you’re the anesthesia resident at such a program, you gotta know what’s happening and likely participate in the project.

Not sure how it goes at other schools, but for mine it involves a month long course that’s rather low intensity compared to our omm curriculum. So the course makes sense in the context of the above example bc you need to know enough about omm to know what’s happening to your patients.

But given the time commitment I wouldn’t bother with this nonsense unless I had to. It’s honestly a very ridiculous hurdle.

 

[Dr. Doctor MD]

To clarify, I actually don't really care what would happen with OMM once accepted or what additional stuff they would have you do during residency.

My question was more focused on whether or not these programs will interview or accept applicants from MD schools at all, as it might be an intentional move to essentially keep the program filled with DO students even after the merger.

Basically is "Osteopathic Recognition" a polite way to signal to applicants that MD students shouldn't apply there?

 

[AMEHigh]

I don't think the above information is true.
Here is a pdf with some info:

https://www.acgme.org/Portals/0/PFAssets/ProgramRequirements/801OsteopathicRecognition2018.pdf?ver=2018-02-20-154513-650

I went to what was previously a dual accredited program. So both MDs and DOs were accepted. The DOs had to fulfill certain OMM requirements. The MDs did not have to do any of this stuff. Since the whole dual accreditation thing is going away, my previous program applied for the "osteopathic recognition." Therefore, essentially nothing is going to change and the MDs still do not have to learn and do OMM. The DOs will continue to just do that portion.

If you read the pdf above it says that programs must just have at least 1 resident per year doing the OMM curriculum. Therefore, not all MDs have to do the OMM stuff. As long as the have 1 resident, which would most likely be a DO doing the OMM curriculum, it can constitute osteopathic recognition.

 

[Ho0v-man]

I don't think the above information is true.
Here is a pdf with some info:

https://www.acgme.org/Portals/0/PFAssets/ProgramRequirements/801OsteopathicRecognition2018.pdf?ver=2018-02-20-154513-650

I went to what was previously a dual accredited program. So both MDs and DOs were accepted. The DOs had to fulfill certain OMM requirements. The MDs did not have to do any of this stuff. Since the whole dual accreditation thing is going away, my previous program applied for the "osteopathic recognition." Therefore, essentially nothing is going to change and the MDs still do not have to learn and do OMM. The DOs will continue to just do that portion.

If you read the pdf above it says that programs must just have at least 1 resident per year doing the OMM curriculum. Therefore, not all MDs have to do the OMM stuff. As long as the have 1 resident, which would most likely be a DO doing the OMM curriculum, it can constitute osteopathic recognition.

Ah. I guess my site is more hardcore. I’m parroting what my PD said.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

My question was more focused on whether or not these programs will interview or accept applicants from MD schools at all, as it might be an intentional move to essentially keep the program filled with DO students even after the merger.

You’ll probably have to dig into it a little more, some of these programs have MDs but there are definitely some programs that are using it as a way to keep MDs out. OR allows programs to require applicants to have OMM experience before even applying, like our programs require 60 hours of an OMM course before you can even apply.

Keep in mind even the ones that have MDs will likely expect you to do an audition there.

 

[thumbz]

At my shop we are looking at getting osteopathic recognition and I was tasked with doing it, so here is what I can tell you. Some of this may be wrong, I haven't looked at the requirements in a while. So don't take it as gospel, but it'll give you the general trend. This is for an IM residency.

To have osteopathic recognition you need to have at least 1 DO/year in the track averaged over 3 years. They get additional lectures and training in osteopathic principles and practice, such as participating in an OMT clinic. There is no formal research requirement other than faculty are expected to lecture and be leaders in their field, which most of us in academic settings already do. If our residents do DO related scholarly activity that's gravy, but their ACGME required scholarly activity otherwise fulfills any requirements I'm aware of.

MDs are able to participate in the osteopathic track and get additional training through it. Does this mean anything? Who knows - you don't need a special certification to perform or bill for OMT that I'm aware of so I don't see why an MD couldn't practice OMT. That being said, where it would become an issue is if there is a complication because the attorneys would have a field day with it. Now if your an MD who wanted to do OMT and have formal training through your residency then you would have a much more defensible position than "I attended a 2 day CME event".

Honestly the requirements to obtain osteopathic recognition are cake compared to general ACGME accreditation when you compare them. There are site visits but not for the first couple of years while you get a curriculum established.

What are the benefits to the program? Technically you could more easily recruit DO's, especially those looking to hone their OMT skills (this is a great biller in private practice).

As an MD should you apply? Absolutely. At my shop we are still 90% MD, but we figure if we can recruit a more competitive DO applicant because we have osteopathic recognition then it may be worth it.

Edit: from above replies, it appears some programs use this to keep themselves as "DO only" but that is a program specific ideal and not something stipulated in the osteopathic recognition guidelines.

 

[AlteredScale]

OR means the program offers additional training to meet the requirements set by the osteopathic committee within the ACGME which were passed down from AOA commissions.

This does not mean that all of the residents are required to pursue additional OMT training, only a set number of residents. Essentially almost a track that you'd see just like the research track or clinician-educator track.

These are all previously recognized AOA programs. Not all previously recognized AOA programs pursued OR for one reason or another.

 

[Neopolymath]

At my shop we are looking at getting osteopathic recognition and I was tasked with doing it, so here is what I can tell you. Some of this may be wrong, I haven't looked at the requirements in a while. So don't take it as gospel, but it'll give you the general trend. This is for an IM residency.

To have osteopathic recognition you need to have at least 1 DO/year in the track averaged over 3 years. They get additional lectures and training in osteopathic principles and practice, such as participating in an OMT clinic. There is no formal research requirement other than faculty are expected to lecture and be leaders in their field, which most of us in academic settings already do. If our residents do DO related scholarly activity that's gravy, but their ACGME required scholarly activity otherwise fulfills any requirements I'm aware of.

MDs are able to participate in the osteopathic track and get additional training through it. Does this mean anything? Who knows - you don't need a special certification to perform or bill for OMT that I'm aware of so I don't see why an MD couldn't practice OMT. That being said, where it would become an issue is if there is a complication because the attorneys would have a field day with it. Now if your an MD who wanted to do OMT and have formal training through your residency then you would have a much more defensible position than "I attended a 2 day CME event".

Honestly the requirements to obtain osteopathic recognition are cake compared to general ACGME accreditation when you compare them. There are site visits but not for the first couple of years while you get a curriculum established.

What are the benefits to the program? Technically you could more easily recruit DO's, especially those looking to hone their OMT skills (this is a great biller in private practice).

As an MD should you apply? Absolutely. At my shop we are still 90% MD, but we figure if we can recruit a more competitive DO applicant because we have osteopathic recognition then it may be worth it.

Edit: from above replies, it appears some programs use this to keep themselves as "DO only" but that is a program specific ideal and not something stipulated in the osteopathic recognition guidelines.

To the bolded, this will have the exact opposite effect. Competitive students at my school including myself plan to apply to none of these programs if possible. Why would any of us want to do more osteopathic BS? Unless you are the unicorn ENT program, for example, this is a negative not a positive.

 

[Dr. Death]

Our programs use it as a way to keep MDs out. They require a month of program-specific OMM training for MDs to be considered for the rank list. Given that we are a crappy little hospital in fly-over country, there aren't many MDs clamoring to do that.

 

[Rekt]

To the bolded, this will have the exact opposite effect. Competitive students at my school including myself plan to apply to none of these programs if possible. Why would any of us want to do more osteopathic BS? Unless you are the unicorn ENT program, for example, this is a negative not a positive.

Absolutely agree. When I applied last year, any program that said osteopathic recognition, I automatically assumed it was a low tier program.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

To the bolded, this will have the exact opposite effect. Competitive students at my school including myself plan to apply to none of these programs if possible. Why would any of us want to do more osteopathic BS? Unless you are the unicorn ENT program, for example, this is a negative not a positive.

Absolutely agree. When I applied last year, any program that said osteopathic recognition, I automatically assumed it was a low tier program.

I'm already counting down the days until I can leave it all behind forever.