Everything flows...nothing stands still

I had the honor to represent the AODME this past week at the AOA’s Midyear Board of Trustees meeting.  On Friday, I delivered a brief review of issues and happenings in OGME and the AODME.  I will share them with you here, in a somewhat expanded outline form.  Over the next few months, I hope to expand on several of the topics.

I have noted the Greek philosopher Heraclitus previously.  He is the one who noted that nothing endures but change.   In the same breath, he also noted that “everything flows” and that “nothing stands still.”  This latter two points probably sum up well Graduate Medical Education in the United States and OGME in particular.

Recent flow can be highlighted in three areas:  operational/accreditation, financial and structural.

Operational/accreditation

·         The “new” AOA program standards in many specialties and new crosswalks have been in play for several months now.  Early feedback from programs, OPTIs and the November PTRC meeting were generally positive.  More change is coming in this area in the form of institutional accreditation.  This is new to AOA programs and the devil will be in the details of implementation.

·         The AOA match has come and gone.  While the match statistics are interesting (and pontification on their meaning is an annual early February topic much like Punxsutawny Phil’s shadow), “matching” for osteopathic programs is a 5 part process – AOA match, scramble, wait, NRMP match and finally another scramble.  The wait until the final process is delayed this year by SOAP – not what you wash one washes their hands with – by the Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program of the NRMP.  The structured scramble.  The uncertainty for OGME is that unmatched DO students are bound to SOAP prior to scrambling “back” to OGME programs.  The impact remains to be seen, but many osteopathic DMEs and program directors are rightfully concerned.

·         The final area of uncertainty comes from the proposed ACGME rule that would require AGCME training as a prerequisite for further ACGME training.  ** I purposefully linked to a Google search for "ACGME proposed rule" here so you can see the reaction yourself. **  blOGME has previously highlighted the details.  It seems clear that the proposed rule will have some impact on current students given anecdotal reports from the field.  The AOA and the ACGME are meeting on the topic of collaboration.  I am honored to be part of those deliberations.  If readers have not yet viewed ACGME CEO Tom Nasca’s piece in the New England Journal of Medicine on the Next Accreditation System (NAS) they should do so ASAP.

That is probably enough to keep one busy for now.  I will follow-up on the other two topics in the coming week.