The ACGME and the residency review committee: external program review. Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.

Abstract

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) oversees the accreditation of all medical residency programs in the United States, working through 26 different residency review committees (RRCs) organized according to medical specialty. Its overarching mission is to improve the quality of health care by ensuring and continually improving the quality of graduate medical education for residents. It seeks to accomplish this by establishing standards for graduate medical education, assessing training programs continually through a process of accreditation, and promoting high-quality educational programs for trainees. Both the American Board of Radiology and Medicare recognize the ACGME as the organization that accredits residencies. Continuous ACGME accreditation is necessary in order to maintain Medicare funding of residents and fellows and to maintain their eligibility for board certification. The accreditation process is carried out separately by each of the 26 RRCs for residency programs within its specialty. Diagnostic radiology has its own RRC, which oversees the accreditation of all diagnostic radiology residency programs and ACGME-accredited subspecialty training programs and fellowships in areas of diagnostic radiology. The RRCs accredit those programs that meet or exceed the ACGME-established requirements. The RRCs determine the maximum number of residents to be admitted to each residency program. The responsibilities of RRCs also include the ongoing reassessment and reaccreditation of programs. Training programs currently eligible for accreditation through the RRC for Diagnostic Radiology include those in diagnostic radiology, vascular and interventional radiology, neuroradiology, nuclear radiology, pediatric radiology, abdominal radiology, musculoskeletal radiology, and endovascular surgical neuroradiology. Cardiothoracic radiology and breast imaging organizations have proposed accreditation of programs in their areas, but they have not yet been approved by the ACGME to start the accreditation process. The RRC is responsible for assessing and altering program requirements for the specialty it oversees. This role includes evaluation and occasional revision of the program information form (PIF), which is filled out by program directors in preparation for accreditation review. The RRC usually conducts a thorough review and revision of program requirements every 5 years. Each RRC is responsible for representing its specialty at appeals hearings when adverse actions are proposed against ACGMEaccredited programs in that specialty. The RRCs evaluate proposals for new specialties in their areas. When these new proposals are deemed meritorious, the RRC helps “shepherd” them toward accreditation. The RRCs also evaluate proposals and updates of program requirements from other specialties, and thus they influence the requirements for training programs in those other specialties. This is a particularly important function of the diagnostic radiology RRC, because the program requirements for other specialties sometimes overlap with those for diagnostic radiology training. While the ACGME has a full-time staff based in Chicago, Ill, the RRC for Diagnostic Radiology meets regularly just twice a year. Its voting members include nine Acad Radiol 2003; 10(suppl 1):S10–S15