Internal Medicine Residency Program Continues Accreditation

The Augusta University/University of Georgia Medical Partnership Internal Medicine Residency Program in partnership with St. Mary’s Healthcare System has been accredited once again.

How does a program become accredited?

Programs with a status of continued accreditation have an annual review of data by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). This includes the ACGME resident and faculty survey reports; information on scholarly activity for residents and faculty members; resident and faculty member attrition; and transitions in program leadership. The accreditation status is then updated based on the review.

A Timeline of Accreditation

·      2013: A new program application was submitted to the ACGME

·      2013: First program site visit. The ACGME surveyors visited St. Mary’s to verify and clarify the application documents which described the resources of the program and how it would comply with the IM program requirements.

·      2014: The ACGME IM resident review committee (RRC) made the decision to grant the program initial accreditation based on the site visit and application.

·      Initial accreditation lasts three years. All ACGME programs undergo a site visit at the end of the initial accreditation period and prior to the RRC’s decision to confer the status of continued accreditation.

·      2016: The program had its second site visit to determine accreditation status. The program was granted continued accreditation.

·      2026: At the ten-year mark, the program will complete a ACGME self-study. The self-study is an objective, comprehensive evaluation of the program with the goal of improving it in advance of the ten-year accreditation site visit. All programs undergo a site visit following the self-study process.

·      2028: Site visit