For more than 30 years, we have helped academic medical centers, medical and professional schools, and Graduate Medical Education (GME) programs attain and maintain institutional and program accreditation. Our attorneys provide general advice on the accreditation process and institutional and program structure, as well as in-depth analysis of particular programs or concerns. We have represented or advised hundreds of institutions and training programs across the country. Our experience and services include:
- Strategic planning
- Drafting or reviewing program information forms and institutional review documents
- Reorganization of program elements to conform to current and proposed standards
- Site visit preparation
- Drafting or reviewing GME policies, resident contracts, and affiliation agreements
- Analysis of new programs’ feasibility and design
- Duty hour compliance (ACGME and state law)
- Review of citations and advice on appropriate course of action, including administrative and legal remedies
- Challenging adverse accreditation decisions through ACGME, CPME, AOA, ADA, ABOG, CEPH, and other accrediting bodies’ reconsideration and appeal processes
- GME compliance audits
- Objective assessment of the relative academic strength of a sponsoring institution’s GME programs using hundreds of specific criteria that can be tailored to the institution to assist fiscal and strategic planning decisions
- Resident counseling, discipline, and grievances
- Changes in resident complement
- Downsizing, closure, and merging of programs
- Analysis of GME Health Reform initiatives for programs, specialties, and institutions
- Litigation pertaining to GME
- Assistance with special or unique medico-legal or accreditation problems
Accreditation seminars
Members of our group conduct residency training program accreditation seminars across the country, focusing on various accreditation themes, including:
- The problem resident
- Understanding the ACGME institutional and program requirements
- Procedural nuances of the accreditation process
- Recent judicial decisions involving ACGME accreditation
- Computer-assisted accreditation review (CARR)
- New appeal rules
- Most frequently cited deficiencies and how to avoid them
- Planning for accreditation
- Application and survey preparation
- Challenging adverse RRC actions and determinations
More than 1,000 program directors, faculty, and administrators, including representatives from most American medical schools and prestigious centers for graduate medical education, have attended these seminars. Our attorneys have also developed and conducted seminars to educate residents about the accreditation process.
As a service to clients and others in the GME arena, we founded Accreditation Alert ®, the first periodical dedicated exclusively to analyzing accreditation developments and trends in GME training programs. Our successful representation of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in its appeal of the ACGME’s summary withdrawal of accreditation of the Osler Medical Residency received worldwide attention and led to Richard F. Minicucci’s presentation at Oxford University of his paper, “Accreditation Politics in Graduate Medical Education: Rescuing the Accreditation of the Johns Hopkins Osler Medical Residency.”
Other publications include:
“Judicial and Legislative Influences on Resident Duty Hour Requirements and Their Impact on Education, Patient Safety and Resident Safety,” Abstract Book, 2004 ACGME Annual Education Conference.
“Trouble in Academia: 10 Years of Litigation in Medical Education,” Academic Medicine, Vol. 78, No.10/October Supplement (2003).
“Lessons in Professionalism from the Court Room: A Survey of Recent Court Cases Brought by Residents,” Abstract Book, 2003 ACGME Educational Conference.
“Anatomy of a Resident Agreement,” ACGME Abstract Book, Mastering the Accreditation Process Workshop, 1999.
International Medical Education & Accreditation Advisors (IMEAA)
The establishment of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education International (ACGME-I) revolutionizes the global graduate medical education landscape. Nixon Peabody’s international reputation and decades of experience successfully handling hundreds of domestic ACGME matters sets the firm apart as the leading consultants and advisors in this developing arena.
Interdisciplinary team
Nixon Peabody’s International Medical Education & Accreditation Advisors (IMEAA) team brings together the knowledge and skills of lawyers from multiple practice areas, including the Health Services and Higher Education practice groups. Additionally, the IMEAA team benefits from the collaborative experience of attorneys in other practice groups around the world, including: labor and employment, corporate, litigation, white collar, tax, real estate, intellectual property, reimbursement, and financing matters. This interdisciplinary capability is an important tool for clients attempting to navigate the complexities of establishing ACGME-accredited residency training programs outside of the United States.