Fellowship Accreditation

• Review Process

• Program Requirements

• Preparing your Application

• Timeline

• Fees

• Accreditation Organizations Contact Information

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) is a private, non-profit organization responsible for the accreditation of post-MD medical training programs within the United States. Similarly, the American Osteopathic Association accredits post-DO medical training programs. Training programs seeking accreditation will need to substantially comply with the ACGME or AOA common and specialty-specific program requirements and then complete applications for accreditation.

To view a listing of accredited hospice and palliative medicine training programs, go to the ACGME website or the AOA website.

Review Process

For hospice and palliative medicine, the work of reviewing specific programs and making accreditation decisions will be carried out by the Family Medicine Review Committee (RC) of the ACGME. Applications judged to be in substantial compliance with the requirements will have July 1 as the effective date of accreditation. Applications judged to be non-compliant with the requirements will have the opportunity to respond to the RC's concerns/citations.  

Program Requirements

All program directors will need to become familiar with the following key documents available on the ACGME and AOA Websites in order to apply for accreditation and complete the application:

ACGME

• Program Requirements (Institutional and Common requirements that apply to all specialties and subspecialties)
• Subspecialty Program Requirements (Specific requirements for HPM programs)
• Companion Document (Core competencies for HPM fellowship training)
• HPM FAQ's (Clarification of common questions within the Program Information Form)

AOA

AOA Postdoctoral Training Resources

Preparing your ACGME Application

ACGME has posted the Program Information Form (PIF), or application, on their website. To view the application, click here.

Additional postings on the ACGME Website intended to assist program directors in applying for accreditation include: a Hospice and Palliative Medicine FAQ and "How to Apply for Accreditation in 7 Easy Steps".

Hospice programs will be considered for accreditation only if the sponsoring institution also sponsors an ACGME-accredited program in at least one of the following specialties: Anesthesia, Emergency Medicine, Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Neurology, Psychiatry, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pediatrics, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Radiation Oncology or Surgery.

All applications for a new program must be initiated by the Sponsoring Institution Designated Institutional Official (DIO) using the Accreditation Data System (ADS) found on the ACGME home page.

Members-only resource: Several presentation from previous Fellowship Program Summits are available in the members-only section of the AAHPM Web site to assist you with preparing your PIF and strengthening your program. Remember you'll need to login to the members-only section to access these helpful resources.

Timeline

ACGME has posted application deadlines on their Web site under "Updates from the RRC". PIFs will be due 3 months prior to the Family Medicine RRC scheduled meetings.

Fees

ACGME and AOA assess a one-time fee for a new program application. In addition, there is an annual accreditation fee on a per program basis. To view these fees visit ACGME.org or AOA.org.

Contact Information

Visit the ACGME Web site at http://www.acgme.org/ or the AOA Website to learn more. Visit the ACGME Family Medicine RC Web page and select "Find Staff Contacts by Subject" to answer your specific questions.