ACCM Fellowship Match

I wanted to provide an update on the ACCM fellowship match. The ACCM fellowship application process has been managed by SF Match for four match cycles now, and we are in the midst of our fifth. So far it has largely been viewed as successful, and most programs report seeing a larger number of applications since the match was instituted. At the time utilizing a match was agreed upon, many programs worried that they would lose applicants to the vagaries of the match who otherwise they would have been certain to recruit. To address these concerns, a “match exception” component was adopted, allowing programs to “pre-match” individuals falling into one of six categories:

1. Applicants who are in active military service at the time of application.
2. Applicants who are making a commitment to come to the institution of the CCM fellowship for more than one year.
3. Applicants who are enrolled in an anesthesiology residency outside of the USA at the time of the application.
4. Applicants who reside outside the USA at the time of application or who are not eligible for ABA certification due to non-US training.
5. Applicants whose spouse or partner is applying for a GME-approved post graduate training program in a medical specialty in the same region as the CCM fellowship.
6. Internal candidates.

This system has worked reasonably well, with the vast majority of exceptions being either internal applicants or applicants committing to two years at one institution. On occasions, however, because these requests were processed manually, exception requests were lost or misfiled. This year, for the first time, that process has become automated. Applicants and program directors each fill out a form online found on the SOCCA website, and an automated email is sent to those individuals as well as to the program directors’ chair. The agreement is then posted on the “SOCCA match exceptions page” also found on the SOCCA website. That list will then be cross-checked with the match results before they are released on May 31. Applicants and program directors alike should appreciate this more streamlined process that is less vulnerable to human error.

Learn more about ACGME Accredited ACCM Fellowship Programs.

Author

Nicholas Sadovnikoff, MD

Assistant Professor of Anesthesia

Brigham and Women's Hospital

Boston, Massachusetts