On behalf of Drs. Wallace Carter and Lynne Meyer of the Review Committee for Emergency Medicine, it is NAEMSP’s pleasure to report that the EMS Program Requirements to the ACGME Committee on Requirements were accepted without comment and subsequently approved by the ACGME Board of Directors. The requirements went into effect on September 30, 2012 and are currently posted on the ACGME website.

There will be two sets of program requirements posted:  one set which is “Currently In Effect” and a second set which is “Approved But Not In Effect”.  The only difference between the two sets will be that the set effective September 30, 2012 will not have the Next Accreditation System (NAS) program requirement categorizations.  However, the second set which will be effective July 1, 2013 will have the exact same wording, but will additionally indicate core, detail or outcome program requirement categorization as required for the NAS.  FAQs will also be available.  Click here to check for materials and information. Click here to view the EMS Fellowship Program Information Form (PIF).

Be advised that the ACGME is in process of the preparation of the Program Information Forms.  In the interim,  it is suggested that all Fellowship Directors who are planning to seek ACGME accreditation review the program requirements currently in effect and begin to move forward.  The application process will require a PIF.  Subspecialty fellowship programs do not require a site visit prior to the RC decision for initial accreditation.  Programs that have been granted initial accreditation will receive a site visit approximately 2 years after receiving initial accreditation.

The timing for EMS program application reviews are as follows:  

• PIFs for new EMS programs received at the ACGME office by December 14, 2012 are anticipated to be reviewed at the February 15-17, 2013 Review Committee Meeting.  
  
• PIFs received December 15, 2012 through July 12, 2013 are anticipated to be reviewed at the September 6-7, 2013 meeting. 

Please contact Lynne Meyer, PhD, MPH, the Executive Director for the Review Committee for Emergency Medicine (312-755-5006) with any questions you may have.

This is an exciting moment for the Emergency Medicine community. The recognition of EMS as a subspecialty does much to recognize the wonderful traditions and hopefully many future advances of our colleagues who have dedicated themselves to providing world class care to our patients during the pre-hospital phase. Congratulations to all who worked so tirelessly on making this a reality.

On behalf of:

Wallace A. Carter, MD

Chair, Review Committee for Emergency Medicine

Lynne Meyer, PhD, MPH

Executive Director, Review Committee for Emergency Medicine