The Next GME Accreditation System — Rationale and Benefits

Abstract

In 1999, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) introduced the six domains of clinical competency to the profession,1 and in 2009, it began a multiyear process of restructuring its accreditation system to be based on educational outcomes in these competencies. The result of this effort is the Next Accreditation System (NAS), scheduled for phased implementation beginning in July 2013. The aims of the NAS are threefold: to enhance the ability of the peer-review system to prepare physicians for practice in the 21st century, to accelerate the ACGME's movement toward accreditation on the basis of educational outcomes, and to reduce the burden associated with the current structure and process-based approach.