ACGME Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education

The Next Accreditation System

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education is a private, non-profit council that evaluates and accredits more than 9,000 residency programs in 135 specialties and subspecialties in the United States, affecting more than 116,000 residents. Its mission is to improve health care in the U.S. by assessing and advancing the quality of graduate medical education for physicians in training through accreditation.

This website shares background and detail regarding the ACGME's next accreditation system, an outcomes-based accreditation process through which the doctors of tomorrow will be measured for their competency in performing the essential tasks necessary for clinical practice in the 21st century.

Recent News

  • openReview and Comment – Phase 1

    In preparation for the Next Accreditation System (NAS), the Common Program Requirements have been categorized as: Read more >>

  • openClinical Learning Environment Review (C.L.E.R.) program

    As part of the ACGME’s evolution towards the next accreditation system (NAS), I recently joined the staff as the first Senior Vice President, Institutional Accreditation. In this role I will oversee the work of the Institutional Review Committee (IRC), as well as the soon-to-be-implemented Clinical Learning Environment Review (C.L.E.R.) program. Read more >>

  • openCategorization of Common Program Requirements

    The phased implementation of the ACGME’s Next Accreditation System (NAS) will begin in July 2013 for seven accredited specialties (emergency medicine, internal medicine, neurological surgery, orthopaedic surgery, pediatrics, diagnostic radiology, and urology) and related subspecialties. Read more >>

  • openAnnouncement From ACGME CEO Dr. Thomas J. Nasca, February 22, 2012

    I am pleased to tell you that today, the ACGME announced the rollout of the Next Accreditation System (NAS) in the online issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The NAS is a significant evolution of the existing accreditation system, and the culmination of the work of many in the field that began with ACGME’s Outcome Project in 1998. Read more >>

  • openThe New England Journal of Medicine Special Report

    In 1999, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) introduced the six domains of clinical competency to the profession and in 2009, it began a multiyear process of restructuring its accreditation system to be based on educational outcomes in these competencies. Read more >>

  • openACGME Press Release, February 22, 2012

    The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) today announced major changes in how the nation’s medical residency programs will be accredited in the years ahead, putting in place an outcomes-based evaluation system where the doctors of tomorrow will be measured for their competency in performing the essential tasks necessary for clinical practice in the 21 st century.
    Read Press Release >>