Feb 23, 2021 • By Cindy Daugherty

Today was the first day of the ACGME conference in the new virtual format. ACGME clearly put a lot of thought into providing attendees with the best experience and solid content.

I attended the pre-conference session “DIO101 Basics of Institutional Accreditation”. This session is highly recommended for any individual that wants to understand the breadth of what a DIO (Designated Institutional Official) is responsible for to achieve ACGME accreditation for his/her sponsoring institution.

The DIO’s leadership, in partnership with the GMEC and his/her GME organization, create the mission and foundation to support the necessary ACGME institutional requirements to ensure they are providing a quality and safe, clinical learning environment for their residents and fellows.

To ensure a quality of the educational program and environment the DIO and supporting governing body work maintain a commitment to the institution to provide financial, administrative, educational and clinical support for program accreditation.

Institutional requirements for maintaining institutional accreditation include oversight comprised of: GMEC reviews, minutes; and detailed processes related to management of the sponsoring institution and programs and management of citations and improvements resulting from Institutional Self Studies, AIR (Annual Institutional Reviews), Annual Program Evaluations, CLER Reviews; 3 and 10 Year self study and accreditation site visits. All data is tracked via the ADS system which consolidates everything from the org chart, GMEC Roster, GMEC Minutes, Special Review Reports and AIR Summaries.

The webinar provided valuable resource information to support the various levels of evaluations to maintain accredited programs in good standing