A Practical Guide to the ACGME Self-Study.

O n July 1, 2014, the second group of programs accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) entered the Next Accreditation System (NAS), and all programs are now functioning under the principles of NAS, which include continuous accreditation via annual reviews of data, lengthening the interval between scheduled accreditation visits, and a focus on educational outcomes. The aims are to reduce the burden of accreditation, contribute to ongoing program improvement, and allow high-performing programs to innovate. The focus on improvement calls for a new approach to self-assessment, and the model is a Self-Study undertaken by the program, producing a record of improvements and areas still being worked on, followed by Self-Study Visit (SSV). The SSV has 2 objectives: assess the program’s current status and compliance with the relevant requirements, and review the record of improvements made since the last scheduled accreditation review. This practical guide to the ACGME Self-Study and the SSV is based on the deliberations of ACGME senior staff who designed elements of the NAS, and on test visits to nearly 40 accredited programs to pilot the new elements of the Self-Study and associated site visit. These visits explored the utility and value of the new dimensions of the Self-Study: use of longitudinal data from the Annual Program Evaluation to record programs’ ongoing improvements and a new focus on program aims, and opportunities and threats. The guidance is organized around 8 steps for conducting a SelfStudy, shown in B O X 1 .