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The next step in the accreditation process is upon the Internal Medicine residency program at Baptist North Mississippi. In January 2021, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) awarded initial accreditation to establish the training program and paved the way for welcoming the first two classes of resident physicians to Oxford, MS, in 2021 and 2022. 

The ACGME sets the standards for U.S. graduate medical education programs and their sponsoring institutions and awards accreditation based on a voluntary evaluation and review process following published common and specialty-specific standards. In the 2021-2022 academic year, there were approximately 12,740 residency and fellowship programs for 182 specialties and subspecialties in the U.S. A Review Committee oversees the accreditation process and is comprised of specialty experts that provide peer evaluation of sponsoring institutions and residency and fellowship programs. 

These site visits ensure adherence with applicable institutional and program requirements. Typically, the ACGME site reviewer will spend time speaking with a broad range of program participants, including institutional officials, the program director, associate program directors, core faculty members, resident physicians, and the program coordinator, in order to garner a clear view of the training environment from multiple perspectives. 

After initial accreditation is conferred on a program, a follow-up review is required within 2 to 3 years as a final step to continued accreditation. The Internal Medicine program at Baptist North Mississippi has been notified by the ACGME that this study will be scheduled between now and March 1, 2023. In preparation for the date, a gap analysis is underway to identify any potential areas of noncompliance, and an internal review was conducted as a mock site review.

Upon the completion of a successful site review, the ACGME representative will provide a report to the ACGME Review Committee who will then make the final decision of whether to award continued accreditation status to the program. This determination is expected in the Spring of 2023.