Articles

The Internal Medicine residency program at Baptist Memorial Hospital-North Mississippi recently earned Continued Accreditation from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. This designation marks the successful culmination of the initial period of establishment for the three-year training program, which was the first medical residency in Oxford, MS. 

Most notably, the review committee awarded the program Continued Accreditation status without any citations, commending the organization in a notification letter, “...for its demonstrated substantial compliance with the Program Requirements.” 

"I'm proud of our entire community for their efforts to make this the best community-based Internal Medicine Residency Program," said Program Director Dr. Seger Morris. "Achieving ACGME Continued Accreditation with zero citations provides an important external validation of our commitment and success."

After a rigorous development process, the application for the program’s accreditation was submitted in May 2020. The ACGME conducted a site visit in September 2020, after which the the council granted Initial Accreditation to the program in early 2021 with an approved complement of 36 trainees. The first class of resident physicians was recruited to Oxford, MS, during this period, and began their training in July 2021. Over the following years, two additional classes of 12 first-year resident physicians each joined the program, bringing it to full complement in the summer of 2023. 

Protocol requires that a follow-up site visit be completed between two and three years after a program’s application for Initial Accreditation. This review occurred in March 2023 and included interviews with the ACGME field representative and members of program leadership, faculty, and resident physicians to survey the group regarding compliance to program and specialty standards. The ACGME Review Committee met in early September 2023 and conferred the Continued Accreditation status on the program, which confirms ongoing substantial compliance with the applicable requirements. 

Barring any unforeseen issues, the next full site visit that the program will be required to undergo will be after 10 years, in 2033. This will be preceded by a comprehensive self-study process.