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The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) plans to conduct a site review to determine the next progression in accreditation of the Internal Medicine program at Baptist North Mississippi on Tuesday, March 7, 2023.

New residency and fellowship programs must first undergo a site review to receive initial accreditation by the ACGME after applying to establish the program. The BMH-NM program received initial accreditation in January 2021 after undergoing a site review in the fall of 2020. This paved the way to recruit the first class of resident physicians who joined the program in June 2021.

Once a program has received initial accreditation, the ACGME schedules a follow-up review within two years to ensure compliance with requirements established by the council. After a successful inspection, a new program is awarded continued accreditation. 

"Achieving ACGME Continued Accreditation status is a foundational step in the success of our residency program because it serves as the external validation of our standard of excellence," said Program Director Seger S. Morris, DO. "Our program is innovative, mission-driven, and grounded with the growth and wellbeing of our stakeholders at heart. We look forward to this opportunity to discuss our early success, and to demonstrate our substantial compliance with ACGME Program Requirements."

The accreditation field staff representative will meet virtually with the program director and associate program directors, leadership, core and key faculty members, as well as resident physicians. The ACGME staff member will collect and aggregate data based on documents and information previously provided by the program ahead of time, as well as from the conversations and interviews held the day of the site visit. 

At the conclusion of the review day, the site visitor will submit a report to the ACGME Review Committee who will confer the accreditation status upon the program. This group meets several times each year, with September 2023 as the next meeting date when the BMH-NM program would be anticipated to be placed on the RC agenda. With this timeline, a decision would be tentatively expected that same month.