TAGME Medical Education 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A program coordinator notices that required scholarly activity reports are incomplete for several faculty members. Whose primary responsibility is it to ensure faculty scholarly activity requirements are met?
- The GMEC
- The Designated Institutional Official (DIO)
- The Program Director (Correct answer)
- The Chief Resident
Correct answer: The Program Director
The Program Director is ultimately responsible for ensuring that faculty fulfill all ACGME requirements, including participation in scholarly activity.
Question 2: What is the primary distinction between a 'core faculty' member and an 'affiliated faculty' member in an ACGME program?
- Core faculty are salaried while affiliated faculty are volunteers
- Core faculty have a significant portion of their professional effort devoted to the program, while affiliated faculty have less formal involvement (Correct answer)
- Affiliated faculty must be board-certified while core faculty do not
- Core faculty only supervise in outpatient settings
Correct answer: Core faculty have a significant portion of their professional effort devoted to the program, while affiliated faculty have less formal involvement
Core faculty are those with a substantial and defined commitment to the program's educational mission, whereas affiliated faculty participate in a more limited or adjunct capacity.
Question 3: Which of the following scenarios requires mandatory reporting to the ACGME by a Designated Institutional Official (DIO)?
- A resident fails a rotation and requires remediation
- A resident is dismissed or resigns from a program (Correct answer)
- A faculty member takes a leave of absence
- A program adds an optional elective rotation
Correct answer: A resident is dismissed or resigns from a program
The DIO must report resident or fellow attrition events, including dismissals, resignations, or other departures, to the ACGME through the Accreditation Data System.
Question 4: Under ACGME well-being requirements, which of the following must programs provide to residents?
- Free gym memberships
- Access to confidential mental health services without fear of jeopardizing training status (Correct answer)
- Mandatory weekly counseling sessions
- Paid vacation of at least four weeks annually
Correct answer: Access to confidential mental health services without fear of jeopardizing training status
ACGME requires that residents have access to confidential, readily available mental health services, and programs must ensure that seeking such services does not jeopardize their training.
Question 5: What is 'entrustable professional activity' (EPA) as used in competency-based GME?
- A research publication requirement for graduation
- A specific clinical task that can be entrusted to a trainee without supervision once sufficient competency is demonstrated (Correct answer)
- An annual performance review conducted by the program director
- A required procedure log tracking case volumes
Correct answer: A specific clinical task that can be entrusted to a trainee without supervision once sufficient competency is demonstrated
EPAs are defined units of professional practice—tasks or responsibilities—that can be entrusted to a trainee to perform unsupervised when they have demonstrated the required competencies.
Question 6: A program receives an 'ACGME Continued Accreditation with Warning' status. What does this signify?
- The program has been placed on probation and will close within one year
- The program has areas of non-compliance that must be corrected but is not yet at risk of losing accreditation (Correct answer)
- The program has passed its site visit with commendation
- The program is newly accredited with provisional status
Correct answer: The program has areas of non-compliance that must be corrected but is not yet at risk of losing accreditation
A Warning indicates the program has identified areas of non-compliance and must address them; it is a formal notice but does not indicate imminent loss of accreditation.
Question 7: Which federal legislation primarily governs the funding of graduate medical education through Medicare payments to teaching hospitals?
- The Affordable Care Act (ACA)
- The Balanced Budget Act (BBA) of 1997
- The Social Security Amendments of 1965 (Correct answer)
- The Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA)
Correct answer: The Social Security Amendments of 1965
The Social Security Amendments of 1965 established Medicare and Medicaid and included provisions for Direct Medical Education (DME) and Indirect Medical Education (IME) payments to teaching hospitals.
TAGME Medical Education 5
A program coordinator notices that required scholarly activity reports are incomplete for several faculty members.
Whose primary responsibility is it to ensure faculty scholarly activity requirements are met?