General Policies & Procedures: Verification of Training and Summary for Credentialing, Graduate Medical Education in the Medical School at the University of Minnesota

 University of Minnesota Medical School (UMMS)
Graduate Medical Education (GME) Administration

Purpose

This policy outlines the requirement that all UMMS GME programs (herein referred to as programs) use the Standard Verification of Training Form (herein referred to as form) and Cover Letter. 

The form and cover letter provide a uniform process for capturing information on our residents/fellows and also serves as the Summative Evaluation (required by the ACGME common program requirements). This information is used to respond to requests for information from entities where the resident/fellow has given signed authorization of release.

Policy

Each program is required to complete the form as the resident/fellow completes or terminates their training at the UM.  This form should be completed by the program director, after a thorough review of the resident/fellow file, within 8 weeks of completion or termination from the program.  Attending performance evaluations should be the primary source of information when completing the form.  If the program director is not able to review the file, the department chair or their designee conducts the file review and completes the form.

Procedure

Within 8 weeks of completion or termination of training, the program director, or designee as stated above, conducts a thorough review of the resident/fellow file using attending performance evaluations as the primary source information.  Other information may be used in the process as determined by the program.  The program director, or designee, completes the form which should be printed on department letterhead.

The original form is placed in the resident/fellow file. The program should scan the form and store it electronically.  Options for electronic storage include the AHC-AIS server, ImageNow or the Residency Management Suite (RMS).  Electronic storage allows the form to be easily retrieved and the quality of the document is preserved.

Upon receipt of the request from an entity the program reviews the authorization of release of information.  The program insures that the information provided in the form is covered in the release.

The program completes the appropriate version of the cover letter, which should be printed on department letterhead, and attaches the form and sends the documentation to the entity along with necessary data on clinical procedures performed by the resident/fellow.

The program may consider implementing a mechanism, such as an excel spreadsheet, to track requests for verification of training so that the volume is captured for use in resource management.

The program may also use the tracking mechanism to identify entities where the form is sent, but returned as insufficient, so that the program can provide the GME Office with information of entities/states that are not accepting the form.  The GME Office reserves the right to charge a fee to entities that do not accept the form.

The GME Office recommends that the programs implement a process for completing the form immediately for residents/fellows that have graduated or termination at the end of 2006/2007. 

For residents/fellows that graduated prior to 2006/2007, the program will complete the form at the time of request and retain the original so that it can be used in future requests.