Chapter 4 The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University Policy on the Approval and Continuance of Brown Affiliation with Hospital-Sponsored Graduate Medical Education Programs

Statement of the Issue :
The affiliated teaching hospital partners of The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University (hereinafter referred to as the Medical School ) are the sponsors of ACGME and non-ACGME accredited residency and fellowship programs. The ACGME (and in some cases other bodies) will hold the respective sponsoring hospitals, and their Boards, responsible for all aspects of program operation. Thus, it is essential that the respective hospitals maintain authority and responsibility for the operation of the residency and fellowship programs.

It is widely acknowledged that both the hospital sponsors of GME programs and the Medical School benefit from the affiliation of the residency and fellowship programs with the Medical School and its Life and Public Health Sciences. This affiliation enhances the recruitment of residents, fellows and faculty to the hospital-sponsored GME programs. Additionally, this affiliation provides residents, fellows and faculty access to Brown University's educational resources and increases opportunities for educational and research grant funding. Thus, affiliation with the Medical School and the addition of the Brown imprimatur is considered highly advantageous to a residency or fellowship program.

The Medical School , in turn, benefits directly from the success of its affiliated GME programs. The faculty overseeing and serving the residency and fellowship programs, as well as the residents and fellows themselves, are essential teachers for required and elective courses offered by the Medical School during the pre-clinical and clinical years. Faculty, Residents and fellows provide additional services to the Medical School in the form of medical student advising, teaching of undergraduates (PLME and others), research opportunities for undergraduate, graduate, medical and postdoctoral students, and research funding throughout the universe of the health sciences center. The funding for the residency and fellowship programs and for their involvement in medical school activities is provided primarily by the hospitals and by faculty foundations. Specifically, these funding sources comprise Medicare GME payments, clinical revenue of hospitals and faculty foundations, grants and philanthropy. The Medical School 's education and scholarship are thus enhanced by the presence of the hospital-sponsored residency and fellowship programs.

Given the important role that residents, fellows and the attendant GME program faculty play in the education of Brown medical students, the Medical School has a vested interest in the quality of the affiliated GME programs. The Medical School also has an interest in any program to which its name is applied.

Applicability of Policy:
This policy was initially implemented in September of 2007. For all GME programs established after September 2007, the Chairperson of the Brown Department must request approval for the use of the Medical School name in writing from the Dean of the Medical School for all existing GME Programs by following the process set forth below. All programs established before September 2007, are grandfathered in and do not need to obtain written approval by the Dean in order to continue. However, the reporting requirements set forth below are required of both pre and post September 2007 programs.

Process to Approve the Use of the Brown Name by a Graduate Medical Education Program :
The authority to grant a GME program use of the Medical School name is solely within the discretion of the Dean of the Medical School .

The process by which this approval is granted to a new program and maintained by an established program is as follows:
1) The residency or fellowship program must be approved by the appropriate accrediting body where one exists and by the sponsoring hospital's GME committee.

2) The Chairperson of the Brown Department sponsoring the program must request approval for the use of the Medical School name in writing from the Dean of the Medical School . For residency and fellowship programs seeking status in more than one department (e.g., Combined Medicine/Pediatrics), both chairs will be responsible for communicating with the Dean.

3) In the case that approval is granted, the Dean of the Medical School will sign an agreement granting authority to use the Medical School name by the applicant GME program (See Attachment).

4) In order to initially establish, and to subsequently maintain the status of a GME program as a Medical School program, the Department Chair will:

• complete and submit the “Bi-Annual Report, The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University Residency/Fellowship Programs” (See Attachment). This report should be submitted to the Medical School Associate Dean for GME.

• Residency programs that existed prior to 9/2007 will submit their first bi-annual report 10/2009 and fellowships that predated 9/2007 will submit the first report 10/2010.

• notify the Medical School Associate Dean for GME promptly of any substantive impending action against the program, its director or its staff which could have an impact on the academic standards or accreditation status of the program, including probationary and proposed probationary actions. * Prompt notification in this context means as soon as possible under the circumstances; the reporting party should not wait until the next annual report filing.

5) The Graduate Medical Education Committees (GMECs) of the respective hospital sponsors will continue to be the operational entities by which each sponsor maintains oversight of its residency and fellowship programs. The Dean of the Medical School will reserve the right, with the approval of the hospital sponsors, to appoint the Medical School Associate Dean for GME to each of the sponsoring hospital GMECs. The GMECs will continue to have reporting responsibility through their existing organizational structures to their respective Boards. The sponsoring hospital Boards will ultimately maintain responsibility and authority for all aspects of their programs.

6) The Dean of the Medical School reserves the right to rescind approval of the use of The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University name by a GME program should the terms of the agreement be violated. In such cases where rescission is being contemplated, the Associate Dean for GME will provide written notice to the GME program director in question, the Department Chair and the Designated Institutional Official (DIO) of the sponsoring institution, setting forth the basis for his/her concerns; in addition, the Associate Dean for GME will set forth a remedial plan and time-table which will afford the GME program director a reasonable opportunity to cure any substandard performance issues. If, after the remedial time-table has elapsed, the Dean determines that the GME program has failed to cure the performance issues addressed in the remedial plan, the Associate Dean for GME will collaborate with the GME program director, the Department Chair and the DIO of the sponsoring institution to formulate a rescission plan which will minimize, to the extent possible, disruptions to the educational goals of program participants.

Email Webmaster
Last Updated : September 17 2008