The final American Osteopathic Association Match Day placed 56 percent of participating osteopathic physicians in primary care specialties, with orthopedic surgery leading specialty placements.
Five things to know:
1. A total of 886 osteopathic medical school seniors and recent graduates were placed in 21 specialties; more than 500 were placed into primary care residencies.
2. Some 54 percent of participants matched into residency programs. Here are the top five specialties physicians matched into:
- Family medicine – 34 percent
- Internal medicine – 22 percent
- Orthopedic surgery – 12 percent
- General surgery – 7 percent
- Emergency medicine – 6 percent
3. Overall, 380 positions were filled in non-primary care specialties, and 390 positions were not filled through the initial match process. Many of these positions have been filled since the match announcement in past years.
4. The AOA and Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education are in the fourth year of a five-year transition to a single accreditation system for graduate medical education. To date, 80 percent of all osteopathic training positions have transitioned to ACGME accreditation, with additional positions expected to transition over the next 17 months.
5. In the single accreditation system, most osteopathic and allopathic medical students will participate in the National Resident Matching Program, in which participants can choose residency programs that received osteopathic recognition from the ACGME Osteopathic Principles Committee.