Case Studies

The New Academic Year Is Fast Approaching and Our GME Office Needs Additional Administrative Support. Where Can I Find Experienced, Temporary Resources?

THE CLIENT

A community health system, relatively new to medical education, plans to bring in its inaugural class of residents for its initial residency programs. Though the Program Directors for these sponsored programs have prior program leadership experience, the supporting GME Office and administrative staff were newer to Graduate Medical Education and the processes necessary to implement a resident management software (RMS) successfully, coordinate the clinical resources contributing to resident training, and train and onboard the incoming learners to the institution.

THE CHALLENGE

As the start of the academic year drew near, Health System leadership and the GME Office recognized the remaining number of actionable steps, coupled with the limited experience of their support staff, would likely result in the institution and its GME programs being unprepared for the incoming residents.

With only a month left to build, launch, and train the new software before the incoming residents began clinical training. The Health System and GME Leadership needed to quickly locate experienced resources to provide temporary guidance and support for successfully executing all remaining actionable work steps while receiving training to the GME Office, program faculty, and clinical, administrative staff to ensure long-term success.

THE SOLUTION

Through Germane Solutions’ GME Operations Support Services, the client was provided 12-weeks of full-time interim support from a team of Germane Consultants, each with over 10 years of administrative GME experience.

With strategic planning and effective oversight, Germane’s team of subject matter experts seamlessly collaborated with the existing staff to prioritize, plan, and complete all required GME related work efforts before and after the residents’ arrival. 

This education-oriented collaboration structure utilized formal and informal training sessions, live training examples, and immediate access to knowledgeable resources. This proved to be an ideal learning environment to transfer knowledge from experienced industry experts to the Health System and GME Office’s existing and developing talent.

Key areas and topics that the client received:

1. Academic Year Planning and Prioritization
2. ACGME Compliance and Accreditation Support
3. Resident Onboarding, Credentialing, File Management Training & Support
4. Resident Management Software (RMS) Build, Implementation, and Training inclusive of:
   • Clinical and Conference Schedules
   • Finance and IRIS Reports
   • Policies and Department Manuals
   • Rotation-Specific Curriculum (Goals & Objectives)
   • Evaluation Forms
   • Procedure Logging
   • Scholarly Activity Logging
5. Separate RMS Training for Residents, Faculty, Program Leadership & GME Office
6. Administration and Accreditation Training for Faculty, Program Leadership, & GME Office

THE GERMANE EFFECT

The temporary GME operational support was an unplanned expense to the community health system and its GME Office. The steps Germane took to ensure that the institution and its programs were properly primed and prepared for the inaugural class of residents proved to be an invaluable experience for the health system and its supporting GME infrastructure.

In hindsight, the move was praised by executive leadership, and the overall feeling was that the value of the support and expertise far outweighed the investment.

The additional support resulted in the following outcomes, which will be utilized in perpetuity year-after-year through the RMS build, implementation, and training:

• Reduced Work Compression Amongst Existing Administrative Staff
• Properly Trained and Prepared GME Leadership and Support Personnel
• Mitigation of Additional Full Time GME Office Staff
• High Resident and Faculty Satisfaction
• Fully Implemented Resident Management Software
• Achieved ACGME Compliance
• Accurate Documentation and Reporting of Resident Rotational Experiences
• Maximized GME Funding and Reimbursement