The National Residency Matching Program Board of Directors has decided not to implement a second "match" for candidates choosing residency programs. The decision was announced in a news release (PDF file: 1 page / 105 KB. More about PDFs.) issued shortly after the group's May 2 meeting.
In making its decision, the board noted residency program directors, institutional officers and U.S. medical school student affairs staff cited "numerous implementation problems" associated with pursuing a second match. Among them: the later Match Day, the requirement that unfilled programs participate in phase two and the rule that phase one match results would not be released until conclusion of phase two. Overall, only 44 percent of residency program directors and medical school officials surveyed favored a second match.
"Most program directors were against it, primarily because of the delays it would create in knowing who their residents would be for the next year and the restriction against conducting interviews with second-match candidates," said Perry Pugno, M.D., M.P.H., director of the AAFP Division of Medical Education.
An earlier NRMP survey found that 70 percent of U.S. medical school seniors and 85 percent of independent applicants favored a second match. Among their reasons: less anxiety among students who didn't match initially; a greater likelihood that students would make more rational decisions than often happens during the current postmatch scramble; and an increased likelihood that students, who would be bound by NRMP rules, would fulfill their commitments to residency programs.
NRMP board members vowed to pursue additional improvements, such as the dynamic unfilled positions list, to the scramble process.
In other action, the NRMP board tabled a policy change proposal that would have required all institutions participating in the main residency match to attempt to fill all their positions unless they were participating in other national matching programs. Implementation, the board decided, would have "unintended consequences" for programs, particularly those wishing to include international medical graduates, because IMGs may need to obtain J1 visas -- a process that can require a long lead time.
The board also reduced fees to independent applicants from $90 to $65. The change brings the fees in line with those paid by U.S. seniors and fellowship match applicants.
