Purpose
The purpose of this policy is to ensure that the educational training experience for the sponsored Pain Medicine program complies with institutional and program-specific ACGME Residency Review Committee (RRC) requirements, and that the allocation of clinical and other educational resources is regularly reviewed and monitored.
Background
ACGME Pain Medicine Program Requirement 1.2.b
There must be an institutional policy governing the educational resources committed to pain medicine that ensures cooperation of all the involved disciplines. There must be a multidisciplinary fellowship committee to regularly review the program's resources and its attainment of stated goals and objectives. (Core)
Because Pain Medicine is inherently multidisciplinary and in accordance with ACGME Pain Medicine Program Requirement 1.2.b, the University of Alabama Hospital — the Sponsoring Institution for all ACGME-accredited programs at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and its regional campuses — sponsors one ACGME-accredited Pain Medicine training program under the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine. The Sponsoring Institution maintains an institutional policy governing the educational resources committed to Pain Medicine to ensure cooperation among all involved disciplines, and a single multidisciplinary Pain Medicine fellowship committee that regularly reviews the program’s resources and evaluates its attainment of stated goals and objectives.
Monitoring and Compliance
The Pain Medicine program director is assigned the primary responsibility for organizing the educational program for each Pain Medicine trainee and to ensure cooperation among all disciplines involved.
The Pain Medicine program will establish and maintain a multidisciplinary fellowship committee to regularly review program’s resources and attainment of its stated goals and objectives. This committee could be accomplished through the Program Evaluation Committee (PEC) and must include multidisciplinary representatives.
The Designated Institutional Official (DIO) and the Graduate Medical Education Committee (GMEC) will monitor the educational resources committed to the Pain Medicine training program through GMEC oversight procedures, including the Annual Program Evaluation, the annual ACGME Accreditation Letter of Notification, and the annual ACGME Resident/Fellow and Faculty Survey results. As a follow-up, the program director may be asked to submit an action plan to the GMEC outlining corrective actions to address any identified issues.
If difficulties in the distribution of resources committed to Pain Medicine training are identified, the GMEC and the DIO will meet with members of the program to assess the issues and recommend corrective actions. The findings will be reported to the GMEC Executive Committee, which may meet with the Pain Medicine program director and other hospital/institutional officials. The GMEC Executive Committee’s recommendations will be forwarded to the GMEC for review and approval.
Any requests for changes to the Pain Medicine program will be reviewed through customary GMEC processes.
GMEC Approved Date: August 4, 2026
Next Review Date: Spring 2027