Impact of the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education/ American Osteopathic Association Single Accreditation System Merger on PM&R Applications and Match Rates: An Analysis From 2012 to 2024.

Abstract

The aim of the study was to assess whether the 2020 ACGME/AOA Single Accreditation System merger affected the proportion of osteopathic and allopathic students applying and matching into physical medicine and rehabilitation. Using publicly available Association of American Medical Colleges and National Resident Matching Program data from 2012 to 2024, this retrospective study analyzed (1) the physical medicine and rehabilitation application proportion out of the total pool of allopathic or osteopathic students entering the match for any specialty and (2) the match share of allopathic and osteopathic residents among all physical medicine and rehabilitation matches. Linear regression compared premerger (2012-2019 applications; 2014-2020 matches) and postmerger (2020-2023 applications; 2021-2024 matches) trends. The physical medicine and rehabilitation application proportion of osteopathic students declined premerger (slope = -0.11) and rose postmerger (0.19). Allopathic application proportions remained stable premerger and increased slightly postmerger. Allopathic match share decreased premerger (-0.41) but increased postmerger (0.77), while osteopathic match share rose faster premerger (1.44) than postmerger (0.57). None of these slope changes reached significance. Following the single accreditation system merger, there was an increase in osteopathic application proportions, and allopathic match share rebounded while osteopathic gains slowed. These trends suggest the merger influenced application and match dynamics but coincided with other shifts in medical education.