AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges) President and CEO Darrell G. Kirch, MD, issued the following statement following the 2019 Main Residency Match®:
“The AAMC congratulates the more than 30,000 future doctors who today matched to PGY-1 residency training positions at the nation’s teaching hospitals. The National Resident Matching Program® reports that in this year’s Main Residency Match®, 93.9% of U.S. MD seniors matched, and 76.9% matched to one of their top three choices among residency programs. More applicants are expected to match with the completion of the Match Week Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program®.
Match Day is an exciting time on medical school campuses across the nation and serves as an important turning point for medical students on their journeys to becoming practicing physicians. Along with graduation, the Match Day ceremony represents the culmination of the challenging years of medical school and symbolizes the transition from medical student to physician.
However, these new doctors will enter a health care system facing challenges, including a projected physician shortage of more than 121,000 physicians by 2030.
Over the years, medical schools have done their part to address the coming shortage by gradually increasing enrollment. Despite these efforts, a more than 20-year-old cap imposed by Congress on the number of federally supported residency positions stymies growth in the number of available training positions. As part of a multipronged strategy to meet the physician workforce needs of the nation, the AAMC has consistently endorsed legislation to expand the number of federally supported residency positions and allow the nation’s teaching hospitals to train more physicians.
In addition to preparing more doctors to address the shortage, U.S. medical schools and teaching hospitals are innovating with new and more efficient care delivery models, training physicians on interprofessional health care teams, and developing and using technologies, like telehealth, to improve the quality of and access to care patients need when they need it.
We welcome the more than 30,000 new doctors who matched to a residency training program today and wish them the best as they continue on their journey to become the next generation of physicians. The AAMC looks forward to supporting tomorrow’s doctors throughout their careers in medicine.”
For more information about how the AAMC is working to improve medical students’ transition to residency, visit aamc.org/T2R.
Trademarks are the property of the respective trademark owners.
The Association of American Medical Colleges is a not-for-profit association dedicated to transforming health care through innovative medical education, cutting-edge patient care, and groundbreaking medical research. Its members are all 154 accredited U.S. and 17 accredited Canadian medical schools; nearly 400 major teaching hospitals and health systems, including 51 Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers; and more than 80 academic societies. Through these institutions and organizations, the AAMC serves the leaders of America’s medical schools and teaching hospitals and their more than 173,000 full-time faculty members, 89,000 medical students, 129,000 resident physicians, and more than 60,000 graduate students and postdoctoral researchers in the biomedical sciences.