Volume 107, Issue 2

The Osteopathic Postdoctoral Training Institution (OPTI) program was established by the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) in 1995 as a support and accreditation structure for osteopathic graduate medical education. Since 1999, when the AOA began to require that all AOA-approved osteopathic internships and residencies take place within this structure, the individual programs have been evolving separately, with little interaction—and with varying degrees of success. The AOA's 2007 Annual OPTI Workshop, scheduled to take place this April, is being organized with the primary goal of improving OPTI collaboration to better define standards for quality and promote program development. In response to common challenges and concerns, workshop participants will also be asked to define and reevaluate internal partnerships and shared goals as components of the larger system.

For the 2004-2005 academic year, as in preceding years, the number of graduates from colleges of osteopathic medicine (COMs) and the number of osteopathic medical internship positions approved by the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) continued to increase, by 2% and 1%, respectively. However, student participation in the AOA's Intern/Resident Registration Program dipped by 5% to a total of 44% for the class of 2005. Notwithstanding, a striking majority (1120 [91%]) of participating 2005 COM graduates were matched to their first choice training program—most often in traditional osteopathic rotating internships (63%). Next in popularity for osteopathic medical graduates were internships in family practice (11%), internal medicine (9%), and emergency medicine (5%). As a model for training, the traditional osteopathic rotating internship has undergone extensive revision in the past year as a result of extensive collaboration among the AOA's Council on Postdoctoral Training and each of the 23 osteopathic specialty colleges. The restructured plan will go into effect as of July 1, 2008.

The current continuing medical education (CME) cycle began on January 1, 2007, and will end on December 31, 2009. Statistics for the 2004-2006 CME cycle will not be available until May 31, 2008. The author provides an update on trends in osteopathic CME programs and details minor changes to CME requirements for state licensure. In addition, this article explains changes to several policies of the American Osteopathic Association with regard to the Association's awarding and recording of CME credits for physicians who hold specialty board certification.