Title Change

[Courtney Matlach]

Hi ARCOS Members,

We wanted to bring this to your attention, in case you haven’t seen it yet: the ACGME is currently revising the Common Program Requirements, and the proposed revisions are now available for review and public comment.

One proposed change that directly affects our role is a change in our title. The current requirements refer to us as “Program Coordinator”, while the proposed language would change this to “GME Administrative Professional”.

You can review the proposed changes and submit comments here: Review and Comment

The deadline to submit comments is October 22nd.

We encourage everyone to take a look at the proposed changes and, if you feel so inclined, submit your comments. Whether you support the proposed changes, have concerns, or have suggestions for how the language could be improved, this is an opportunity to have your voice heard.

Courtney

[Tonya Harris]

GME Program Administrator sounds better

[Kelly Kovacs]

I know this is probably a ‘me’ problem within my institution and reporting structure.. I submitted my comments to ACGME asking that “GME” not be in the title at all. I work for the Dept. of Ortho; not the GME Office and am currently fighting them forcing the change to make me report to GME.

I feel that if ACGME changes the terminology to include GME, there is less flexibility for the employer to determine organizational structure. My GME Office will surely use it as leverage to enforce “coordinator centralization”.

 

[Donna Lizut]

Thank you for bringing that to my attention. This could be very harmful for a lot of Coordinators that work under a department with other roles, such as myself and NOT the GME Office.

I had to find it – it’s under #2.26a and you keep clicking “next page” to get to it, and then keep doing so until you can submit at the end.

I submitted this:
<p style=”text-align: center;”>I’m paid by the Orthopedic Department, not GME, and have held additional departmental duties for 18 years. Changing our role terminology could jeopardize my position and others. We partner with GME, but our titles differ, and HR departments often don’t see the behind‑the‑scenes work. A single, standardized title could cause harmful misclassification.</p>

[Ginae Owens]

This is also a concern for me.

I am employed by our Foundation and work directly within our Orthopaedic Surgery residency program, rather than within the institution’s central GME office. My role also includes responsibilities beyond traditional GME administration and has continued to grow in scope.

I worry that changing “Program Coordinator” to a single standardized title like “GME Administrative Professional” could unintentionally create issues for coordinators whose positions, reporting structures, and responsibilities vary significantly across institutions. HR and organizational leadership may rely heavily on titles when evaluating roles, compensation, advancement, and job classifications, and the proposed title may not accurately reflect the level of work many of us perform.

I’ve also submitted a comment as well. Thank you for pointing out where to find the question in the survey.

[Shawna Hook-Held]

This is an interesting discussion. At my institution, we are health educators and are paid partly through the GME and the department. We report to our department’s business office and that means we are held to the same expectations and timelines as faculty administrators and our work with the GME is misunderstood and has created some problems. Faculty are not allowed to be our supervisors on paper, yet the Program Administrator has a way better understanding of my job than the business office. For me, I would much rather work from the GME Office since they have an awareness of our jobs.

Then again, our GME office has shared that no other department DBO is as involved as ours is so that is its own cup of worms!

[Shawna Hook-Held]

I am not in support of this name change though because in talking with my colleague, changing the name from coordinator to administrator would be seriously misunderstood by our University’s HR and be used to justify lower pay.

[Tonya Harris]

GME Program Administrator sounds better because that’s what we are. I’m housed in the Medical Education Department at a Hospital. According to the hierarchy administrators earn a higher salary than coordinators. The whole GME Administrative Professional gives me Administrative Assistant vibes. Program Coordinators basically runs the program.

[Viveka Spivey]

Our University recently changed our titles to include GME in them.  We have GME Coordinator (with different level numbers), Manger of GME Programs and Director of GME Programs.  I was not a fan of the titles they chose but oddly enough it came it pay increases.  So far there has not been a move to move us under GME.  That was a big fear of mine but luckily our GME office doesn’t seem to want to do that.  I plan to share my concerns with ACGME in response to the title change too.

-Viveka-

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