Application Process Improvement Committee

Current Chair: Tim Fallon, MD

Vice Chair: Erin McDonough, MD

Board Liaison: Alexis Peletier-Bui, MD

The purpose of this committee is to improve the current state of the application and interview process for both residency programs and applicants.

To join the committee, please sign up here: CORD Committee Application

The 2025-2026 application season:

• APIC 2025-2026 Application and Interview Season Best Practices
• ResidencyCAS

EM Program Signaling Guidance for 2025-2026

• Applicants will have 5 signals each
• DO NOT signal core EM home / away rotation sites

Reference Information

• AAMC: Interviews in GME: Where Do We Go From Here?
• AAMC: Interviews in UME: Where Do We Go From Here?
• AAMC: The Cost of Interviewing for Residency Posted December 28, 2022.
• AAMC: Supplemental ERAS Application Data and Reports
• CORD Board of Directors Recommendations for Emergency Medicine Recruitment Season 2022-2023
• CORD APIC Best Practices for the 2022-2023 Residency Application Cycle
• Physician Accountability's (CoPA) Undergraduate Medical Education-Graduate Medical Education Review Committee (UGRC)
• No Match Monday Emergency Medicine Advising Guide: Program Directors Edition

 Prior APIC Accomplishments

Emergency Medicine Activities

• EM participation in the ERAS Supplemental Application utilizing Program Signaling
• Program Signaling, Geographic Preferences
• 2 EM representatives to the ERAS Supplemental Application (SuppApp) research group

Prior Didactics at CORD Academic Assembly

• A Change is on the Horizon; The Introduction of a New Application Platform for EM, On Behalf of CORD’s Application Process
• Preference Signaling in EM: How it Started…How it’s Going
• Accelerated Pathway Programs in Emergency Medicine: An Introduction
• No Match Monday: A Program Directors Survival Guide for the SOAP Process
• Updates to Residency Application and Interview Process, on Behalf of the Application Process Improvement Committee
• Late Breaking! New ERAS Application

Publications from APIC

• Pelletier-Bui AE, Fallon T, Smith L, Strout T, Fischer M, Olaf M, McDonough E, Barbas B, Cirone M, Barrall Werley E. Program Signaling in Emergency Medicine: The 2022-2023 Program Director Experience. West J Emerg Med. 2024 Sep;25(5):715-724.
• Pelletier-Bui A, Schnapp B, Smith L, Franzen D, Werley E, McDonough E, Camejo M. Making Our Preferences Known: Preference Signaling in Emergency Medicine. West J Emerg Med. 2022;23(1):72-75. doi:10.5811/westjem.2021.10.53996
• Recently acknowledged as an outstanding publication based on performance metrics by Jeffrey N. Love, MD, MHPE, MSc, CORD Guest Editor, WestJEM Special Issue in Educational Research & Practice
• Kiemeney M, Franzen D. Availability of Emergency Medicine Away Rotations. AEM Educ Train. 2020;5(2):e10487. Published 2020 Jul 1. doi:10.1002/aet2.10487
• Pelletier-Bui A, Franzen D, Smith L, et al. COVID-19: A Driver for Disruptive Innovation of the Emergency Medicine Residency Application Process. West J Emerg Med. 2020;21(5):1105-1113. Published 2020 Aug 19. doi:10.5811/westjem.2020.8.48234
• Huang RD, Lutfy-Clayton L, Franzen D, et al. More Is More: Drivers of the Increase in Emergency Medicine Residency Applications. West J Emerg Med. 2020;22(1):77-85. Published 2020 Dec 10. doi:10.5811/westjem.2020.10.48210
• Hopson LR, Edens MA, Goodrich M, et al. Calming Troubled Waters: A Narrative Review of Challenges and Potential Solutions in the Residency Interview Offer Process. West J Emerg Med. 2020;22(1):1-6. Published 2020 Dec 14. doi:10.5811/westjem.2020.11.4970

If you have any other suggestions or ideas for future exploration as it pertains to the application and interview process, please don’t hesitate to reach out! You can contact APIC leadership at Timothy.Fallon@mainehealth.org.