affiliations with educational institutions for the purposes of contributing to continued excellence in VA patient
care and conducting joint academic programs that address health manpower needs throughout VA and the nation.
An affiliation agreement promotes common standards for patient care, resident and student education,
research, and staff appointments. The parties to the affiliation agreement also seek to avoid duplication of
academic assets. The parties enter into this affiliation in a spirit of mutual benefit to be achieved through an
equitable contribution of resources. The affiliation agreement is crucial to the relationship because it forms the
philosophical and, in some cases, the legal basis for numerous specific agreements that may be executed between
components of the affiliate and VA.
In entering into any agreements, VA and the affiliate have a responsibility to comply with federal laws and
VA policies concerning conflicts of interest. The existence of an affiliation agreement does not guarantee that VA
and the affiliate will enter into additional agreements. However, some institutions may have other agreements
including contracts, memoranda of understanding, or other written agreements.
RESPONSIBILITIES
1. The school of medicine has the following responsibilities:
A. Operate and manage the school of medicine and assume overall responsibility for the educational
programs.
B. Maintain accreditation by the nationally recognized accreditation entities, the Liaison Committee for
Medical Education (LCME) for medical student education and ensure maintenance of accreditation by the
Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) for medical residency programs accredited in
the name of the sponsoring institution.
C. Encourage school of medicine faculty to accept positions as VA medical staff and assure that academic
standards are met.
D. Enable school of medicine faculty appointments, appointments to school of medicine committees, and
administrative positions for VA-based staff.
E. Recommend members for appointment to the VA Affiliation Partnership Council and its subcommittees.
Members will include the medical school dean and senior faculty members from appropriate divisions of the
medical school, sponsoring and affiliated participating institutions.
2. The sponsoring institution, its affiliated participating institutions, and their affiliated school of medicine
have the following responsibilities:
A. Maintain accreditation by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) for
medical residency programs.
B. Authorize VA to receive from ACGME, and ACGME to provide VA, pursuant to a Memorandum of
Understanding between VA and ACGME, periodic updates of the accreditation status of each institution having
graduate medical education programs with which VA is affiliated.
C. Participate in the supervision of integrated academic programs at VA.
D. Select residents for academic programs involving VA, the sponsoring institution, the affiliated
participating institutions, and their school of medicine. Residents accepted for assignment at VA facilities must
have the qualifications and credentials as agreed upon by the sponsoring institution, the affiliated participating
institutions, their affiliated school of medicine and VA.
VA FORM 10-0094a
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