Montefiore in the News

Pediatrics took a hit this year, while emergency medicine rebounded by Jennifer Henderson, Enterprise & Investigative Writer, MedPage Today March 15, 2024

The 2024 Match cycle saw a total of 50,413 applicants registered, representing an all-time high and increase of 4.7% over last year, the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) reported Fridayopens in a new tab or window.

This rise was largely driven by an increase of 1,986 non-U.S. citizen international medical graduatesopens in a new tab or window (IMGs) and 623 osteopathic (DO) seniors, the NRMP said in an announcement of this year's results on Match Day.

Overall, Match rates remained steady among the four main applicant types, with each group seeing a less than one percentage point difference compared with last year's cycle.

U.S. DO seniors clocked a 92.3% match rate -- an increase of 0.7 percentage points over last year -- representing an all-time high. U.S. MD seniors, the largest group participating in the Match with 20,296 registered applicants, had a 93.5% match rate, a decrease of 0.2 percentage points. U.S. citizen IMGs saw a 67.0% match rate, a 0.6 percentage point decrease compared to last year, while non-U.S. citizen IMGs had a 58.5% match rate, a 0.9 percentage point decrease.

"We are especially proud of applicants this year, many of whom began medical school the fall before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and had to quickly adapt to and thrive in a radically changed academic and training landscape," Donna Lamb, DHSc, president and CEO of the NRMP, said in a statement. "Their experiences and success speak to a remarkable resilience and dedication they will carry with them into practice."

This year's cycle consisted of 6,395 certified programs as well as 41,503 PGY-1 and PGY-2 training positions, the largest number to date, according to the NRMP. Of all positions offered, 38,941 filled for a rate of 93.8%, 0.5 percentage points higher than last year, and 5,608 of certified programs filled for a rate of 87.7%, which was 1.1 percentage points higher.

However, "[c]oncerns remain about a shortage of primary care physicians across the U.S.," the NRMP noted.

There were 19,423 primary care positions offered this year -- 719 more than last year and the largest number on record, representing nearly half of all positions offered. The fill rate was strong at 92.9%; however, it fell by 1.4 percentage points compared with last year, "largely due to changes in pediatrics," the NRMP said.

Earlier this week, MedPage Today reported that pediatrics was taxed in this year's Match cycleopens in a new tab or window. In final numbers released on Friday, the NRMP said, "After the algorithm was processed, 252 pediatrics positions were unfilled, an increase of 164 over last year." The percentage of U.S. MD seniors that matched to pediatrics categorical positions in 2024 was 47.6%, the NRMP added, a decrease of 7.2 percentage points from last year.

On the brighter side, this year's cycle brought a rebound for emergency medicine, offering 3,026 positions -- 16 positions more than last year -- and filled 2,891, for a 95.5% fill rate, an increase of 13.9 percentage points. Ultimately, there were 135 emergency medicine positions unfilled this year, the NRMP said, compared to 554 unfilled positions in the 2023 cycleopens in a new tab or window.

In addition, ob/gyn "had another very strong Match, even with the 2-year anniversary of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization Supreme Court decision approaching this summer," the NRMP reported. The 99.6% fill rate this year continued "a strong trend of filling over 99% of positions offered every year for the past 5 years and filling at least 90% of positions with U.S. MD and DO seniors."

For applicants who did not match in this year's cycle, a total of 2,575 positions were placed in the Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program (SOAP), 83 fewer than last year. Overall, in this year's match cycle, 2,562 positions in 787 programs were unfilled.