APPEAL OF ADVERSE ACADEMIC DECISIONS
PURPOSE
MCWAH housestaff who have been terminated or whose training agreements will not be renewed may request an appeal of the decision. The issue for the appeal panel is whether the Program Director had a reasonable basis for the decision to not renew or terminate the Graduate Medical Education Training Agreement. The panel shall not conduct a de novo review of the Program Director's decision.
APPEAL PANEL
1. MCWAH shall annually establish a Subcommittee of the GMEC whose members shall serve as panelists on appeal of decisions not to renew or terminate housestaff. The Subcommittee shall have 10 members. The members shall be comprised of Program Directors or other MCW faculty who are familiar and experienced in the education and supervision of housestaff.
2. The members shall select a Chair from the membership.
3. The members of the Subcommittee shall serve on the committee for three years. One half of the Subcommittee’s members (5 members) serving on the inaugural subcommittee shall resign after one and one half years. Those members shall be replaced by 5 new member appointed by MCWAH’s Executive Director and DIO. They shall serve on the Appeal Subcommittee for a regular term of three years.
4. When an appeal is requested, the Subcommittee Chair shall assign 3 panelists to serve on an appeal panel. To avoid a potential conflict of interest, panel members may not be from the same department as that of the housestaff’s training program.
5. If there are multiple requests for appeals, such as occurs in the three to four months prior to the end of the academic year, the Subcommittee may determine that more than one appeal shall be heard on the same day.
6. MCWAH staff shall provide support to the Subcommittee and appeal panels.
THE APPEAL PROCESS
1. To appeal an adverse action, a housestaff member must submit a written request for an appeal to his or her Program Director and to the Executive Director & Designated Institutional Official (DIO) of MCWAH within fourteen (14) business days of receiving written notification of the Program Director’s decision. Any request for appeal must include a statement of the adverse action being appealed and the grounds supporting the request of an appeal.
2. MCWAH’s Executive Director & DIO shall notify the Chair of the Subcommittee of the request for an appeal.
3. The housestaff may submit documentation in support of his/her positions. Copies of this submission shall be given to the appointed appeal panel members.
4. Additionally, the appointed appeal panel members shall be given copies of the housestaff’s training file and MCWAH’s file. (See the MCWAH policies Evaluation of Housestaff and Progressive Management of Substandard Performance policy and Records and Record Retention.)
5. The appeal hearing shall be held within four (4) weeks of the written request for an appeal. The date selected for the appeal may only be rescheduled by the mutual agreement of the Subcommittee’s Chair and the appointed members of the appeal panel.
6. Housestaff must notify the appeal panel at least 4 business days prior to the hearing of his/her request to bring a faculty advocate.
7. The Program Director must notify the appeal panel at least 4 business days prior to the hearing of his/her request to have another faculty member address the panel.
8. When an appeal panel convenes, it will adhere to the following guidelines established for hearings:
a. Each panel shall determine which of the three panel members will be responsible for chairing the appeal and drafting the report.
b. Both the housestaff and the Program Director are expected to appear before the panel.
c. The housestaff and the Program Director shall each have up to 30 minutes to present to the panel. The panel may grant additional time as it sees fit.
d. Legal counsel shall not be permitted to appear, however either party may consult with his/her legal counsel prior to the hearing.
e. At its discretion, the panel may allow the housestaff to have a faculty advocate speak who may also have up to 30 minutes to present to the panel.
f. At its discretion, the panel may allow the Program Director to have one additional faculty member address the panel who may also have up to 30 minutes to present to the panel.
g. The appeal panel shall deliberate in closed session.
h. The panel may determine to reconvene later if it is necessary to continue its deliberations and make its recommendations.
i. Each appeal panel reserves the right to request additional information that it deems necessary to reach its conclusions and recommendations.
9. The appeal panel shall submit its written report and recommendations to accept, reject, or modify the decision of the program to MCWAH’s Executive Director & DIO within one week of the hearing. The report shall include: a brief summary of the facts found; pertinent findings of the panel; and recommendations to MCWAH’s Executive Director and DIO.
10. The Executive Director makes the final decision.
11. The written recommendations of the appeal panel and the decision of MCWAH’s Executive Director & DIO shall be part of the Program’s training file and shall be released upon request for future applications for licensure, clinical privileges, or certification to the extent permitted by law.
This revised policy was approved by the MCWAH Graduate Medical Education Council on February 20, 2012. The original policy was approved on July 18, 2011.