National Resident Matching Program

The National Resident Matching Program (NRMP), also called the Match, is a United States-based private non-profit non-governmental organization created in 1952 to help match medical school students with residency programs. The NRMP is sponsored by the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS), the American Medical Association (AMA), the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), the American Hospital Association (AHA), and the Council of Medical Specialty Societies (CMSS).

History

The National Resident Match Program began in 1952 in response to dissatisfaction with the process and results of matching applicants to residency programs via the decentralized, competitive market. It was initially called the National Intern Matching Program. From shortly after the first residency programs were formally introduced, the hiring process was "characterized by intense competition among hospitals for (an inadequate supply) of interns." In general, hospitals benefited from filling their positions as early as possible, and applicants benefited from delaying acceptance of positions. The combination of these factors led to offers being made for positions up to two years in advance. While efforts made to delay the start of the application process were somewhat effective, they ultimately resulted in very short deadlines for responses by applicants, and the opportunities for dissatisfaction on the part of both applicants and hospitals remained. The students in 1951 protested against the originally proposed matching algorithm, and objected to the hospital-optimal nature of the proposed algorithm. The NRMP stated that students from 1951 objected to an algorithm that gave them incentives to misrepresent their true preferences.