Match antitrust suit awaits action as Match Day arrives

Legal experts see merit in the anti-competitive case against the National Resident Matching Program.

By Myrle Croasdale, AMNews staff. March 17, 2003.

Patrick Birmingham is anxious to make his Match, just like every other medical student in his class.

"I'm trying not to think about it," he said of this year's March 20th Match Day. "My list is submitted. I have no control over it now."

Birmingham, a student at Loyola Stritch School of Medicine in Maywood, Ill., and vice speaker of the AMA Medical Student Section, has interviewed with 14 orthopedic surgery programs. He's weighed each program's merits and ranked all 14 on his list. He's heard that one out of seven applicants in this specialty doesn't match, and he doesn't want to be among them.

All these preparations, all his undergraduate and medical education now hinge on one day.

In the midst of this anxiety and excitement, Birmingham hasn't had much time to think about the lawsuit filed against the National Resident Matching Program last year, but he does have an opinion about it.

"For me, the lawsuit doesn't taint the Match at all, but it disturbs me that it could change things for students in the future," he said.

The lawsuit claims that the NRMP violates federal antitrust laws. If the plaintiffs prove their case, it's possible the Match process could revert to the time when job offers came with short decision deadlines and students had to choose between taking their first offer or risking it to wait for a better one.

A settlement is also likely to bring changes to the Match and could give residents the ability to negotiate salary and work hours. Anything short of a ruling for the NRMP means that this year's Match participants could be among the last to have experienced the process in its current form.