# Your residency program's training verification is wrong. What can you do? Practical Guidance · Published 2026-08-10 · Resident Help **Short answer:** Get a copy of exactly what was sent and to whom, compare it line by line against your own records, and ask the program in writing to correct each factual error with documents attached. If it will not, a negotiated factual verification, with agreed text and one named person to answer future requests, is usually more realistic than emergency court relief against a private hospital. You already left. The program's verification is still following you. Every time you apply for a training position, a license, or board eligibility, someone asks your former program to verify your training. The program answers from whatever its file says at that moment. If the file is wrong, the error follows you to every application. Tell us what the verification says and who is asking for it: [start a confidential intake](https://www.residenthelp.org/intake). ## Find out exactly what was sent Ask the requesting program, board, or credentialing body for a copy of the verification as received. You cannot correct a document you have not seen. Note who signed it and the date. ## Compare it line by line Check each answer against your own records: - Training dates, and credit awarded by rotation. - Probation, remediation, or leave, and how each is described. - Investigations or suspensions, and whether they were closed. - How your departure is characterized. - Standing and eligibility to continue. Mark each error and the document that proves it: a promotion letter, a remediation completion record, a separation agreement, or your own evaluations. See [get your file before you leave](https://www.residenthelp.org/blog/get-your-residency-file-before-you-leave). ## Ask for a correction in writing Write to the program director and GME office. List each factual error, attach the proof, and ask that a corrected verification be sent to the requester. Keep it factual. Ask who answers verification requests, and how. ## If the program will not correct it A negotiated factual verification is usually more realistic than an emergency court order against a private hospital. That means agreed text for the verification, attached to a written agreement, sent unchanged on request, with one named person to answer. If your separation agreement already set the text, the program is bound to it. ## Prevent it next time If you are still negotiating a separation, agree the verification text now. See [resignation with a neutral summative](https://www.residenthelp.org/blog/neutral-summative-resignation-residency) and [what a realistic outcome can look like](https://www.residenthelp.org/blog/what-you-can-negotiate-when-your-program-wants-you-to-resign). ## If this is happening to you Tell us what the verification says, who is asking for it, and when your application is due. We will review your situation confidentially and point you to the right next step: [start a confidential intake](https://www.residenthelp.org/intake). Resident Help is not a law firm, and submitting an intake does not create an attorney-client relationship. If your situation needs a lawyer, we will tell you and help you find one. ## Common questions ### My residency program verification is wrong. What can I do? Ask the requesting board or program for a copy of what was sent. Compare each line against your records. Then write to the program director and GME office identifying each factual error, attaching your proof, and asking for a corrected verification to be sent. ### Can I make my former program change its verification? Not easily by force. Court orders against private hospitals are slow and uncertain. A negotiated factual verification, with the text agreed in writing and sent unchanged on request, is usually the more realistic route. ### What should a training verification include? Usually your training dates, credit awarded, and answers to standard questions about probation, leave, investigations, and standing. The answers must match what the program's records show, which is why getting your file matters. ## Sources - Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, Common Program Requirements (Residency), 2025, https://www.acgme.org/globalassets/pfassets/programrequirements/2025-reformatted-requirements/cprresidency_2025_reformatted.pdf - National Practitioner Data Bank, Guidebook Chapter E Q&A on residents and interns, https://www.npdb.hrsa.gov/guidebook/EClinicalPrivilegesQA41.jsp This post is general information and not legal advice. Institutional policies and board rules change, so confirm the version in force on your dates. ## Related guidance - [Resignation with a neutral summative: what to ask for, and what it will not fix](https://www.residenthelp.org/blog/neutral-summative-resignation-residency): A neutral summative evaluation is the most common thing residents ask for when they agree to resign. It sounds like a win. On its own it rarely is, because verification forms ask about much more than the summative. - [Get your residency file before you leave: a checklist](https://www.residenthelp.org/blog/get-your-residency-file-before-you-leave): The day you lose system access is the day your record becomes the program's record. This checklist lists what to download and request while you still can, and the documents that most often decide outcomes. - [Does the NPDB report a resident's dismissal? What actually gets reported, straight from the Guidebook](https://www.residenthelp.org/blog/npdb-and-residents-what-actually-gets-reported): Residents are threatened with the Data Bank and reassured about the Data Bank, often in the same week, and both messages are usually imprecise. The NPDB Guidebook itself draws the lines, and they are narrower than most programs and most rumors suggest. ## Start here - [Questions residents ask, answered](https://www.residenthelp.org/faq): Short answers to every question our guides cover, from resignation offers and appeal deadlines to accommodations and visas. - [Know your rights as a resident](https://www.residenthelp.org/rights): What your program owes you under ACGME requirements, what federal law protects, and the first 72 hours. - [Court decisions on resident dismissal and probation](https://www.residenthelp.org/cases): Published opinions every resident should know before a probation, dismissal, or forced-leave decision. - [The free Residency Record](https://www.residenthelp.org/record): The documents every resident should keep, the dates that decide non-renewal, and a private place for both. --- Source: https://www.residenthelp.org/blog/wrong-residency-training-verification Publisher: Resident Help (https://www.residenthelp.org) This website provides general information and is not legal advice. Using this site or submitting a form does not create an attorney client relationship.