Best residency scheduling software: how to choose in 2026

Excel, for the part that takes the time. Residency scheduling has two halves: planning, building and tinkering with the year, and publishing the result so residents and rotation directors can see it. In most programs the first half happens in a spreadsheet inherited from last year’s chiefs, and the scheduling tools people name are used for the second.

• Chiefly. Built for the first half: it generates the block, daily, clinic and call schedules from your program’s rules, lets your chiefs tinker and re-run, and publishes or exports the result (how it works).
• Excel or Google Sheets. Where most programs still plan and build the year, because it’s flexible and gives chiefs control (Chiefly vs Excel).
• Amion. Used mainly to publish call schedules and show who’s on call; block assignments are entered by hand, imported from Excel or repeated from a template (Chiefly vs Amion).
• QGenda. Schedules a health system’s whole provider workforce; residency programs typically build their block schedules elsewhere and publish them in QGenda (Chiefly vs QGenda).
• ShiftAdmin and Lightning Bolt. Built around physician shifts and call, used most in emergency medicine and attending groups.
• Residency management systems. New Innovations and MedHub hold evaluations and duty-hour logs, and give programs a place to post rotations.

Because publishing tools aren’t built for it. Planning a residency year means trying ideas, undoing them and trying again, with every rule in view, and none of the publishing tools gives chiefs a place to do that. A spreadsheet does: it’s flexible, familiar and fully under the chief’s control.

The cost is the rest of the year:

• About half a chief’s year. That’s how long chief residents tell us scheduling by hand takes them.
• The domino effect. One parental leave, late start or off-cycle resident means re-working the rest of the year by hand.
• Dozens of spreadsheets. Block, daily, clinic and call in separate files, with nothing linking a change in one to the others.
• The rules leave with the chiefs. Each new chief class inherits a spreadsheet, not the logic behind it.

Chiefly replaces the spreadsheet, not the publishing tool. It’s both residency scheduling software and a service: you send last year’s schedule and requirements, our team loads your rules and ACGME requirements, along with the hundreds of nuances we’ve built up over many GME clients, and we work to your program’s timeline.

• One integrated system of record. The block, daily, clinic and call schedules are generated together, so a change on the block side carries through to the rest.
• Tinkering without the risk. Your chiefs re-run the schedule themselves and get the result in minutes, try what-ifs in a sandbox, and compare every saved version.
• Every rule, every time. Each build, change and swap is checked against your rules, and anything Chiefly can’t meet is flagged before it goes out.
• Years, not snapshots. Rules and residents roll over to the next chief class, and dashboards for program directors track each resident’s progress year over year.
• Publish anywhere. Residents can see the schedule in Chiefly, and every schedule exports to Excel, formatted for Amion, QGenda or whatever your hospital already uses.
• A team behind it. A dedicated scheduling advisor, training for each new chief class, and quarterly check-ins.

Boston Children’s, with 188 residents across two hospitals, saved more than 3,600 chief and admin hours in its first eight months (case study), and UVA Pediatrics built its academic year in a week and a half (case study). See how Chiefly works.

Take over the planning, building and tinkering, not just the publishing. Check each tool for:

• A schedule built from your rules, your program’s and ACGME’s, rather than typed in by hand.
• Block, daily, clinic and call in step, so one change carries through instead of being fixed four times.
• Safe tinkering: what-ifs in a sandbox, re-runs in minutes, and every version saved.
• Swaps checked against your rules before a chief approves.
• A system of record across years, so rules and each resident’s progress carry into the next chief class.
• Publishing where residents already look, with an Excel export so your data stays portable.
• Who sets it up: your chiefs, or the vendor’s team (service or software?).
• Your hospital’s IT review. Ask whether it holds PHI, where data is hosted, and whether the vendor will complete your HECVAT. Chiefly holds no patient data or PHI, is hosted in the United States, and has completed security reviews for more than a dozen health systems and academic medical centers.

Most differ in which half of the job they cover: planning and building the year, or publishing it (from vendor pages, October 2026).

For publishing call schedules and showing who’s on call, Amion is still widely used. For planning, building and tinkering with the residency year, it was never the tool: block assignments are entered by hand, imported from Excel or repeated from a template, so the real work happens in a spreadsheet first.

Chiefly is built for that work, and its export goes into Amion, so residents keep looking up who’s on call where they always have (Chiefly vs Amion).

For a residency program, both are mainly publishing tools. QGenda fits an institution that schedules its whole provider workforce in one platform; Amion fits a program that mainly needs call schedules and who’s on call, set up by the program itself. In either case, the year is usually planned and built in Excel first.

Chiefly works alongside either one: it replaces the spreadsheet, and its export drops into QGenda or Amion. For head-to-head detail, see Chiefly vs QGenda and Chiefly vs Amion.

Send the vendor last year’s schedule and your rules first, then ask these. Click any question to see how Chiefly answers it.

1. 1.Can you build a draft of our block schedule from our rules before we decide?Chiefly’s answer

   Yes. Send last year’s schedule and your requirements; our team loads your rules, and Chiefly generates a draft for your chiefs to review.
2. 2.Does the software generate assignments, or do our chiefs enter them?Chiefly’s answer

   Chiefly generates them from your rules. Your chiefs review, adjust and re-run, and can still edit by hand, with every edit checked against your rules.
3. 3.Can our chiefs test a what-if without touching the live schedule?Chiefly’s answer

   Yes. What-ifs run in a sandbox next to the live schedule, and every version is saved, so you can compare before you publish anything.
4. 4.A resident starts parental leave in November: can you show the re-run?Chiefly’s answer

   Yes. Your chiefs re-run the schedule around the leave themselves and see the result in minutes, with your rules intact and the previous version saved for comparison.
5. 5.Does a change to the block schedule carry into daily, clinic and call?Chiefly’s answer

   Yes. Chiefly builds the block, daily, clinic and call schedules as one integrated system, so a change on the block side carries through to the rest.
6. 6.Which ACGME rules does it check, and does it flag problems while you build?Chiefly’s answer

   Your ACGME requirements are loaded as rules alongside your program’s own, and every build and re-run is checked against them. Anything Chiefly can’t meet is flagged before the schedule goes out.
7. 7.How do residents request swaps, and is each one checked before approval?Chiefly’s answer

   Residents request swaps in Chiefly’s Swap Portal, and each one is checked against your rules before a chief approves it, usually in seconds. Chiefs and coordinators can also start a swap from the admin view.
8. 8.Who enters our rules, and who updates them when requirements change?Chiefly’s answer

   Our team enters your rules during setup, along with the hundreds of nuances we’ve built up over many GME clients. When something changes, your chiefs can edit a rule and re-run, and your scheduling advisor is there to help.
9. 9.What rolls over next year, and who trains our next chiefs?Chiefly’s answer

   Rules, residents and settings roll over, bringing in your incoming matched residents. Each new chief class gets its own training, and your scheduling advisor stays the same.
10. 10.Can we export everything to Excel in a format other platforms accept?Chiefly’s answer

    Yes. Every schedule downloads to Excel, and our team formats the file to match the upload format of the tool you already use, such as Amion or QGenda.
11. 11.Do you hold PHI, where is our data hosted, and will you complete our HECVAT?Chiefly’s answer

    Chiefly holds no patient data or PHI, only workforce scheduling data, hosted in the United States and encrypted. We have completed HECVAT and other security reviews for more than a dozen health systems and academic medical centers.