QGenda alternatives for residency programs: Chiefly vs QGenda

Chiefly is both residency scheduling software and a service, built only for graduate medical education programs. A program sends last year’s schedule and its requirements, and our team loads the program’s rules and ACGME requirements. Chiefly then generates the block schedule, with the daily, clinic and call schedules integrated, and re-runs them when anything changes, from parental leave to an off-cycle resident.

Every program gets a dedicated scheduling advisor. Boston Children’s 188-resident program built a fully ACGME-compliant block schedule within a week (case study), and UVA Pediatrics built its academic year in a week and a half (case study).

QGenda is healthcare workforce software for provider scheduling, on-call, credentialing, and time and attendance across hospitals and health systems. It is built to schedule an entire provider workforce, not often to build a residency program’s block, daily, clinic and call schedules. For many programs, that work is still being done in Excel.

Chiefly is purpose-built for GME, unlike QGenda, which is built to schedule an entire provider workforce.

• Schedules generated for you. Chiefly generates the block schedule from your program’s requirements, and the daily, clinic and call schedules with it, all integrated. Residency programs typically don’t build their block schedules in QGenda; they build them elsewhere and use QGenda to publish them.
• ACGME rules built in. Your program’s rules and ACGME requirements are loaded into Chiefly, and every schedule is built and re-run against them. We found no documentation of QGenda’s scheduler enforcing ACGME rules.
• Automated mid-year changes. Chiefly re-runs the schedule around parental leave, late starts and off-cycle residents, and saves every version so you can see what changed. QGenda has no such automation for residency scheduling.
• Swaps checked against your rules. In Chiefly’s Swap Portal, residents request swaps, Chiefly checks each one against your program’s rules, and a chief approves in seconds. QGenda’s trades aren’t built around a residency program’s rules.
• Rules that carry over. Chiefly keeps your rules from one chief class to the next and tracks each resident’s progress toward multi-year requirements. In QGenda, each year is a new build.
• Setup on your timeline. With Chiefly, you send last year’s schedule, our team enters your rules, and we work with each program on its own timeline. G2 reviewers report about four months to implement QGenda on average.

Residency programs that don’t use QGenda tend to build their schedules one of three ways:

• Chiefly. Built for residency scheduling: it generates the block schedule from your program’s requirements, with the daily, clinic and call schedules automated and integrated.
• A spreadsheet. Excel or Google Sheets, built by the chiefs each year, with every rule in formulas or in someone’s head (Chiefly vs Excel).
• An on-call scheduling tool such as Amion. Used mainly for call schedules and who’s on call (Chiefly vs Amion).

Under the ACGME Common Program Requirements effective July 1, 2026, a resident schedule has to respect:

• 80 hours a week at most, averaged over four weeks (6.20)
• At least 14 hours off after 24 hours of in-house call (6.21.a)
• One day in seven free of clinical work, averaged over four weeks (6.21.b)
• No more than 24 hours of continuous work, plus up to 4 for handoffs (6.22)
• In-house call no more often than every third night, averaged (6.27)

Chiefly builds the block, daily, clinic and call schedules to your program’s requirements, so problems surface before a schedule goes out.

There is no switch to make. Chiefly replaces the spreadsheets where the block, daily, clinic and call schedules get built, and QGenda keeps doing what it does for your hospital today.

1. Upload existing files. Your block schedule, curriculum and staffing requirements, in whatever format you already have. There is nothing to create.
2. We build the rules, not you. Our team loads your staffing, ACGME and program rules into Chiefly, and comes back with a few questions along the way to confirm we have them right.
3. Training and support. We train your chiefs and admin staff to re-run the schedule or change the rules on the fly, then stay involved with quarterly check-ins and support whenever you need it.

Usually it isn’t a choice, because they solve different parts of the problem. QGenda is where the schedule gets published and seen; Chiefly is everything before that: the rules, building the block schedule, the daily, clinic and call schedules that follow from it, the re-runs when something changes, and the swaps. Most programs keep QGenda for publishing and add Chiefly for the rest.

Chiefly is the better fit for programs that:

• Want more control over their ACGME rules. Your program’s rules and ACGME requirements are loaded into Chiefly, and every schedule is built and re-run against them.
• Still build the schedule in Excel. Even where the hospital uses QGenda, the residency schedules are usually built in spreadsheets and then published. Chiefly replaces that Excel layer: it generates the block, daily, clinic and call schedules from your rules, and the export still goes wherever you publish today.
• Want one schedule, not four. In Chiefly the block schedule syncs with the daily, clinic and call schedules, so a single change on the block side cascades through the whole platform.
• Need a system of record across years. Chiefly tracks each resident’s progress toward multi-year requirements, not a snapshot of a single year.
• Have a hard schedule. Many rotations and requirements, off-service rotators, frequent mid-year changes, and chiefs who turn over every year.

The same capabilities as the comparison on our homepage, compared as of October 2026.