Medical School Accreditor Eliminates Diversity Standard

The body that accredits medical schools leading to MD degrees has dropped diversity as a standard, USA Today reported.

The Liaison Committee on Medical Education, which is sponsored by the Association of American Medical Colleges and the American Medical Association, voted to stop evaluating diversity programs as a measure of a medical school’s quality after “thoughtful and careful consideration and discussion,” according to a committee spokesperson.

In the 2023 edition of the published accreditation manual, which went into effect July 1, 2024, the academic and learning standards include a section on diversity programs and partnerships, which says medical schools should have policies and practices in place “to achieve mission-appropriate diversity outcomes” among students, faculty and administrators.

“These activities include the use of programs and/or partnerships aimed at achieving diversity among qualified applicants for medical school admission and the evaluation of program and partnership outcomes,” it reads.

In the edition published this month, set to go into effect July 1, that paragraph has been excised.

“We’re just dumbfounded by this decision made by LCME,” Virginia Caine, a professor of medicine at Indiana University and president of the National Medical Association, which represents Black physicians, told USA Today. “We have such a rich and incredible history of talented Black physicians. If we knock out the access before they even are entering medical schools or academic schools, we’re just going to be a nation that’s not as creative, not as innovative and not as successful.”