NOTE:
Applicant Schools are not accredited and may not recruit or advertise
for applicants or accept student applications.
Step
2. Candidate Schools
A
program obtains "Candidate School" status when all
of the following are completed:
1. The
program submits a completed Modified Medical Education
Database and self-study document to the LCME for review.
2. Those
documents are favorably reviewed by the LCME (and, for Canadian
schools, also by the CACMS).
3. The
LCME approves the program to be granted a survey visit for
preliminary accreditation.
NOTE:
Candidate Schools are not accredited and may not recruit or advertise
for applicants or accept student applications.
Step
3. Preliminary Accreditation
A
program may obtain preliminary accreditation when all of the
following are completed:
1. The program
obtains Candidate School status.
2. An LCME
survey team completes a survey visit and prepares a report of
its findings for consideration by the LCME at its next regularly
scheduled meeting.
4. The LCME
votes to grant preliminary accreditation to the program for
an entering class in an upcoming academic year.
Once preliminary accreditation is granted, the program may begin
to recruit applicants and accept applications for enrollment.
If the program does not enroll a charter class within two years
of its receipt of preliminary accreditation, it must reapply
for applicant school status and pay a reapplication fee.
Step
4. Provisional Accreditation
A
program may obtain provisional accreditation when all
of the following are completed:
1. The program
obtains preliminary accreditation.
2. The program
submits a modified medical educational database and a self-study
summary to the LCME.
3. An LCME
survey team completes a limited survey visit prior to the midpoint
of the second year of the curriculum to review implementation
progress and the status of planning for later stages of the
program. The survey team prepares a report of its findings for
consideration by the LCME at its next regularly scheduled meeting.
5.
The LCME votes to grant provisional accreditation to the program.
Once provisional accreditation has been granted, students enrolled
in the program may continue into their third and fourth years
of medical education, and the program may continue to enroll new
students.
Step
5. Full Accreditation
After obtaining
provisional accreditation, a program may obtain full accreditation
when all of
the following are completed:
1. The program
obtains provisional accreditation.
2. The program
submits a modified medical educational database and a self-study
summary to the LCME.
3. An LCME team
completes a full accreditation survey visit that takes place late
in the third year or early in the fourth year of the curriculum,
and prepares a report of its findings for consideration by the LCME
at its next regularly scheduled meeting.
4. The LCME
reviews the survey team's report and determines that the program
leading to the M.D. degree fully complies with all LCME accreditation
standards.
5. The LCME
votes to grant full accreditation to the program for the balance
of an eight-year term that begins when the program was granted preliminary
accreditation status.
Click
here to see a directory of medical education programs that are
fully accredited by the LCME.
