LCME Accreditation: updated November 2023
OHSU M.D. Program fully complies with LCME accreditation standards
The Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) cleared OHSU School of Medicine’s Undergraduate Medical Education (UME) of the remaining 11 areas requiring improvement, bringing the M.D. Program into full compliance with all LCME accreditation standards and earning satisfactory performance in all 93 elements.
“I’m elated that the LCME has acknowledged our extremely hard work over the past three-plus years since our original site visit in January 2020,” said Tracy Bumsted, M.D., M.P.H., associate dean for undergraduate medical education, OHSU School of Medicine. “To show full compliance and satisfactory performance for all 12 standards, 93 elements, and to correct all 17 citations we received in June 2020 during a global pandemic that disrupted nearly everything we do in UME, is a testament to the incredible dedication and grit of our UME staff, faculty and students. We persevered and never took our eyes off the ball, and as a result, we achieved this amazing result.”
The next full LCME survey and site visit will be in the 2027-2028 calendar year.
Background
Dr. Bumsted says she’s proud of the tireless efforts and hard work of UME staff members, faculty teachers and leaders in the program. She first convened students, staff and faculty to "See the Me in LCME" back in 2018 in preparation for the January 2020 site visit.
Following the full survey and site visit in January 2020, the LCME determined that 17 elements in the M.D. Program required improvement and assigned its status “full accreditation with an indeterminate term.”
UME leaders, staff and faculty members – working hand-in-hand with students – got right to work making improvements, reporting their efforts to the LCME in November 2021.
In March 2022, the LCME issued an updated determination, shifting the program’s status from “full accreditation with an indeterminate term” to “full accreditation” upon demonstration that 11 areas still in need of improvement were being addressed.
After submitting a second status report this August, the M.D. Program learned that it had successfully demonstrated compliance with all LCME standards and is achieving satisfactory performance.
11 remaining improvement areas addressed
Examples of improvements UME made in the remaining 11 areas include:
- Completely remaking the career, academic, and wellness advising system for students, launching the multi-faceted OASIS program with a comprehensive framework that includes a strong wellness component to support the success of every student.
- Creating a comprehensive School of Medicine Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Anti-Racism Strategic Action Plan that is a roadmap not only to diversify the faculty but also continuing to diversify and support students. As part of that, one such initiative was expanding the UME diversity navigator program from two to four positions, to better serve and meet the needs of students from diverse backgrounds.
- Opening new, private study space for medical students in the Robertson Life Sciences Building and adding a medical student-only call room and relaxation lounge located in Sam Jackson Hall connected via sky bridge to OHSU Hospital.
Leading innovation
“Our YourMD curriculum, and the extracurricular aspects of the UME program such as OASIS, are very unique,” says Dr. Bumsted. “Over the past 10 years, we worked to boldly transform and modernize our previous curriculum to where we are now, and this accreditation outcome demonstrates that while change can be hard, leading innovation is the right thing to do to ensure our medical student graduates can fulfill our promise to society – to optimally prepare graduates for their residencies and professional practices as future physicians in order to meet the needs of our patients and communities.”
“Undergraduate medical education is the frontier of our efforts to advance medicine and to improve health for not just the few, but the many,” said Dean David Jacoby. “I am exceedingly proud of and grateful for Dr. Bumsted and the UME team’s sustained, outstanding and effective efforts to continuously transform, in partnership with students and faculty, the world-class education that the OHSU School of Medicine offers our future physicians.”
Accreditation
The OHSU School of Medicine’s undergraduate medical education program is fully accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) and meets the licensure requirements in all 50 states. For more information, contact the LCME at lcme@ohsu.edu.
LCME Secretariat
Veronica M. Catanese, MD, MBA
LCME Co-Secretary and Senior Director, Accreditation Services
Barbara Barzansky, PhD, MHPE
LCME Co-Secretary and Director, Undergraduate Medical Education
Robert B. Hash, MD, MBA
Assistant LCME Secretary and Associate Director, Undergraduate Medical Education