Accreditation
Welcome to The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine (UTRGV SOM) website! The Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), which is sponsored by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) and American Medical Association (AMA), is the organization that accredits medical schools in the United States and Canada. The UTRGV School of Medicine was awarded preliminary accreditation by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) in 2015. The LCME Limited Survey for Provisional Accreditation is scheduled for Sunday, February 16, 2020, through Wednesday, February 19, 2020.
This website is a hub to help you stay up-to-date on new developments, share your feedback, and gain an understanding of how the overall process affects you as a student, faculty, or staff member. This is an exciting time for UTRGVSOM, and we look forward to sharing this journey with each of you!
Accreditation Overview
Accreditation, both as a process and as a status, involves peer-developed standards that establish minimum expectations of a medical education program; a reflective self-study carried out by the school based on these standards; an independent ad hoc team of peers who visit the school to verify findings; and a group of peers who determine the accreditation status of the medical education program, the timing of the next visit, and any required follow-up for areas in which the school might have been found to be deficient. [1]
[1] Liaison Committee on Medical Education. (n.d.). Retrieved June 10, 2019, from 2018-2019 Provisional Survey Visit Preparation.
What is LCME?
Medical education programs leading to the MD degree in the United States and Canada are accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME). The LCME’s scope is limited to complete and independent medical education programs whose students are geographically located in the United States or Canada for their education and that are operated by universities or medical schools chartered in the United States or Canada. LCME accreditation is a voluntary, peer-reviewed process of quality assurance that determines whether the medical education program meets established standards. This process also fosters institutional and programmatic improvement. To achieve and maintain accreditation, a medical education program leading to the MD degree in the United States and Canada must meet the LCME accreditation standards contained in the LCME document Functions and Structure of a Medical School. Read More about LCME
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Accreditation Status
The LCME determines the accreditation status for a medical school and any required follow-up. The LCME may take one of the following actions: award provisional accreditation, retain the program on preliminary accreditation, continue preliminary accreditation and place the program on warning, continue preliminary accreditation and place the program on probation (this action is subject to reconsideration), and withdraw accreditation (this action is subject to appeal).
Accreditation Standards and Elements, Categories of Performance
The LCME has 12 accreditation standards, each with an accompanying set of elements specifying the components that collectively constitute the standard. For performance in the standards, the LCME uses the following terminology: compliance, compliance with a need for monitoring, and noncompliance. An element is judged to be satisfactory, satisfactory, with a need for monitoring, or unsatisfactory. The compliance status for a standard is based on the performance in the individual elements that together constitute the standard.
Helpful Links
Contact
Rachael Berget, M.Ed.
Director of Accreditation
UTRGV School of Medicine
Email: Rachael.Berget@utrgv.edu
Phone: (956) 296-1704