Medical schools in the United States are accredited by two organizations, each covering a different type of medical degree. Schools granting the MD degree are accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), while schools granting the DO degree are accredited by the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation (COCA). Both are recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, and their approval is what allows medical students to receive federal financial aid and, ultimately, become licensed physicians.
LCME: Accreditation for MD Programs
The Liaison Committee on Medical Education is the accrediting authority for medical education programs that award the Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree. It’s jointly sponsored by two major organizations: the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) and the American Medical Association (AMA). Beyond U.S. recognition, the LCME is also recognized by the World Federation for Medical Education (WFME), giving its stamp of approval international standing.
LCME accreditation operates on an eight-year cycle. The process itself takes 18 to 24 months and involves an institutional self-study followed by a peer review and on-site visit. If the committee has concerns about whether a school is meeting standards, it can grant provisional accreditation and require additional reporting or follow-up visits before granting full status.
COCA: Accreditation for DO Programs
The Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation, housed under the American Osteopathic Association, handles accreditation for colleges of osteopathic medicine. COCA currently accredits 46 colleges of osteopathic medicine operating across 73 teaching sites. Like the LCME, COCA is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Its accreditation confirms that a school has met or exceeded standards for educational quality, and graduates of COCA-accredited programs are eligible for the same residency pathways as MD graduates.
Why Accreditation Matters for Students
Accreditation isn’t just a quality label. It’s a legal gateway. Under federal law, a school must be accredited by a recognized agency for its students to qualify for federal student loans and other Title IV financial aid. If a medical school loses its accreditation, students there can lose access to federal funding, and graduates may face barriers to licensure.
State medical boards also rely on accreditation status when deciding who qualifies for a license to practice. Graduating from an LCME- or COCA-accredited school is a baseline requirement in virtually every U.S. state. This makes accreditation one of the most consequential decisions a prospective medical student should verify before enrolling anywhere.
What Happens When Schools Fall Short
Accreditation isn’t all-or-nothing. Schools can hold different statuses depending on how well they meet standards. New schools typically receive provisional accreditation, a time-limited status that allows them to enroll students while they demonstrate full compliance. This provisional period can be extended by a year or two if problems surface that need correcting.
Schools that develop serious compliance issues after being fully accredited can be placed on probation. Probation requires the school to submit progress reports showing it has corrected the problems. A school cannot remain on probation for longer than two years. If it fails to resolve its issues within that window, it risks losing accreditation entirely. For students, a school on probation is a significant red flag worth investigating before committing to enrollment.
Canadian Medical Schools
In Canada, MD programs are accredited by the Committee on Accreditation of Canadian Medical Schools (CACMS). CACMS uses a process similar to the LCME’s, with peer evaluation against national standards for educational quality. Graduates of CACMS-accredited schools are generally treated the same as LCME graduates for the purposes of U.S. residency applications and licensure, which is one reason many Canadian medical graduates practice in the United States.
International Medical Schools
Outside North America, medical school accreditation is handled by each country’s own national agency. The World Federation for Medical Education plays a coordinating role by establishing global baseline standards and recognizing national accrediting agencies that meet those standards. WFME initiated its global standards program in 1997, and those standards now serve as the template for accreditation criteria in countries around the world.
For international medical graduates hoping to practice in the United States, accreditation status matters in a very concrete way. The Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG), now operating under the organization called Intealth, has developed a Recognized Accreditation Policy that began implementation in late 2024. Under this policy, Intealth reports which international medical schools meet its accreditation requirements. For now, the policy does not block individuals from pursuing ECFMG Certification. Students and graduates of schools that don’t yet meet the requirements can still apply. But the policy signals a clear direction: international schools will increasingly need accreditation from a WFME-recognized agency to maintain credibility for graduates seeking to work in the U.S.
Federal law already imposes specific requirements on international medical schools whose students want to access U.S. federal loans. Among other criteria, at least 60 percent of a school’s enrollees and graduates must not be U.S. citizens or permanent residents, and at least 75 percent of its students and graduates taking the ECFMG licensing exams must have passed in the prior year. These thresholds exist to ensure that offshore schools serving mainly American students meet a verifiable standard of quality.
The Bigger Picture
WFME’s long-term goal is a global network of recognized accrediting agencies, essentially accrediting the accreditors. A global database of medical schools that includes qualitative information like accreditation status is being developed to serve as the foundation for international recognition of medical education. For students, this means the quality assurance landscape is tightening. Whether you attend school in the U.S. or abroad, accreditation status is becoming easier to verify and harder for schools to fake or ignore.