The American Osteopathic Association is urging residency programs to end the expectation that osteopathic medical students take both the COMLEX-USA and USMLE licensing exams.
The report, from a June summit in Chicago convened by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, examined the first decade of single accreditation for graduate medical education, a transition that began in 2015 and was completed in 2020. It found that single accreditation achieved structural integration and expanded opportunities for DO students, but that cultural, operational and informational gaps continue to affect parity, specialty access and how residency programs understand osteopathic training, according to a Nov. 3 AOA news release.
“DO students should not have to take two licensing exams or pay higher rotation fees to compete on equal footing,” association CEO Kathleen Creason said in the release. “The medical education community agrees on that, and it is time to act.”
Leaders from Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine, the Association of American Medical Colleges, the National Resident Matching Program, both national licensing exam boards, medical schools and residency programs all agreed that DO students’ dual exam requirements “must not continue.” They found the dual requirement imposed financial, logistical and fairness burdens without having educational justifications, the release said.
The report also called for the elimination of higher fees for DO student clinical rotations and expanded education for residency program directors on DO training and certification.
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