President Trump issued an executive order Wednesday targeting the nation’s two primary medical education accreditors for their diversity, equity, and inclusion standards, a move that could significantly impact minority representation in healthcare. The order specifically criticizes the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) and the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) for what it calls “unlawful discriminatory practices.”
The administration’s directive threatens to strip these organizations of their exclusive accrediting authority unless they remove requirements that medical schools “engage in ongoing, systematic, and focused recruitment and retention activities, to achieve mission-appropriate diversity outcomes among its students.” Similarly, the ACGME is challenged for expecting institutions to implement “policies and procedures related to recruitment and retention of individuals underrepresented in medicine,” including “racial and ethnic minority individuals.”
Critics warn the order could potentially disrupt medical education systems that currently support diversity initiatives. The University of California Board of Regents, which operates six medical schools graduating over 700 MD students annually, expressed “serious concerns about the implications of the administration’s proposal.”
Dr. Bryan Carmody, a pediatric nephrologist and medical education expert, cautioned that if the administration revokes these organizations’ accreditation authority, “it could cause chaos” in medical education. This disruption could have far-reaching consequences for teaching hospitals, which received $16 billion in 2020 from Medicare to fund residency training.
In contrast, Dr. Stanley Goldfarb of Do No Harm, which opposes DEI efforts, supports the order, arguing that admitting students with “lesser academic achievements” leads to worse outcomes for patients.
See: “Trump Order Targets Med School, Residency Accreditors Over ‘Unlawful’ DEI Standards” (April 25, 2025)