I don't care for the AOA or COCA, but do people in this thread really think that the NBME and LCME aren't doing exactly the same thing? The USMLE wasn't a thing until the 90's and COMLEX came into existence a few years later to ensure DO schools were keeping up with standards of MDs. It's not like it's just some big money grab from the AOA alone, it's the exact same for the NBME. If you think it's not, just compare the price of Step exams to COMLEX exams. It's a money grab all around.
Unlike the USMLE, most PDs in ACGME never developed a visceral feel for whats a good score.
I know 250 is a good score. Can’t tell you what 700 means for me.
I never understood this. It's not hard to understand the COMLEX scale, and it's actually easier to understand than USMLE since COMLEX adjusts it's scores so that 500 is the mean on a regular basis while USMLE just keeps going up. It's not hard to interpret and I think PDs who don't understand the COMLEX scale do so willfully.
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If this is true, then
@Stagg737 is accurate to say that LCME takeover of DO schools and merging the DO degree into MD degree is unlikely to happen in the future. The failure and attrition rates arising from this merger would be disastrous. Not to mention, most DO schools would be shut down and even established DO schools would have a hard time meeting LCME requirements.
I don't think it would be an issue at all. At my school over 80% of our class takes both exams and our class average is regularly in the mid-220's, which is admittedly below the national mean, but not by much. I also know more than a couple MD schools off the top of my head whose average was lower than my DO school's, so if DO schools are able to hit means in the 220's I really don't see a problem with that so long as their pass rates are adequate (which I think most schools would meet other than a select few which I don't think should exist at all, but I can say the same about a few MD schools as well).
Also, the biggest issue in terms of DO schools meeting LCME requirements would be with research opportunities/funding for students and faculty (which would be a significant problem at some schools) as well as having full-time faculty in enough fields (easily fixed at most places). A small number of schools would have facility issues, and some may have issues with clinical rotations, though this is pretty exaggerated by SDN and LCME standards for clinical education are actually significantly lower than people on SDN seem to think (for example, MD students are only required to complete ONE rotation with residents).
Damn straight it's not going to happen. I really wish those of you who engage in these frivolous wishes would stop these wet dreams of an LCME takeover. It's simply not going to happen.
IF you really and sincerely want to help your profession, join the AOA, get inside the decision making apparatus, and change the rules that COCA uses.
Why are you so adamant that it won't? Once 2020 hits, there are no more AOA residencies, which means the ACGME could require all applicants to take take the USMLE exams and stop accepting COMLEX as an acceptable credential. They already strong-armed the AOA into the merger by threatening to require all those entering an ACGME fellowship to complete an ACGME residency (which will be the case anyway come 2020), so why not do it with USMLE. After all, if you require all 6,000 people in a given graduating DO class to take Step 1, 2, and 2 cs, that's an additional $15 million+ /year.
While I wouldn't mind it happening, it's so much of a money grab that the AOA will do literally anything they can to prevent that from happening, but it's profitable enough that I can also see ACGME/NBME pushing to amalgamate everything (after all, the merger was not a friendly union, it was a hostile take-over). Who knows what will actually happen, but if anyone thinks that it's not about money from either side (whether it's NBME or NBOME), they're being naive and kidding themselves.
