A major medical organization that accredits all graduate medical education programs, like internships and residency programs, announced Friday that it was suspending some of its “diversity” requirements.
The board of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education released a statement announcing it was pausing certain “diversity” requirements due to concerns about compliance with federal law. The announcement comes after President Donald Trump called out the accreditation organization in an executive order asking the Education Department to crack down on accreditation bodies mandating universities adopt DEI programs.
“The ACGME has heard significant concerns from multiple constituents in several states and from federal Sponsoring Institutions about their ability to comply with some of the ACGME requirements addressing diversity in light of state or federal laws,” the organization said Friday, noting that it was suspending multiple diversity requirements because of “uncertainty” about their legality.
The organization said that it would be further addressing the requirements at its June board meeting.
The diversity requirements included mandating that institutions sponsoring medical education programs implement policies to recruit a “diverse and inclusive” workforce of residents and faculty.
“The Sponsoring Institution, in partnership with each of its programs, must engage in practices that focus on ongoing, mission-driven, systematic recruitment and retention of a diverse and inclusive workforce of residents/fellows, faculty members, senior administrative staff members, and other relevant members of its GME community,” the requirement reads.
ACGME Institutional Requirements.
The board also paused a similar policy for its residency program requirements.
In an April executive order, Trump mentioned the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education as one of the accrediting bodies he said had “abused” its “enormous authority” by forcing universities to adopt DEI policies.
“The Secretary of Education shall, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, hold accountable, including through denial, monitoring, suspension, or termination of accreditation recognition, accreditors who fail to meet the applicable recognition criteria or otherwise violate Federal law, including by requiring institutions seeking accreditation to engage in unlawful discrimination in accreditation-related activity under the guise of ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ initiatives,” Trump wrote.
The announcement from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education earned praised from Dr. Travis Morrell, a senior fellow at Do No Harm, an organization devoted to getting politics out of medicine.
“ACGME has finally cracked after three months of doubling-down on its commitment to radical identity politics. ACGME’s suspension of absurd diversity rules is an encouraging first step but now it must permanently eliminate these requirements – along with the equity in education rule it still enforces,” Morrell told The Daily Wire. “The sudden change of tune is a direct result of President Trump’s historic executive order dismantling accreditors’ ability to impose DEI requirements on schools. By prioritizing expertise over politics, we will slowly but surely restore a culture of meritocracy to American medical institutions.”
