State to list ‘disapproved’ Caribbean medical schools

By Carolyne Park (Contact)



LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas State Medical Board is developing a list of foreign medical schools considered so poor in quality that their graduates won’t be allowed to practice medicine in the Natural State.
After more than eight months of consideration, board members Friday agreed to follow the Medical Board of California’s list of “approved” and “disapproved” schools as its main guide in deciding which Caribbean medical schools will be blacklisted in Arkansas.
The list of disapproved schools will help the board “weed out” inadequate doctors and prevent them from practicing in Arkansas, board member Dr. Joseph Beck said.
“What we’re trying to do is protect the people of Arkansas the best way we know how,” Beck said.
While U.S. medical schools must meet national accreditation standards, some other countries don’t have similar standards.State medical boards responsible for regulating and licensing physicians are left to determine which schools have credible programs, but most don’t have the resources to evaluate schools themselves.
California’s board is the exception, said Dr. Trent P. Pierce, chairman of the Arkansas board.
“California is the only state that does its own site reviews of medical schools, and its list in many cases is the gold standard for which schools [state medical boards] will allow and not allow,” he said.
Several states use California’s list as a guide, including Vermont, Alaska and New Mexico.
“We don’t need to reinvent the wheel,” Beck said.
There are more than 1,800 foreign medical schools, and about 25 percent of doctors practicing in the U.S. today graduated from foreign medical schools, according to the Federation of State Medical Boards.
Arkansas’ medical board doesn’t track the number of doctors in the state who graduated from medical schools outside the United States.
The Educational Commission for Foreign Medical School Graduates, which evaluates foreign medical school graduates to see if they’re qualified to enter U.S. residency or fellowship programs, approved 10,172 people last year.
The California board, which has had a formal evaluation process for more than a decade, has a list of 10 “disapproved” medical schools, including St. Matthew’s University on Grand Cayman, Spartan Health Sciences University on St. Lucia and University of Health Sciences Antigua in St. John’s.
California also has a list of more than 300 “recognized” medical schools in countries worldwide whose applicants will be considered for a medical license there.
Arkansas’ initial disapproved list will include only medical schools in the Caribbean because the state gets a lot of applications from graduates of schools there, said Bill Trice, board attorney. Schools from other countries may be added later.
“The information we’re gathering now is focused on our applicant pool,” Trice said.
Any Caribbean school that isn’t recognized by California, or that is on that state’s disapproved list, will be on Arkansas’ list. A school may also be included on Arkansas’ list if it is disapproved by medical boards in at least two other states.
Arkansas also won’t consider licensing applicants from medical schools whose curriculum is Internet-based or involves distance learning.
The board plans to present the list to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences by July 1 so it can be considered as faculty members review applicants for medical residency programs, said Peggy Cryer, the state board’s executive secretary.
In the future, the state board will publish a list by June 15 each year. Schools can be removed from the list if they become approved in California or in at least two other states.
UAMS officials estimate about 20 percent of its current 590 residents statewide are graduates of foreign medical schools.
On Thursday, the board voted to allow exceptions for people already enrolled in a UAMS residency program as of Aug. 1. Those doctors will be considered for a medical license in Arkansas even if their medical school ends up on the disapproved list if they meet other board requirements.
Any other current or future applicants from disapprovedschools won’t be considered for a medical license in Arkansas, according to Friday’s vote.
All foreign medical school graduates must show they have served three years as an intern or resident in an accredited postgraduate medical program in the United States or have completed one year as an intern or resident in an accredited postgraduate medical program in the United States and be enrolled in an accredited postgraduate program in Arkansas.
Board member Dr. Omar T. Atiq said he hopes Arkansas will consider adding non-Caribbean schools to its disapproved list, to distinguish between reputable and disreputable schools in other countries. He wants to ensure applicants from throughout the world are held to the samestandards.
“There are schools elsewhere in the world that we know nothing about,” he said. “And there are some pretty darn useless schools out there.”
This article was published Saturday, June 7, 2008. Front Section, Pages 1, 5 on 06/07/2008

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Carpe Diem
MUA-Nevis Graduate
Family Practice Residency
2007-2010

well it does say that if a school is approved in 2 other states that it would be removed from the disapproved list.

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St. Matthew's Forum Moderator

well it does say that if a school is approved in 2 other states that it would remove the school from its disapproved list.

aint smu approved in florida and NY. The smu administration should have seen this coming. Hopefully they have a good plan in place to convince arkansas that we are indeed a very legit school.

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St. Matthew's Forum Moderator

The writer messed up and was not clear on that. By reading the entire article and following the boards thoughts, it meant to say something different. I think it meant to say if the school is disapproved in two states and not on the list then they will not grant a license. I just know they targeted the Carib schools in the article.

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Carpe Diem
MUA-Nevis Graduate
Family Practice Residency
2007-2010

I sent a package to the board trying to convince all of them of that.

Read the entire article. I know SMU is ON the list of dissaproved. MUA is not on the approved list or unapproved list. There is no difference here because if we are NOT of the list and dissaproved in two other states then we are unable to get a license too.

The family medicine residencies in AR will suffer.

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Carpe Diem
MUA-Nevis Graduate
Family Practice Residency
2007-2010

lol....

Mirror mirror on the wall tell me who/what/where/why states are going to disapprove us…
Better yet, smu should ask their crystal ball so that can be better prepare…after all, they see things coming!

Nevisbutterfly what are we Razorbacks to do practice in another state? Unbelievable that the ASMB just followed the California list without researching the individual schools themselves. It was a sad day when that article was published. As you know, it will be extremely difficult to turn this thing around.

its called being prepared. I'm sure you were prepared for your steps and other exams. When you 1st opened that booklet i'm sure your eyes didnt jump out of your head.

SMU should have know that the medical board of arkansas were meeting about the possibility of adopting the cali list.

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St. Matthew's Forum Moderator

this sets a HORRIBLE precident for SMU...slowly states seem to be favoring the Cali list.

It seems unfair to just adopt the Cali list and cite the fact they don't have the resources to come up with their own list. They should just do a case by case basis. The way the article portrays schools like SMU is so negative that one thinks that docs from there will actually jeopardize the public's safety.

So how can SMU get off the Cali disapproval list? Are they even trying to?