APCCMPD Responds to Call for Comments on Proposed Changes to USMLE Score Report
On July 26, 2019, the APCCMPD responded to the proposed changes to the USMLE Score Report as outlined in a the Summary Report and Preliminary Recommendations from the Invitational Conference on USMLE Scoring (InCUS), March 11-12, 2019. 

Recently the USMLE convened a conference to discuss the future of USMLE testing.  This conference was in response to growing calls for a change in the system, which rewards student focus on this high-stakes test at the expense of other, less testable medical training activities; and the fact that the test is being used by many programs as a discriminator for residency (and fellowship) selection- a function that test was not designed to perform. 

The InCUS Conference took place March 11-12, 2019.  In short, the conference had four recommendations. They are:

1. Reduce the adverse impact of the current overemphasis on USMLE performance in residency screening and selection through consideration of changes such as pass/fail scoring.
2. Accelerate research on the correlation of USMLE performance to measures of residency performance and clinical practice.
3. Minimize racial demographic differences that exist in USMLE performance.
4. Convene a cross-organizational panel to create solutions for the assessment and transition challenges from UME to GME, targeting an approved proposal, including scope/timelines by end of calendar year 2019.

The last three recommendations have consensus of most medical educators.  The first is less widely agreed upon.

They are asking for a call for input from both individuals and stakeholder societies.  We are one of those societies.  We are gathering as much input from our members as possible to include in the response from the APCCMPD.  

This is a complicated topic that will have far-reaching consequences for medical education and may change dramatically the landscape of medical trainees in the United States, so it is worth putting a few minutes into reading the full summary report (I read it in about 15 minutes).  There is a LOT more that goes into this topic than is found in the report, and it does not present opinions on each side of the issue. Anyone interested can email me at [email protected] and I can share resources on the topic.  

The full summary report: https://www.usmle.org/pdfs/incus/incus_summary_report.pdf 

More information: https://www.usmle.org/usmlescoring/

Read APCCMPD's Response