For institutional leadership
The President's Briefing
What the LCME actually asks of institutional leadership — in plain language, grounded in the primary sources, short enough for a board packet.
What the LCME asks of you
Grounded in: LCME Functions and Structure of a Medical School, 2027-28 edition (published March 2026).
1. Your dean must be able to reach you
Element 2.3 requires that the dean have sufficient access to the university president — and that the dean's authority over the medical education program is clearly defined. If the dean can't reach you, or if nobody can say exactly what the dean controls, that's a finding. This is the single most presidential sentence in the standards.
2. The school must plan — and you should see the plan
Element 1.1 requires ongoing strategic planning and continuous quality improvement with measurable outcomes used to improve the program. Survey teams ask who sees the plan and whether it drives decisions. A plan that lives in a drawer is a citation waiting to happen.
3. Money is an accreditation issue
Element 5.1 requires financial resources that are adequate and from diverse sources to sustain the program. Element 5.2 requires the dean to have sufficient resources and budgetary authority to do the job. Budget cuts that hollow out the dean's authority don't just hurt morale — they show up in citations.
4. Integrity infrastructure
Element 1.2 requires enforced conflict-of-interest policies. Element 1.5 requires real bylaws. These are board-level documents; survey teams read them.
What your board should know
Survey teams interview institutional leadership — not just the dean. They ask about resources, planning, and the dean's authority. Governance and resource citations are institutional citations; they can't be fixed by the curriculum committee.
Questions to ask your dean
Every standard reference above is validated against the primary-source data in this ecosystem — no invented citations. This briefing is the executive companion to the operational work: deans run the program view, presidents own the institutional view.