HEALTH PROFESSIONS DIVISION
Fred Lippman, R.Ph., Ed.D.
HPD Chancellor
COM Outlook
is produced by
Nova Southeastern University
College of Osteopathic Medicine
3200 South University Drive
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33328-2018
MANAGING EDITOR/GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Scott Colton, B.A., APR
COM/HPD Director of Medical
Communications and Public Relations
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Debra R. Gibbs, B.A.
Medical Communications Coordinator
EDITORIAL CONTACT
Scott Colton
(954) 262-5147 (phone)
(954) 262-3887 (fax)
Anthony J. Silvagni, D.O., Pharm.D., M.Sc.
Dean
EDITORIAL BOARD
Lynne Cawley, M.Sc.
Scott Colton, B.A., APR
Marti Echols, Ph.D.
Debra R. Gibbs, B.A.
Robin Jacobs, Ph.D.
Ken Johnson, D.O.
Alina Perez, J.D., M.P.H.
Debbi Cohn Steinkohl, M.H.S.A.
Delfina Wilson, Ph.D.
COLLEGE OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE
George L. Hanbury II, Ph.D.
President and Chief Executive Officer
NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY
COM
Outlook
Winter 2014
Volume 15, Number 1
A major challenge faced by medical education today involves
the availability of quality clinical training sites. The rapid growth
of new medical schools, expansion of existing medical schools,
and the increasing financial challenges hospitals face have made
sites more expensive, scarcer, and more competitive.
A new and growing challenge is the influx of students who at-
tend offshore schools, which threatens the integrity of medical edu-
cation because many of the offshore schools are purchasing the clinical training sites from
accredited medical schools in the United States. The offshore schools are unaccredited, for-profit
schools whose students are eligible for the same federally guaranteed and VA loans available to
medical students in accredited U.S. schools.
In a recent report, Bloomberg News examined the role of DrVry Inc. in accepting and
training medical students. DeVry, which owns two for-profit medical schools in the Carib-
bean, is accepting hundreds of students, some who were rejected by U.S. medical colleges.
Neither DeVry’s Ross University School of Medicine nor American University of the Caribbean
School of Medicine (AUC) is accredited according to the standards of medical programs in
the United States.
Loans from students affiliated with DeVry’s schools totaled about $310 million in the
year ended June 2012, according to the Bloomberg report. Those loans become the respon-
sibility of U.S. taxpayers if students quit, fail to get jobs, or default. Many DeVry students
quit, particularly in the first two semesters, the report noted, taking their debt with them.
The average attrition rate at U.S. medical schools was 3 percent for the class that began in
the fall of 2008, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. DeVry said its
rate of attrition ranges from 20 to 27 percent.
One feature of offshore schools—offering money for training spots—can be difficult for
accredited schools to overcome. DeVry pays hospitals in the United States to take its stu-
dents for the two years of clinical training they need to complete their degrees. Bloomberg
cites an example in New York, where AUC plans to pay Nassau University Medical Center
on Long Island about $1.4 million annually until 2022 for 64 slots, or about $425 per stu-
dent per week, according to the hospital’s chief medical officer.
Knowing that this kind of financial support is difficult to match when adhering to accredi-
tation standards, we need to establish stronger practices to support students from accredited
schools—and Congress needs to examine the law that makes foreign for-profit medical schools
eligible for federal loans. The Bloomberg report cited Senator Dick Durbin, a Democrat from
DeVry’s home state of Illinois. “These schools are taking advantage of an offshore loophole that
allows federal funding to be released to students attending a medical school that is not accred-
ited in the United States,” Senator Durbin said. “Until Congress acts, these schools will stop at
nothing to keep the American taxpayer dollars flowing.”
In addition to removing the loophole that allows offshore students to acquire loans,
Congress should revise the current Bipartisan Student Loan Certainty Act of 2013 to include
U.S. medical students into the undergraduate subsidized program at the lower interest-rate
cap. With the national shortage of physicians and the significant need for primary care
physicians, changing the subsidy and interest rates would be a major incentive for students
to select medicine and receive a more acceptable option for repaying loans.
Quality health care must be the goal—recruiting, accepting, and training the best. It is
critical that beneficial consideration be given to the standards of accredited schools to protect
the people who count on reliable care and to strengthen the foundation of lifelong learning
for future physicians.
Dean’s
Message
By Anthony J. Silvagni, D.O., Pharm.D., M.Sc., FACOFP dist.
2
COM Outlook . Winter 2014
