Jason FArmer / Times-Shamrock The Commonwealth Medical College and the University of Scranton are extending an agreement to talk affiliation until May 18.

The Commonwealth Medical College moved a step closer to full accreditation on Thursday when it announced the national medical school accrediting body has lifted the college's probationary status and granted it provisional accreditation.

The advance comes a year after the Liaison Committee for Medical Education placed the school on probation largely because of concerns about its financial stability.

With the new status - a rung higher than the school's preliminary accreditation before the probation period - the accrediting body also determined that the college has the resources to expand its class size from 65 to 100 medical degree students beginning in 2013.

"This is an external statement by an accrediting body that this school is solid," Lois Margaret Nora, M.D., the college's interim president and dean, said. "For anyone who has any questions about permanence, this is just a major statement."

The LCME's deliberations are private, Dr. Nora said, but the committee performed a comprehensive review of databases, student surveys and the college's self-study and spent three days on site evaluating the school.

The committee has asked for a status report in February on two areas that require continued monitoring: the college's permanent leadership and its long-term financial stability. But Dr. Nora noted that it did not ask for follow-up reports on the strength of the teaching and student programs at the core of the school's mission.

"This is a very solid school from the perspective of its core business: growing physicians and other health professionals," she said.

Dr. Nora, who will be replaced by Robert Wright, M.D., as interim president and dean when she leaves the college at the end of June, said the school has largely addressed the leadership question by permanently filling several key chairman and dean positions that were previously vacant or temporary.

The college has identified "excellent" candidates in its national search for a permanent CEO and dean and will hold a second round of interviews before the end of the month, Dr. Wright said.

Follow this link:
Commonwealth Medical college taken off probation