How is this 3-year option possible? Why isn’t the MD degree three years for all students?

We have LCME (our accrediting body of medical schools, Liaison Committee on Medical Education) endorsement and Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR) approval for this innovative curriculum. It is made possible with careful planning at specific sites where there is need and we have the capacity to provide excellent training to medical students in this model. The 3-year curriculum is focused on Primary Care specialties at this point because this is Arizona’s biggest need.

The infrastructure required for a hyper-focused, accelerated curriculum in non-Primary Care Specialties has not yet been developed across the College of Medicine–Phoenix. Building these pathways requires stable clinical partnerships, dedicated residency alignment, and robust assessment systems. As those elements grow, additional accelerated options for other MD graduates bound for other specialties may become feasible in the future.