The Multistate Pharmacy Jurisprudence Exam or MPJE is a national licensing exam for pharmacy program graduates wishing to practice pharmacy in a U.S. jurisdiction. The MPJE is not an exam to get into a pharmacy program. The MPJE is instead an exam to get the license to practice pharmacy once one completes the pharmacy program. Passing the MPJE is its own challenge. MPJE statistics show that about eighty percent of pharmacy graduates pass the exam. The other twenty percent have multiple opportunities for retaking the exam. But the MPJE presents two other challenges that could affect your pharmacy licensure: (1) misconduct outside of the exam, whether in qualifying for the exam or complying with the confidentiality and security requirements; and (2) misconduct during the exam. MPJE misconduct charges could cost you your pharmacy license and career. If MPJE officials have accused you of misconduct inside or outside the exam, don't underestimate the potential impact of those charges. Instead, retain national school discipline defense attorney advisor Joseph D. Lento and the Lento Law Firm's defense team for your best defense representation and outcome. Your pharmacy license and practice are worth getting the premier help you need for the best possible outcome.
What Is the MPJE?
The MPJE is a two-and-a-half hour licensing exam that the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy administers for each jurisdiction using the exam. The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy is a private nonprofit professional organization. While the MPJE tests pharmacists, the exam is not a test of pharmaceutical properties but instead of how a pharmacist must practice pharmacy to comply with the jurisdiction's laws. The MPJE tests the application of pharmacy laws to pharmacy practice. Hence, the exam's “jurisprudence” or law designation. Because the MPJE depends on state laws, the MPJE differs for each jurisdiction using the exam. The two-and-a-half-hour exam has 120 questions, of which the examiners score only 100 answers. The remaining twenty questions are pretest questions for future exams. Examinees generally get up to five chances to pass the exam in each jurisdiction in which they attempt it. Given the MPJE's relatively high eighty-percent pass rate and that examinees can retake the exam several times, you will very likely pass the exam on the first or second try. Your challenge, though, may not be passing the MPJE. Your challenge could instead be avoiding debilitating MPJE misconduct charges.
Who Must Take the MPJE?
Recent pharmacy school graduates who have yet to license in any jurisdiction, and experienced pharmacists who wish to license in a new jurisdiction, take the MPJE to meet their chosen jurisdiction's licensing requirements. Forty-eight pharmacy boards require applicants to pass to obtain a license for pharmacy practice in U.S. states and territories. Among U.S. states and territories licensing pharmacists, only Arkansas, California, Idaho, Puerto Rico, Vermont, and the Virgin Islands do not require pharmacists to pass the MPJE for a license in those jurisdictions. All other U.S. jurisdictions require the MPJE. No matter where you choose to license, other than these half-dozen jurisdictions, you'll need to qualify for and pass the MPJE to practice as a pharmacist. No matter what misconduct issue you face in qualifying for and passing the MPJE, such as a damaging school record, a discrepancy between your MPJE application and your pharmacy school's transcript, or misconduct inside or outside the MPJE violating its rules, get the defense representation you need to address the issue. Retain national school discipline defense attorney advisor Joseph D. Lento for premier representation.
MPJE Misconduct
Like any standardized exam used for professional education or licensure, the MPJE has strict rules regarding the exam. The MPJE's Candidate Application Bulletin lists those rules. While many rules have to do with routine test administration matters, other rules are sufficiently serious that a violation could result in an MPJE sanction. The Candidate Application Bulletin lists those rules under a misconduct heading. Misconduct can occur outside and inside the MPJE testing center, that is, before and after the exam or during the exam. If MPJE officials have accused you of misconduct occurring outside or inside the exam, retain national school discipline defense attorney Joseph D. Lento for your winning defense of those accusations. Administrative misconduct defense is a niche attorney advisor practice in which very few professionals have the skills and experience you need.
MPJE Violations Outside the Exam
Under the MPJE's Candidate Application Bulletin, violations outside of the exam worthy of sanctions include selling, offering, transmitting, copying, reproducing, requesting, purchasing, receiving, acquiring, utilizing, or otherwise making available any exam content, or arranging or attempting to arrange to have another take the exam for you, or you arranging or attempting to take it for another individual. Exam misconduct can also include discrepancies between your exam application and your school record or transcript.
MPJE Violations Inside the Exam
Under the MPJE's Candidate Application Bulletin, violations inside the exam worthy of sanctions include taking the exam for someone else, having someone else take the examination for you, taking the exam for purposes other than determining the eligibility for licensure, accessing a cell phone or any other electronic communications device during the exam, using notes, books, reference material, or other aids during the exam, attempting to aid an individual or receive aid to complete the exam, bringing any materials, devices, or items to the examination appointment session that may compromise the security, failing to follow an administrator's instructions, creating a disturbance, removing or attempting to remove the test center scratch paper, note boards, writing materials, or the like, copying, memorizing, or removing exam content, tampering with the operation of the computer or attempting to use it for any function other than taking the examination, leaving the testing room without permission, or leaving the testing center building for any reason.
MPJE Misconduct Adjudication Procedures
The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy must generally provide MPJE examinees whom it accuses of misconduct with basic due process. Due process includes notice of the misconduct charges and a reasonable opportunity to respond. The National Association does not publish detailed adjudication procedures. The MPJE's Candidate Application Bulletin instead states that “[i]n the event of an exam result hold related to candidate misconduct, NABP will notify the respective board of pharmacy and the candidate within seven business days. Should you receive notification of an exam hold, there will be explicit instructions regarding the action you need to take to respond to NABP's inquiries.” The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy Member Manual, on the other hand, expressly assures disputants before the Board of substantial due process protections including:
- written notice of the charges including a detailed description of the evidence against the accused;
- an invitation for the accused to submit a written statement and documentation disputing the charges;
- an assurance that an independent factfinder such as a designated hearing official or committee will decide whether the evidence supports the charge;
- the accused's opportunity to appear before that independent factfinder to present witnesses and other evidence;
- an assurance that the accused may compel witnesses to attend and testify and to cross-examine adverse witnesses;
- the right to discover the other side's evidence in advance of the hearing to prepare;
- the right to a written decision on all charges;
- the recording of the hearing for administrative review and appeal; and
- the right to appeal an adverse decision to the courts under administrative appeal procedures.
MPJE Misconduct Representation
The above MPJE misconduct procedures give your attorney representative substantial opportunities to successfully defend and defeat MPJE misconduct charges. Your attorney representative, if properly skilled and qualified, can make a difference at every stage of the misconduct proceeding. Your representative can gather, evaluate, summarize, organize, and present exonerating and mitigating evidence. Those presentations can occur when answering charges, presenting investigation evidence, attending pre-hearing conferences, conducting the formal hearing, and taking post-hearing appeals. Throughout the proceeding, your representative can negotiate and advocate for voluntary dismissal of the charges based on assurance, compromises, and other creative, win-win propositions. Don't retain an unqualified criminal defense attorney to represent you before the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy. The rules, customs, and culture of professional administrative proceedings are entirely different from the rules and procedures of criminal cases in court. Instead, retain national school discipline defense attorney advisor Joseph D. Lento who has successfully represented hundreds of professionals and graduate students in administrative misconduct proceedings.
MPJE Misconduct Consequences
The MPJE's Candidate Application Bulletin lists the actions that the National Board may take if you commit misconduct in connection with the exam. Those actions, many of which are quite severe, include: placing a hold on the accused's ability to schedule an exam, placing a hold on the accused's application for an exam, suspending the accused's test administration, forfeiting all testing fees, terminating the test administration, withholding the reporting of exam results, withholding or invalidating exam results, notifying one or more boards of pharmacy or state or federal law enforcement agencies of exam violations, initiating or participating in civil, criminal, and administrative proceedings against the accused that may result in civil penalties, criminal punishments, or disciplinary action including denial of licensure or licensure revocation by one or more boards of pharmacy, and sharing with one or more boards of pharmacy or law enforcement authorities information concerning the accused's misconduct. Disciplinary actions like these can have other collateral consequences that a prudent professional must manage wisely. Don't underestimate these consequences. Instead, retain national school discipline defense attorney advisor Joseph D. Lento for your best defense of MPJE misconduct charges.
MPJE Appeals, Litigation, and Alternative Special Relief
The constitutional, statutory, regulatory, and contractual rights of an MPJE examinee are far more subtle and complex than the above summary can describe. The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy anticipates that you will have administrative appeal rights to the courts of the state in which you apply for licensure. Those appeal rights depend on the state's administrative procedures act and court rules. But administrative appeals require skilled and experienced administrative attorney representation. Retain attorney advisor Lento for those skilled appeal services and to evaluate your other litigation options. You may also have other options for alternative special relief, even if you have exhausted all of the above procedures and do not wish to pursue litigation. Attorney advisor Lento has successfully negotiated alternative relief for many clients through institutional oversight channels. The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy will likely have a general counsel, outside retained counsel, or other oversight officials who have the authority to approve that special relief to protect and promote the interests of all concerned including your laudable interest in pursuing pharmacy practice.
Premier Defense Attorney Advisor Available
You know what you have at stake in your opportunity to qualify for pharmacy practice in your preferred jurisdiction. You know what you have invested in your pharmacy education and degree. You also know the rewards that you anticipate from a job and career as a licensed pharmacist. Your investment warrants protection. Your worst move would be to underestimate what you have at stake in an MPJE dispute and to fail to get the premier help you need for the best possible outcome. Your best move when facing misconduct charges relating to the MPJE or other issues preventing you from sitting for and passing the pharmacy licensing exam is to retain premier attorney advisor defense representation. National school discipline defense attorney advisor Joseph D. Lento has successfully represented many professionals and graduate students in jurisdictions across the country. Attorney advisor Lento has the substantial skills, reputation, and experience to make a difference in your case. You won't achieve your best possible outcome without the best available representation. Call 888.535.3686 or go online now to retain attorney advisor Lento and the Lento Law Firm's defense team.
