You made a fortuitous choice when pursuing a medical license in Wyoming. Wyoming has a greater shortage of physicians than any other state besides Hawaii. You should have plenty of employment opportunities and a needful patient population in Wyoming while you enjoy its beautiful mountain and plains scenery, livable towns, vital culture, and recreational lifestyle. The Wyoming Board of Medicine welcomes your license application to address the state's physician shortage. But you must still satisfy the state's medical licensing requirements, which means favorably resolving your NBME/USMLE issues. You can do no better than to call 888.535.3686 or use our contact form now to retain the Lento Law Firm's Student Defense Team for the premier attorney representation needed to resolve your medical licensing exam issues. We are available in Cheyenne, Casper, Gillette, Laramie, Rock Springs, Sheridan, Evanston, Green River, Riverton, Jackson, Cody, and across Wyoming. Let us help get your Wyoming medical practice started without further unreasonable delay.

Wyoming Medical Practice Support

Beyond the state's physician shortage, beautiful natural environment, and attractive lifestyle, Wyoming also has medical practice support to help it build a thriving professional practice. Wyoming's largest hospitals and healthcare facilities include Cheyenne's Regional Medical Center, Casper's Banner Wyoming Medical Center, Jackson's St. Johns Health, Gillette's Campbell County Memorial Hospital, Sheridan's Memorial Hospital, Laramie's Ivinson Memorial Hospital, Cody's Regional Health, Rock Springs' Memorial Hospital, Douglas' Memorial Hospital, Afton's Star Valley Health, and Powell's Valley Healthcare. The University of Wyoming's WWAMI School of Medicine, nursing schools at the University of Wyoming, Sheridan College, Casper College, and Western Wyoming Community College, and other Wyoming healthcare education programs offer abundant teaching, research, continuing education, and networking opportunities. The Wyoming Medical Society promotes these and other practice resources. Wyoming professional practice awaits you. Let us help you resolve your USMLE issues so that you can obtain your Wyoming Board of Medicine license and get started with your permanent Wyoming medical practice.

Wyoming Medical Licensing Authority

The Wyoming Board of Medicine holds the keys to your professional future. You must satisfy the Board of Medicine so that you can meet its medical licensing exam requirements and other requirements if you wish to obtain a license for Wyoming medical practice. Wyoming Medical Practice Act Section 33-26-202 empowers the Board of Medicine to determine the fitness of applicants for a license to practice medicine. Medical Practice Act Section 33-26-301 requires every individual planning to practice medicine in Wyoming to first obtain a Board of Medicine license. Medical Practice Act Section 33-26-410 makes unlicensed medical practice a misdemeanor crime punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. The same statute authorizes a civil injunction against unlicensed practice, enforceable with contempt proceedings. You must not practice medicine in Wyoming without a license. Unlicensed practice could also keep you from gaining a license in the future from Wyoming or any other state. Let us help you resolve your USMLE issues rather than risk unlicensed practice.

Wyoming License Application Requirements

Wyoming Medical Practice Act Section 33-26-303 requires a physician seeking Wyoming Board of Medicine licensure to apply on the Board's form. Chapter 1, Section 3, of the Wyoming Board of Medicine's administrative rules defines an application to include submission of the required form with all accompanying required documentation. The same Chapter 1, Section 3, defines false or misleading statements on an application as credential fraud. Chapter 1, Section 4, requires the application form and all documents to be complete, dated within six months of the application, and proving that the applicant meets all statutory and regulatory requirements for licensure. The burden of qualifying for a Wyoming Board of Medicine license is on you. Take special care in completing your application to avoid disqualifying credential fraud. Be especially cautious to accurately disclose the status of your USMLE issues, lest your omissions or inaccuracies appear to be an attempt to conceal those issues. Let us help you review, update, and correct your license application so that you do not suffer license application denial for the technicality of a misleading omission or failure to update with accurate information.

Wyoming Medical Board General Requirements

Wyoming Medical Practice Act Section 33-26-303 states the general requirements for licensure by the Wyoming Board of Medicine. Those requirements include graduation from an LCME-approved medical school, one year of ACGME-approved postgraduate medical residency, and successful passage of all three USMLE step exams or the equivalent FLEX or COMLEX parts. Section 33-26-303 also permits the Board of Medicine to require a personal interview of a candidate, typically requested when the candidate's submissions suggest a potential unprofessionalism or unfitness issue. Board of Medicine Rule Chapter 1, Section 5, authorizes interviews when the applicant is over the age of seventy years or has answered questions or supplied documentation indicating actual or potential criminal conviction, alcohol intemperance, drug addiction, illicit drug dealings, physical or mental impairment, a record of professional incompetence, confidentiality breaches, credential fraud, or other disciplinary issues under Section 33-26-402. Let us help you address issues with any of these general licensing requirements when also addressing your USMLE issues.

Wyoming Medical Board Licensing Exam Requirements

As just shown above, Wyoming Medical Practice Act Section 33-26-303 requires an applicant for licensure to pass all three USMLE step exams or the equivalent FLEX or COMLEX parts. Wyoming Board of Medicine Rule Chapter 2, Section 2, addresses the medical licensing exam requirements in greater detail. Chapter 2, Section 2, confirms that the USMLE, FLEX, and COMLEX are approved medical licensing exams. Chapter 2, Section 2, also states when a candidate may sit for the USMLE Step 3 exam, what combination of exam steps or parts the Board of Medicine will accept, the seven year period for passing all steps or parts, and the passing score of 75. The Federation of State Medical Boards indicates that the Wyoming Board of Medicine limits candidates to seven total USMLE or COMLEX attempts, which is a different requirement from the USMLE's own four attempts limit for each step exam. Let us help you address any issues over whether your medical licensing exam pathway satisfies Wyoming Board of Medicine requirements, at the same time we address and resolve your other medical licensing exam issues.

Wyoming Medical Licensing Exam Issues

You've seen above that the Wyoming Board of Medicine requires you to submit complete and accurate information covering a wide range of topics related to your qualifications and fitness. Patient and public protection is the Board's statutory and regulatory goal, which requires you to follow a rigorous application submission and review process. Appreciate that the USMLE or your other medical licensing exam organization will have a similarly rigorous application, review, and exam administration process, both to protect patients and the public and to preserve exam integrity, including the reliability of your passing results. The USMLE's necessary rigor can trigger the following common medical licensing exam issues. The following sections address how our attorneys can help resolve each of these categories of common issues:

your inability to qualify for the exam;
your exhausting exam attempt limits;
extenuating circumstances frustrating your exam attempt;
your facing exam cheating allegations;
your enduring anomalous exam performance disqualification; or
your facing an invalidated exam score.

Wyoming Licensing Exam Qualification Issues

Trouble qualifying for the USMLE is a common issue. As indicated just above, USMLE officials follow a rigorous application and qualification process, approaching the rigor of the Wyoming Board of Medicine's license application process. The USMLE's Bulletin of Information states the general exam qualification requirements. Your inaccurate, inconsistent, or undocumented statement of your medical education, medical residency, licensing board, personal identification, conviction history, and other requested information can trigger exam application rejection and even credential fraud allegations. Any rejection of your USMLE application may further trigger the Wyoming Board of Medicine license denial. Common issues you may face when attempting to qualify for the USMLE include:

your statements are inconsistent with one another;
your documentation contradicts your statements;
your documentation is incomplete or unauthenticated;
you fail to authorize background checks or verification;
your medical school record shows unsatisfactory academic progress;
your medical school record shows misconduct discipline;
your medical school record shows unresolved academic issues;
your medical school record shows unresolved disciplinary charges;
your medical school had accreditation issues during your enrollment;
your medical residency terminated your program for cause;
your medical residency records reflect misconduct or incompetence;
your criminal conviction or domestic violence disqualifies you;
records suggest a disqualifying mental or physical impairment;
records suggest a disqualifying substance addiction;
you have not provided adequate photographic identification or
you have not shown citizenship or lawful immigration status.

How We Address Exam Qualification Issues

We address documentation issues by working swiftly, surely, and diplomatically with recordkeepers like medical school registrars, residency directors, agency officials, and court clerks. Recordkeepers generally respect our attorneys' clear, concise, firm, but polite requests for updated documentation. We are also able to invoke medical school, residency, agency, and court procedures to resolve lingering issues preventing your exam qualification. We can also let Wyoming Board of Medicine officials know of the diligence and success of our efforts so that Board officials keep your application file open.

Wyoming Medical Licensing Exam Attempt Limits

Passing all three steps of the USMLE is a considerable challenge for any medical student or graduate. The challenge becomes a daunting threat to medical licensure when the examinee exhausts attempts limits. That's why the USMLE permits four attempts for each of the three step exams. If you needed all four attempts to pass each step exam, that would be twelve total attempts. Twelve total attempts, four for each step of the exam, should be enough. However, as stated briefly above, the Federation of State Medical Boards indicates that the Wyoming Board of Medicine limits total USMLE step exams to seven. The Wyoming Board of Medicine rule could work for or against you. You could take up to five attempts on any one step exam and still have two left over for the other two exams. So, in that sense, you might have to make an extra attempt for your hardest step exam. On the other hand, you don't get twelve total attempts, only seven. If you exhaust attempts, the Wyoming Board of Medicine may reject and close your license application.

How We Address Exam Attempt Limits

Passing the USMLE step exams is up to you and your sound exam preparation practices and resources. But we may be able to get you an extra attempt if you run up against the USMLE or Wyoming Board of Medicine limits. The USMLE offers an extenuating circumstances policy. That policy enables you not to count against your attempts to limit an exam that you missed or from which you withdrew after starting because of an emergency. A qualifying emergency could be your sudden serious illness, accident, or injury or that of a dependent for whom you must care. We can help you promptly notify the USMLE, document your emergency, and make your case for the extra attempt. If your missed or withdrawn attempt doesn't count for USMLE purposes, then it may also not count for Wyoming Board of Medicine purposes, ensuring that you have an extra attempt under each body's limit. We may alternatively be able to advocate successfully with the Board of Medicine for an extra attempt based for other good reasons.

Wyoming Licensing Exam Irregular Behavior Issues

Applicants can also face cheating charges when preparing for or taking USMLE step exams. The USMLE enforces an irregular behaviorpolicy to address cheating allegations, which can come from exam proctors, fellow examinees in the test center, study partners, or anyone else. If the USMLE receives substantial allegations of cheating, they will disqualify the applicant under the irregular behavior policy, effectively placing the burden on the applicant to account for the suspicions. Exam disqualification for suspected cheating will likely trigger Wyoming Board of Medicine rejection of the license application. The USMLE Bulletin of Information gives many cheating examples including these:

soliciting or sharing confidential exam questions when studying for the exam or sharing confidential exam questions after an exam;
presenting an impostor to take your exam or serving as an impostor to take another's exam;
secretly assisting another or using unauthorized materials or devices for secret assistance during an exam;
removing exam materials from the exam room or recording exam questions for removal and distribution;
disobeying or harassing exam center staff members in the course of their exam administration or obstructing an exam investigation;
falsely claiming to have passed or qualified for an exam or registering for an exam when ineligible.

How We Address Irregular Behavior Charges

Our attorneys address cheating charges by invoking the USMLE Office of the Secretariat's adjudication process. The adjudication process ensures that we have an opportunity to present your explanation and exonerating evidence to an official or panel while challenging the allegations and any incriminating evidence. We may be able to supply the opinions of our forensic consultants, your testimony or affidavit, and the testimony or affidavit of other helpful witnesses. Evidence of your good moral character not to cheat and of your strong academic record not to give motive to cheat may further defend and defeat cheating allegations. We can also keep the Wyoming Board of Medicine informed of our diligent and effective defense, keeping your license application alive.

Wyoming Anomalous Exam Performance Issues

If you score very low on a USMLE step exam, particularly with aberrational answer patterns like many unanswered questions, skipped sections, or all the same answer, USMLE officials may apply an anomalous performance policy to disqualify you from further exam attempts. The policy's goal is to bar examinees who are unqualified by education and thus wasting time and resources. The policy's other goal is to bar dishonest examinees bent on helping other examinees, recording confidential exam questions, or other nefarious activities. Disqualification for a very low score may cause the Wyoming Board of Medicine to reject your license application and close your file.

How We Address Anomalous Exam Performance

To address anomalous performance disqualification, our attorneys must open informal channels of communication with USMLE officials. The formal adjudication process is not available to contest disqualification for a very low score. Through those informal channels, though, we should be able to present any explanation you have for your very low score, such as your sudden illness or mental event during the exam attempt, mistakes skipping exam sections or entering correct answers, or technology issues interfering with your effort or misrecording and misreporting your answers. We may also be able to present evidence of your strong academic record and capability to do well on medical school exams and USMLE step exams to overcome the inference of a lack of education or illicit motive. We can also keep Wyoming Board of Medicine officials informed of our progress in regaining your qualification to complete your next and last USMLE step exam.

Wyoming Invalidated Exam Score Issues

You may face one other issue, basically the opposite of a very low, invalidated exam score. USMLE officials also analyze scores and answer patterns for unusually high scores that may indicate advanced access to questions or cheating with unauthorized materials, devices, or assistance during the exam. A USMLE invalidated exam score policy permits exam officials to withhold your extraordinarily high score and disqualify you from further attempts on that basis, triggering the Wyoming Board of Medicine rejection of your license application.

How We Address Invalidated Exam Scores

To address an invalidated exam score, we must once again work through informal channels without a clear USMLE adjudication process available. Once we reach USMLE officials willing to review your explanation, we can present that explanation with supporting evidence. We may, for instance, be able to show that you aced your MCAT exam and medical school exams, too, proving your extraordinary standardized test-taking skills. We may also be able to present evidence of your exhaustive and keenly effective exam preparations and your good moral character, counteracting any inference of a motive for and character to cheat. We may be able to gain release of your passing score or, if not, then another attempt enabling you to pass without suspicion. We can also communicate with the Wyoming Board of Medicine to keep your file alive.

Wyoming Medical Board Response to Exam Issues

The Wyoming Board of Medicine will not keep your license application open indefinitely without your explanation for the delay in resolving your USMLE issues. Board officials must process license applications with reasonable diligence. The Wyoming Board of Medicine and other boards tend to employ a six months application review cycle. If you cannot resolve your pending exam issues within six months, Board protocols may require rejecting your license application, requiring you to reapply in the next application cycle. Without such protocols, the Board's application docket can become chaotic. But if the Board closes your application and you must reapply, you may not only incur substantial time, trouble, and expense but also suffer substantial delay in your licensure, potentially costing you a job, income, and other advantages. Let us help you communicate with the Board to advocate for keeping your license application alive while we resolve your USMLE issues.

Wyoming Administrative Review Procedures

If the Wyoming Board of Medicine rejects your license application prematurely, before you have had a chance to resolve your USMLE issues, we can invoke Wyoming Medical Practice Act Section 33-26-405 and other similar protective provisions for a hearing to review and reverse that action. Our attorneys know how to make the appropriate hearing presentation and take other available appeals, and even obtain judicial review under Wyoming's Administrative Procedure Act, until we have obtained a resolution of your USMLE issues and appropriate action on your license application.

Premier Wyoming Medical Licensing Exam Defense

The Lento Law Firm's premier Student Defense Team is available across Wyoming to help you resolve your USMLE medical licensing exam issues, to qualify you for Wyoming Board of Medicine licensure. Our attorneys represent hundreds of students and graduates across Wyoming and nationwide, favorably resolving professional licensing issues and related school issues. Call 888.535.3686 or use our contact form now to retain our skilled and experienced attorneys.

NBME/USMLE Defense for District of Columbia Medical Students and Graduates