Those who choose North Dakota as their professional destination usually have their reasons. Starting a medical practice in North Dakota can certainly be a fascinating and rewarding pursuit, with the state's natural beauty, attractive towns, strong economy, and stable and mature population. North Dakota also happens to have a physician shortage, especially in rural areas, making for good employment prospects and an eager, needful, and appreciative patient population. The North Dakota Board of Medicine welcomes your application for a medical license. But you won't get that license without first resolving your NBME/USMLE medical licensing exam issues. Call 888.535.3686 or use our contact form now to retain the Lento Law Firm's premier Student Defense Team for the skilled and experienced help you need to fix your medical licensing exam issues. Our attorneys are available in Fargo, Bismarck, Grand Forks, Minot, West Fargo, Williston, Dickinson, Mandan, Jamestown, Wahpeton, Devils Lake, and across the rest of North Dakota. Let us help you get your North Dakota Board of Medicine license so that you can get started in a rewarding medical practice.
North Dakota Medical Practice Support
North Dakota has the hospitals and healthcare facilities you need to start and sustain your medical practice. Those facilities include Fargo's Sanford Broadway Medical Center, Essentia Health, Prairie St. Johns, and Vibra Hospital, Bismarck's Sanford Medical Center and CHI St. Alexius Health Medical Center, Altru Health System in Grand Forks, Minot's Trinity Hospital, Williston's CHI St. Alexius Medical Center, Jamestown Regional Medical Center, Dickinson's CHI St. Alexius Medical Center, and Watford City's McKenzie Health. North Dakota healthcare and health-related education programs, including the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences and Health Education programs at North Dakota State University, the University of St. Mary, and the University of North Dakota, offer teaching, continuing education, and recruiting opportunities. We can help you take advantage of these strong medical practice supports in North Dakota by addressing and resolving your NBME/USMLE issues.
North Dakota Medical Licensing Authority
North Dakota Medical Practice Act Section 43-17-02.3 requires that you obtain a North Dakota Board of Medicine license before practicing medicine in the state. Section 43-17-07.1 empowers the North Dakota Board of Medicine to regulate medical practice in the state including to evaluate and qualify candidates for licensure and to impose sanctions and levy fines against individuals who violate licensing provisions. Section 43-17-24 states expressly that no physician may practice medicine in the state without a Board of Medicine license. Section 43-17-34 makes unlicensed practice of medicine in North Dakota a Class B misdemeanor punishable by up to thirty days in jail and a $1,500 fine. The same section authorizes a court injunction punishable with contempt penalties and authorizes a civil damages action for any resulting harm. If you practice medicine without a license, you could also lose your ability to gain a license in the future in North Dakota and other states. You must not practice medicine in North Dakota without first resolving your NBME/USMLE issues. Let us help you do so.
North Dakota License Application Requirements
North Dakota Medical Practice Act Section 43-17-17 requires you to apply to the director of the North Dakota Board of Medicine for your medical license. Section 43-17-17 expressly requires you to use the Board of Medicine's application form and complete the Board's other application requirements. The following Section 43-17-18 reiterates that for a medical license from the Board, you must file an application with the Board showing that you meet all license requirements. The burden of proving your qualifications is on you, meaning that you are responsible for addressing gaps or inconsistencies in your application to the Board's satisfaction. The Board may construe errors or omissions in your application as an intentional effort to deceive the Board or credential fraud to deny you a license. Be especially careful to disclose your NBME/USMLE issues accurately and completely so that the Board does not accuse you of credential fraud. Let us help you update and correct your license application to avoid credential fraud charges.
North Dakota Medical Licensure Requirements
North Dakota Medical Practice Act Section 43-17-18 articulates the general requirements for medical licensure from the North Dakota Board of Medicine. Those requirements include showing:
- your physical, mental, and professional capability to practice;
- a background free of conduct worthy of professional discipline;
- graduation from an approved medical school;
- one year of post-graduate medical residency training;
- passage of an approved medical licensing exam.
Section 43-17-18 further authorizes the North Dakota Board of Medicine to require a personal appearance and interview before the Board to address questions about qualifications. Section 43-17-31 lists the grounds for a licensed physician's discipline that would, under Section 43-17-18, also disqualify a physician from obtaining an initial license. Those grounds include credential fraud, criminal conviction relating to fitness for medical practice, gross negligence in medical practice, confidentiality breaches, substance addiction, and intemperance, among other grounds. We can help you address issues with any of these general licensing exam requirements in addition to your NBME/USMLE issues.
North Dakota Medical Licensing Exam Requirements
North Dakota Medical Practice Act Section 43-17-18, stating general licensing requirements, mentions the medical licensing exam requirement without specifying the approved exam or exams. Referring to Section 43-17-18, North Dakota Board of Medicine Administrative Rule 50-02-03-01 provides that the FLEX, NBME, USMLE, LMCC, and COMLEX are approved medical licensing exams. Rule 50-02-03-01 leaves the passing score and attempts limits to other administrative rules. Rule 50-02-11-01 states when applicants are eligible to take their step exams and at what stage during their medical education and residency. Rule 50-02-11-03.1 limits exam attempts to three attempts on each step of the exam. The same rule permits an applicant needing more attempts to apply to the Board of Medicine if able to show a qualifying disability warranting an extra attempt in the state's best interest. North Dakota's three attempts limit is lower than the USMLE's own four attempts limit. Let us help you address and resolve any issues with your medical licensing exam pathway. The Board may be willing to exercise implied discretion to alter requirements in special cases.
North Dakota Medical Licensing Exam Issues
North Dakota's Medical Practice Act licensing requirements and North Dakota Board of Medicine administrative rules are as onerous as they are to protect the public against unqualified medical care. Give them that. But we understand your frustration with seeing your NBME/USMLE issues delay your North Dakota license. You've invested a tremendous amount in starting your medical practice. Every day lost to medical licensing exam issues is a significant loss. That's why our attorneys are so dedicated to knowing USMLE rules, policies, and procedures to help you gain what you earned and deserve. Let us help you resolve any of these common medical licensing exam issues the following sections discuss in detail other issues holding up your North Dakota Board of Medicine license:
- problems qualifying for the exam;
- problems passing exam steps within attempt limits;
- problems with extenuating circumstances ruining exam attempts;
- problems with exam cheating allegations;
- facing anomalous exam performance disqualification; or
- facing an invalidated exam score.
North Dakota Licensing Exam Qualification Issues
USMLE officials deploy a surprisingly rigorous process to qualify applicants for the exam, not unlike the rigorous North Dakota Board of Medicine application process. Exam officials do so largely for exam integrity and security reasons. Exam officials must ensure that only qualified individuals earnestly attempting to pass the exam enter the exam room while frustrating individuals with nefarious designs to steal questions, act as impostors, aid other examinees, or otherwise undermine exam security. Exam officials are gatekeepers. Patient protection against unqualified medical care is at risk if they fail to ensure exam integrity. The USMLE's Bulletin of Information states the requirements for USMLE exam qualification. You must be cautious when applying for the USMLE to ensure that your application is accurate, complete, and consistent with your North Dakota Board of Medicine application. These common issues arise when candidates apply for the USMLE:
- application statements don't match submitted documentation;
- documentation is incomplete, unauthenticated, or out of date;
- medical school records reflect failure to satisfactorily progress;
- medical school records show unprofessionalism or discipline;
- medical school records show unresolved academic issues;
- medical school records show unresolved discipline charges;
- medical school accreditation during your enrollment is in doubt;
- medical residency records show termination or unprofessionalism;
- criminal conviction or domestic restraining orders disqualify;
- information indicates mental or physical impairment;
- information indicates substance abuse, dependency, or addiction;
- identification is inadequate or inconsistent; or
- citizenship or lawful immigration status is in question.
How We Address Exam Qualification Issues
Our attorneys address documentation problems by promptly working with medical school registrars, residency directors, court or agency clerks, and other recordkeepers to obtain the proper records in authenticated form. Our appearance as attorneys working on your behalf often gets the prompt and helpful response you need, even from busy or reluctant recordkeepers. If your statements and documentation are inconsistent, suggesting credential fraud, we can communicate credibly and diplomatically with USMLE officials to straighten out those issues while reassuring officials of your good character, qualifications, and intent. We also invoke medical school or residency dispute resolution procedures to resolve any unresolved academic, conduct, or performance issues. Our simultaneous communications and reassurances with North Dakota Board of Medicine officials should keep your license application open.
North Dakota Medical Licensing Exam Attempt Limits
Medical school students and graduates also face issues passing the USMLE and exhausting their exam attempts. You are certainly not alone if you have failed a step exam multiple times. Examinees fail USMLE step exams with a relatively high frequency. Hence, the multiple permitted attempts. You've seen above that North Dakota Board of Medicine Administrative Rule 50-02-11-03.1 limits exam attempts to three attempts on each step exam, which is lower than the USMLE's own four attempts limit. You may not have known you were going to seek a license in North Dakota with its lower attempt limit when you took and failed to promptly pass an earlier step exam, exceeding the North Dakota limit. You may have exhausted your three attempts while unaware that North Dakota had a lower attempt limit than the USMLE. You may be disqualified from the USMLE and North Dakota Board of Medicine licensure for having run out of exam attempts.
How We Address Exam Attempt Limits
We may be able to gain you an extra exam attempt, which is likely all that you need to pass the exam, knowing that you must prepare exhaustively this next and last time. We've already shown above that North Dakota Board of Medicine Administrative Rule 50-02-11-03.1 authorizes the Board to grant an extra exam attempt to applicants able to show a disability warranting an extra attempt in the state's best interest. Your medical school may or may not have previously recognized your educational disability. If not, we may be able to help you obtain evaluation and testing showing your undiagnosed disability. We may alternatively be able to advocate for a broader definition of disability that includes transient issues you faced, like illness, injury, or even distracting family, school, work, or financial issues you have since resolved. The USMLE also had an extenuating circumstances policy we can invoke to gain you an extra attempt if an emergency prevented or impaired your effort.
North Dakota Licensing Exam Irregular Behavior Issues
Cheating allegations are another common medical licensing exam issue. USMLE officials require exam proctors and test center staff to report suspected cheating. Examinees also have an obligation to report suspicious activity. USMLE officials may receive other tips or make their own observations of cheating in their own security measures and administrative practices. USMLE officials address cheating allegations under an irregular behavior policy in the USMLE Bulletin of Information, authorizing exam disqualification and report to North Dakota Board of Medicine officials for license denial. The Bulletin of Information includes these illustrations of cheating:
- harassing, disobeying, or interfering with exam proctors;
- having someone else take your exam;
- taking someone else's exam for them;
- sharing exam answers with another during the exam;
- soliciting exam answers from another during the exam;
- unauthorized materials in the exam room;
- unauthorized devices in the exam room;
- removing exam materials from the exam room;
- reproducing and sharing exam questions after the exam;
- refusing to cooperate in the cheating investigation;
- obstructing a cheating investigation;
- claiming you passed an exam you failed;
- claiming you are qualified for a retake when you are not qualified or
- registering for an exam after your exam disqualification.
How We Address Irregular Behavior Charges
The USMLE Office of the Secretariat offers an adjudication process our attorneys can invoke on your behalf. The adjudication process enables us to present your exonerating evidence and challenge incriminating evidence. We may be able to use our forensic consultants to show a computer analysis, document analysis, handwriting analysis, or other evidence that you were not the culprit the charges allege. We can also present your testimony and the testimony of other witnesses in your defense while also showing your good moral character and strong academic record. We can also keep North Dakota Board of Medicine officials informed that we are diligently defending the cheating charges so that they do not reject your license application prematurely.
North Dakota Anomalous Exam Performance Issues
The USMLE's anomalous performance policy requires that examinees be basically qualified to take the exam and make reasonable efforts when doing so. USMLE officials analyze exam scores. A very low score below the normal distribution of low scores may indicate to exam officials that the examinee lacked the required medical education or wasn't taking the exam to give a best effort. In the latter case, when the answer pattern shows unattempted exam sections or other obvious lack of basic effort, exam officials may infer from the lack of effort that the examinee was in the room to record and disclose questions, help other examinees or other illicit purposes. A judgment of anomalous performance disqualifies the examinee from further attempts, resulting in notice to the North Dakota Board of Medicine and license denial.
How We Address Anomalous Exam Performance
The USMLE does not offer a formal adjudication process for anomalous performance disqualification as it does for irregular behavior. But don't despair. Our attorneys know how to reach USMLE officials through informal channels. If you had a sudden mental event, physical illness, or other explanation for your anomalous performance, we can present that evidence through those channels, advocating for reinstatement and another chance at the exam. We can also present evidence of your medical education including your good scores on medical school exams. We may also present character evidence, such as affidavits from medical school professors, all while keeping North Dakota Board of Medicine officials advised of the likelihood of our efforts prevailing to keep your license application open.
North Dakota Invalidated Exam Score Issues
USMLE officials also enforce an invalidated score policy to address extraordinarily high scores that appear to indicate prior access to exam questions, outside assistance during the exam, or some other undetected form of cheating. Even if USMLE officials have no direct evidence of cheating, they may infer cheating from a score well beyond the normal distribution of high scores. USMLE officials also analyze answer patterns to invalidate scores. Answering all the previously used questions correct but answering the new previously unused questions incorrectly may indicate prior access to previous questions. If the USMLE invalidates your score, it will withhold the score and disqualify you from the exam and may notify the North Dakota Board of Medicine officials so that they can deny your application and close your file.
How We Address Invalidated Exam Scores
The USMLE does not offer a formal adjudication process to contest invalidated scores. Once again, though, our attorneys work to establish informal communications with exam officials to present your explanation for your very high score. You may, for instance, have aced the MCAT and your medical school exams, proving your capacity for outstanding standardized test performance. We may also be able to present good morals, sound character evidence, and evidence of your especially earnest and effective preparation. If we cannot gain validation and release of the invalidated score, we may at least be able to requalify you for the exam for another attempt, one on which you will presumably do very well, even on new test questions and under close monitoring. We can also communicate the diligence of our efforts to North Dakota Board of Medicine officials to keep your license application alive.
North Dakota Medical Board Response to Exam Issues
If you don't keep the North Dakota Board of Medicine informed of your efforts to favorably resolve your USMLE issues, Board officials will eventually review, evaluate, and act on your license application, denying you a license and closing your file. Board officials have statutory and regulatory duties to process applications diligently. They won't generally leave an application open indefinitely without good cause for doing so, supplied by the applicant or legal representative. If the Board rejects your application and closes your file, you may have to reapply when you resolve your USMLE issues. Starting an application over again can not only cost you substantial time, trouble, and fees but also lead to even more delays in gaining a license as Board officials begin the new application processing cycle. Instead, retain us to keep North Dakota Board of Medicine officials informed of our efforts to resolve your USMLE issues.
North Dakota Administrative Review Procedures
If the North Dakota Board of Medicine closes your file before you have resolved your USMLE issues, we may be able to convince Board officials to reopen it while we address your issues. We may alternatively be able to invoke the Board's hearing procedures to present a case for why the Board should not prematurely deny your application, by which time we may have favorably resolved your issues.
Premier North Dakota Medical Licensing Exam Defense
The Lento Law Firm's premier Student Defense Team is available across North Dakota to help you resolve your USMLE medical licensing exam issues and qualify for your North Dakota Board of Medicine license. Our attorneys have represented hundreds of students and graduates across North Dakota and nationwide, successfully resolving their professional licensing issues and related school issues. Call 888.535.3686 or use our contact form now to retain our skilled and experienced attorneys.
