NBME/USMLE Defense for Oklahoma Medical Students and Graduates

You made a solid choice when determining to pursue your medical license in Oklahoma. The state's beautiful natural environment, strong economy, friendly population, fine towns, and outstanding medical facilities all indicate the large potential rewards of a thriving medical practice. The Oklahoma Medical Board, also known as the Oklahoma Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision, stands ready to process your application for a medical license. But if you face issues with the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME), United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE), FLEX, or other medical licensing exam, those issues can derail your Oklahoma Medical Board application, frustrating or even destroying your hard-earned practice rewards.

The Lento Law Firm's premier Student Defense Team offers you the skilled and experienced attorney representation you need to effectively resolve your NBME / USMLE issues. We are available in Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Norman, Broken Arrow, Edmond, Lawton, Moore, Midwest City, Enid, Stillwater, Owasso, Bartlesville, Muskogee, Shawnee, Bixby, and across Oklahoma to help you complete your Oklahoma Medical Board licensure. Call 888.535.3686 or use our contact form now for our strategic defense representation. Your Oklahoma medical practice and career are worth it.

Rewards of Oklahoma Medical Practice

Large and well-equipped hospitals and other sophisticated medical facilities may not be absolutely necessary for a thriving medical practice, but they can certainly support and enhance a rewarding medical practice. Oklahoma's largest hospitals include Tulsa's Saint Francis Hospital, Ascension St. John's Medical Center, and Hillcrest Medical Center, Oklahoma City's OU Medical Center, Integris Baptist Medical Center, Mercy Hospital, and SSM St. Anthony's Hospital, Norman Regional Hospital, and St. Francis-Muskogee Medical Center, among other fine facilities around the state. You and your patients should have plenty of access to top-flight medical facilities and equipment. Oklahoma also has the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine and Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences for your medical research and teaching interests, and continuing medical education. Oklahoma's abundant sports, recreation, and cultural scenes increase the potential for a rewarding professional practice within the state. Let us help resolve your NBME / USMLE issues so that you can begin enjoying those rewards.

Oklahoma Medical Licensing Authority

Section 481 of the Oklahoma Allopathic Medical and Surgical Licensure and Supervision Act creates the State Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision to license and regulate medical practice in the state. The Act's Section 489 authorizes the State Board to adopt administrative rules and regulations to carry out the Act's provisions. The Act's Section 491 requires every physician purporting to practice medicine in the state to hold a valid State Board license. Under the Act's Section 491, practicing medicine without a license is a criminal felony punishable by a fine of up to $10,000 and up to four years imprisonment. The same section authorizes the State Board to assess a civil fine of $5,000 against a physician whose license the State Board has suspended or revoked for every day that the physician practices without the suspended or revoked license. You must not practice medicine in Oklahoma without a State Board license. Let us help you resolve your NBME / USMLE issues so that you can qualify for and commence your Oklahoma medical practice.

Oklahoma Medical Licensure General Requirements

Section 493.1 of Oklahoma's Allopathic Medical and Surgical Licensure and Supervision Act requires that every applicant for a State Board medical license earn a qualifying medical degree from a program of medical education that the State Board has approved. If you suffered discipline at your medical school, then your application must describe those circumstances for the State Board to review. Section 493.1 further requires the applicant to complete at least twelve months of approved medical residency training. Section 493.1 also requires the applicant to pass a medical licensing exam that the State Board has approved. You must also show the State Board that you are “physically, mentally, professionally, and morally capable of practicing medicine” and have not committed a disqualifying act or suffered a disqualifying criminal conviction. Let us help you resolve any other issues with your State Board application, including your NBME / USMLE issues.

Oklahoma Medical License Application Requirements

Section 493.1 of Oklahoma's Allopathic Medical and Surgical Licensure and Supervision Act also requires that every applicant for a State Board medical license attest to the accuracy of the statements and documentation that the applicant provides with the State Board application forms. The attestations include abundant information about prior licensure or license applications, educational history, and life history. Section 493.1 expressly prohibits applicants from making any fraudulent statement on their license application. Credential fraud can be a special concern for applicants facing NBME / USMLE issues. Do not conceal your NBME / USMLE issues on your State Board license application. Do not misrepresent your qualifications to take your medical licensing exam. Your coverup of your NBME / USMLE issues can be worse than having those issues resolved in the first place. Let us help you review, update, and correct your license application to ensure that you don't face credential fraud issues.

Oklahoma Medical Licensing Exam Requirements

Section 493.1 of Oklahoma's Allopathic Medical and Surgical Licensure and Supervision Act imposing the medical licensing exam requirement does not state what exams would satisfy the requirement. The statute leaves that judgment up to the Oklahoma State Medical Board, although other sections of the Medical and Surgical Licensure and Supervision Act mention both the NBME and USMLE. The State Medical Board has exercised its authority to choose the medical licensing exam in its Administrative Rule 435:10-4-6. The State Medical Board there specifies the USMLE step exams as the approved medical licensing exam requirement. You must achieve a passing score of 75 or the USMLE's scaled equivalent. The same Rule 435:10-4-6, though, also indicates that the State Board will accept the NBME and FLEX exams and combinations of the USMLE, NBME, and FLEX on certain terms and conditions. The rule also limits cumulative exam attempts to six, after which the rule states that the applicant will be ineligible for licensure. Let us help you interpret and apply these requirements and advocate for the best resolution of your NBME / USMLE issues.

NBME / USMLE Issues Affecting Oklahoma Medical Licensure

Your NBME / USMLE issues are probably not unique, even if particular circumstances surrounding your issues are unique or unusual. NBME, USMLE, and FLEX officials anticipate the common exam issues adopting rules, policies, and procedures for addressing those issues. Read the rules, and you'll see the common issues. We can help you address your NBME / USMLE issues under the applicable rules, policies, and procedures. Those common issues involve the following six categories, treated in the following sections:

1. your exam qualification;
2. your exam passage within attempt limits;
3. your irregular behavior amounting to some form of cheating;
4. your anomalous exam performance resulting in a very low score;
5. your invalidated exam score is so high as to suggest cheating or
6. your extenuating circumstances warranting an additional attempt.

USMLE Qualification Issues for Oklahoma Physicians

Qualifying for the NBME, USMLE, or FLEX steps, parts, or components can take more than your mere application to the appropriate exam organization. Qualifying for certain step exams may require you to first apply to the Oklahoma State Medical Board and get its approval to take the next step exam. In that instance, you must meet the State Medical Board's application and documentation requirements. Beyond what the State Medical Board requires, the exam organization will have its own requirements. For example, the USMLE Bulletin of Information lists its own exam qualification requirements, including additional terms and conditions under which you must take and pass the exam. Those requirements, terms, and conditions can give rise to any of the following licensing exam issues:

• false statements on your application suggesting potential credential fraud;
• misleading omissions from your application suggesting potential ineligibility for the exam;
• missing documents raising eligibility questions;
• document copies rather than originals, suggesting potential alteration;
• documents lacking required authentication or delivered by someone other than the registrar or recordkeeper, suggesting potential falsification;
• application statements differing from document information, suggesting misrepresentations;
• attendance at a non-approved medical school;
• attendance at an approved medical school that lost accreditation before your graduation;
• failed, withdrawn, and incomplete medical school courses, and term withdrawals and terms off, suggesting unsatisfactory academic progress;
• academic probation, suspension, or dismissal and reinstatement, indicating potential unsatisfactory academic progress;
• medical school or medical residency discipline for unprofessionalism, unfitness, impairment, or other misconduct;
• transcripts or other medical school or medical residency records indicating unresolved disciplinary charges;
• inadequate proof of applicant personal identity, U.S. citizenship, or lawful residency status;
• disqualifying criminal convictions;
• failure to authorize a required criminal history check or
• court or law enforcement agency failure to provide criminal history.

How We Help Address USMLE Qualification Issues

Several of the above NBME / USMLE issues have to do with documentation. We can help you address and resolve documentation issues by working with your medical school's registrar, medical residency director, and other school, facility, immigration, court, and law enforcement officials. We may be able to obtain updated and corrected records that resolve gaps or inconsistencies in your application and remove disqualifying information. If you have unresolved school or residency issues, we can invoke the appropriate administrative procedures to bring those matters to a proper resolution, resulting in the updated records you need to qualify for the NBME, USMLE, or FLEX exam. We can simultaneously show the Oklahoma State Medical Board licensing officials that we are diligently pursuing the resolution of your remaining NBME / USMLE issues, so that the State Medical Board keeps open your license application file.

Oklahoma Medical Licensing Exam Attempt Limits

Once you qualify for the NBME / USMLE, you must of course pass each step or part of the exam within the allowed attempt limits. You've seen above that Oklahoma State Medical Board Administrative Rule 435:10-4-6 limits exam attempts to six. Under ordinary circumstances, for Oklahoma medical licensing, you get six cumulative exam tries, even though the USMLE has its own attempts limit of just four tries. Medical students and graduates commonly make one or more attempts before they devote their full and concerted effort to exam preparation. Medical students and graduates have other obligations on which to spend their time. If they can pass with less study time and effort, then they'll have more time for those other obligations. But if you run out of available attempts before passing each step exam, then you'll be ineligible for Oklahoma State Medical Board licensure.

How We Help with USMLE Retake Limit Issues

The exam organizations may offer you extra attempts, depending on your individual circumstances relating to your missing or failing one or more step exams. The USMLE's extenuating circumstances policy, for example, permits an examinee to promptly report a medical illness, accident injury, or similar circumstance preventing the examinee from making a scheduled exam. When ordinarily missing a scheduled exam counts as an attempt, the USMLE's extenuating circumstances policy may cancel the missed exam, giving the examinee an extra attempt. The policy also permits a student to appear for the exam, and even begin the exam, before realizing that the extenuating circumstance has made exam performance practically impossible. We can help you with the prompt notice, explanation, and documentation that your exam's extenuating circumstances policy requires for the extra attempt. You may even be able to qualify based on the illness or injury of a family member for whom you must care or a similar emergency circumstance. Let us help you evaluate and make the required showing.

Oklahoma Physician USMLE Irregular Behavior Issues

Cheating is another, more substantial concern for NBME, USMLE, and FLEX officials. Each exam organization has its exam rules, policies, and procedures for examinees to follow to ensure the confidentiality of exam questions and answers and the integrity of an examinee's performance and passing exam score. Those rules, policies, and procedures aim to both discourage and detect many different forms of potential cheating. The USMLE Bulletin of Information is an example, calling cheating irregular behavior and defining irregular behavior as an attempt to “compromise [exam] validity, integrity, or security.” The Bulletin of Information then lists the following irregular behavior examples:

• trying to register for an exam when you are ineligible to do so;
• misrepresenting your qualifications to register and sit for the exam;
• using altered or forged documents to support exam qualifications;
• trying to get another person to act as an impostor to take your exam;
• offering to act as an impostor to take the exam for another person;
• getting help from another examinee during the exam;
• giving another examinee help during the exam;
• disclosing exam questions to another examinee after the exam;
• requesting another examinee to disclose questions to you;
• photographing or otherwise reproducing confidential exam questions;
• harassing, offending, or obstructing test center staff or exam proctors;
• using unauthorized devices or materials in the exam room;
• removing exam materials from the room during or after the exam;
• telling someone that you passed the exam when you didn't pass;
• representing to licensing officials that you qualify when you don't;
• failing to report cheating or attempted cheating you observed; or
• failing to cooperate with an investigation of exam cheating.

How We Address USMLE Irregular Behavior Charges

Cheating charges can be the most daunting of NBME / USMLE issues. But irregular behavior charges alleging your suspected cheating do not mean that you will be unable to favorably resolve the issues. The exam officials alleging irregular behavior may just need your reasonable explanation for an anomaly that they discovered or someone else reported. They may already suspect that the report of cheating was mistaken or otherwise lacked credible evidence. It is possible that exam proctors, test center staff, or fellow examinees misidentified you as the culprit when someone else cheated. We can help you discern, discover, and present your exonerating evidence to defend and defeat irregular behavior charges. The USMLE Office of the Secretariat offers those examinees facing irregular behavior charges an adjudication process. We can invoke that process or similar protective procedures your other exam organization offers to address your irregular behavior charges. We can also inform Oklahoma State Medical Board officials about our progress in resolving your NBME / USMLE irregular behavior issues to keep your license application alive and open.

Oklahoma Physician USMLE Anomalous Performance Issues

You might assume that doing very poorly on the NBME, USMLE, or FLEX exam would just mean that you need a retake attempt. However, exam organizations can have special concerns over the intent, qualifications, and commitment of an examinee who performs well below the normal distribution of scores for qualified and earnest examinees. Exam officials might, for instance, suspect that the very low performer is just taking the exam to get access to confidential questions to share with others after the exam. Or they may suspect misrepresentation of medical education. In those and other cases suggesting the examinee's unfitness for the exam, USMLE officials may apply the organization's anomalous performance policy, permitting them to bar the examinee from further attempts. If you face an anomalous performance finding, you may be unable to make another exam attempt to obtain your Oklahoma State Medical Board licensure.

How We Address USMLE Anomalous Performance

Unfortunately, the USMLE does not offer the same adjudication process for anomalous performance as it does for irregular behavior charges. That limitation may be because adjudication of an anomalous exam performance might require disclosure of exam questions, answers, scoring methods, or analysis methods for cheating or other anomalous performance. USMLE policy requires that you live with the anomalous performance result without challenge. Yet, we may be able to successfully challenge your bar from a retake attempt through informal channels. We may be able to requalify you for the exam so that you can give it the extra try you need to pass it. Showing your strong medical school academic record and good character may be a part of our showing, along with any explanation you may have for what you suspect was the anomaly about your performance. You might, for instance, have skipped pages or sections, misunderstood instructions, or entered correct answers incorrectly.

Oklahoma Physician USMLE Invalidated Score Issues

A very high score can also create NBME / USMLE issues, delaying or obstructing your Oklahoma State Medical Board licensure. A very high score, well beyond the normal distribution for high performers, may indicate to exam officials that you had access to exam questions or other assistance from materials, devices, or other examinees. If others in your test center or test administration had similarly high scores on the same sections and questions, that pattern might confirm cheating suspicions. Whatever suspicious pattern and suspiciously high score exam officials detect they may apply a measure like the USMLE's invalidated score policy to withhold your passing score and bar you from further attempts.

How We Address a USMLE Invalidated Score

As in the case of irregular behavior charges and anomalous performance issues, we may be able to invoke available formal procedures or informal channels to challenge your invalidated score. While exam officials may not reveal your answer patterns because of confidentiality concerns, our presentation of your strong academic record and proof of good character may carry the day, either to gain release of your passing score or at least to gain you another attempt, removing the attempt bar. We can also inform Oklahoma State Medical Board officials of our diligent efforts on your behalf so that those officials keep your license application file open.

Oklahoma Administrative Review Procedures

Do not give up if the Oklahoma State Medical Board denies you licensure and closes your file because of your pending NBME / USMLE issues. You generally have a constitutional right to due process when a state licensing board prevents you from obtaining a license to practice your profession based on misconduct or other allegations. You should get a fair chance to tell your side of the story with our skilled and experienced representation. Section 503.2 of the Oklahoma Allopathic Medical and Surgical Licensure and Supervision Act recognizes your due process rights and, along with several other sections, generally assures you of a fair hearing before an impartial decision maker. We can invoke your procedural protections to ensure your best licensing outcome.

Premier NBME / USMLE Defense in Oklahoma

The Lento Law Firm's premier Student Defense Team is available across Oklahoma to help you resolve your NBME / USMLE issues. Our skilled and experienced attorneys help hundreds of healthcare professionals in Oklahoma and nationwide successfully resolve their licensing issues. Call 888.535.3686 or use our contact form now to retain our premier attorneys.