NBME/USMLE Defense for Oregon Medical Students and Graduates

Oregon, with its great cities, beautiful natural environment, vibrant economy, and comprehensive healthcare system, is a wonderful state in which to establish a medical practice. You should expect a thriving practice and a good professional career under those circumstances. But you know well that you must first obtain a medical license from the Oregon Medical Board. You also know that you must prove to the Oregon Medical Board that you have passed the NBME, USMLE, or other qualifying medical licensing exam. Your NBME / USMLE issues can derail your Oregon medical licensure, destroying everything for which you've worked toward a medical career.

If you face NBME / USMLE issues, retain the Lento Law Firm's premier Student Defense Team for the skilled and experienced attorney representation you need to favorably resolve those issues. We are available in Portland, Eugene, Salem, Gresham, Hillsboro, Bend, Beaverton, Medford, Springfield, Corvallis, Auburn, Tigard, Lake Oswego, Grants Pass, Aloha, and across Oregon to help you gain your Oregon Medical Board licensure while preserving and protecting your medical career. Call 888.535.3686 or use our contact form now for our strategic and effective license defense representation.

Rewards of Oregon Medical Practice

Oregon certainly has large and well-equipped hospitals and other medical facilities for your rewarding medical practice. The state's largest hospitals include Oregon Health and Science University (OSHU) Hospital, Legacy Emanuel Medical Center, Providence St. Vincent Medical Center, Salem Hospital, Providence Portland Medical Center, Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center, PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at River Bend, Adventist Medical Center-Portland, and Kaiser Permanente Sunnyside Medical Center, among other fine facilities around the state. Oregon also has medical education programs at the Oregon Health & Science University and Western University of Health Sciences to support your continuing medical education. Add Oregon's fine residential neighborhoods and exciting arts, sports, recreation, and cultural scenes, and you have the potential for a great medical career in the state. Let us help you resolve your NBME / USMLE issues so that you can enjoy your due rewards of an Oregon medical practice.

Oregon Medical Licensing Authority

Section 677.015 of Oregon's Medical Practice Act states the Act's purpose is to regulate the practice of medicine in the state for patient and public protection. Oregon doesn't want unqualified doctors treating patients, causing harm while undermining confidence in the medical profession. Section 677.015 thus declares medical licensure to be the solution against incompetent medical practice. You must have a medical license from the Oregon Medical Board to practice medicine in the state. The Oregon Medical Practice Act's Section 677.080 prohibits unlicensed practice. The Act's Section 677.325 authorizes the Oregon Medical Board to obtain a court injunction against anyone practicing medicine without a license. The Act's Section 677.990 makes it an Oregon Class C misdemeanor to violate these provisions. You can face criminal charges if you practice medicine in Oregon without a license. Let us help you address and favorably resolve your NBME / USMLE issues so that you can qualify for Oregon medical practice with a valid medical license.

Oregon Medical Licensure General Requirements

Section 677.100 of Oregon's Medical Practice Act states the requirements for you to obtain an Oregon Medical Board license. Those requirements include graduating from an approved medical education program, completing the post-graduate medical practice requirement involving from one to three years of residency training, and proof of good moral character. Section 677.100 further authorizes the Oregon Medical Board to clarify those general requirements or impose additional licensing requirements by administrative rule. The Oregon Medical Board has done so at its Administrative Rules 847-020-0100 et seq. Those requirements may include a criminal history check, proof of U.S. citizenship or lawful residency status, minimum age, and other fitness. We can help you address and resolve not only your NBME / USMLE issues but also other issues you face qualifying for an Oregon Medical Board license.

Oregon Medical License Application Requirements

You must also apply for your Oregon medical license without making misstatements or omissions that the Oregon Medical Board construes as purposefully misleading. The Oregon Medical Practice Act's Section 677.100 expressly requires that you complete the Oregon Medical Board's license application process to the Board's satisfaction. The Act's Section 677.080 expressly prohibits any license applicant from making any fraudulent statement to obtain the license credential. Your NBME / USMLE issues increase your risk of inadvertently committing credential fraud, especially if you fail to update your application with developments relating to your qualification for the medical licensing exam. We can help you communicate with Oregon Medical Board officials to ensure that they understand your NBME / USMLE status, that we are helping you address and favorably resolve your NBME / USMLE issues, and that you have not misrepresented your credentials on your licensing application.

Oregon Medical Licensing Exam Requirements

The above statute, Section 677.100 of Oregon's Medical Practice Act setting forth the general licensing requirements, does not mention the medical licensing examination requirement. Another provision of Oregon's Medical Practice Act, Section 677.110, imposes the additional medical licensing exam requirement on most applicants. Section 677.110 also identifies the approved medical licensing exams including the FLEX, NBME, and USMLE exams. The statute indicates that the applicant must have a passing score of at least 75. Other information from the Oregon Medical Board indicates the possibility of relying on another state's own medical licensing exam if you took and passed an alternative exam in another state rather than the FLEX, NBME, or USMLE. That same information from the Oregon Medical Board also discloses the Board's four-attentive limit for the Step 3 exam while indicating no limit for the Steps 1 and 2 exams. We can help you interpret, apply, and advocate the statute, regulations, rules, and policies to address and favorably resolve your NBME / USMLE issues before the Oregon Medical Board.

NBME / USMLE Issues Affecting Oregon Medical Licensure

NBME / USMLE issues come up in one or more of several common ways. Yes, your NBME / USMLE issues may differ in small respects from the circumstances that other Oregon Medical Board license applicants face, triggering their own NBME / USMLE issues. However the issues tend to fall into common categories, as the exam organizations' rules and procedures treat them. Indeed, read the rules and procedures, and you'll discover the misconduct and other problems that the exam organizations encounter in ensuring the integrity of the NBME, USMLE, FLEX, and other exams and the qualifications and performance of examinees. We organize the following treatment of the common NBME / USMLE issues into these categories:

1. exam qualification;
2. exam passage within permitted retake attempts;
3. irregular behavior charges alleging cheating;
4. anomalous performance disqualification for a very low score;
5. invalidated score for an inexplicably high score and
6. extenuating circumstances affecting one or more exam attempts.

USMLE Qualification Issues for Oregon Physicians

Qualifying for the NBME, USMLE, FLEX, or other medical licensing exam can be harder than you may think. Exam organizations generally publish their qualification requirements in a document that effectively constitutes the contract or agreement between the organization and the examinee. The USMLE Bulletin of Information, for instance,details USMLE exam qualification requirements while further stating the terms and conditions for your taking the exam. Consider this list of issues that can arise for a candidate who attempts, without due care and caution, to qualify for the NBME, USMLE, or another licensing exam:

• false or misleading statements on your exam application that exam administrative officials treat as your credential fraud;
• omissions of material information that leave your statements incomplete and misleading, and potentially fraudulent;
• your failure to supply the required documents in the required form from the appropriate recordkeeper;
• your supplying documents that appear to be copies rather than originals, that lack seal, certification, or other authentication, or that appear to be altered;
• your affirmative representations on your application differ from the information your documents supply, suggesting deliberate misrepresentations;
• your attendance at a non-approved medical school or a school that faced accreditation revocation during your matriculation;
• failed courses, multiple withdrawn courses, very low grade point average, incomplete coursework, academic probation, and other indications of unsatisfactory academic progress in your medical education;
• discipline at your medical school for unprofessionalism, unfitness, impairment, or other misconduct, or transcripts or other records indicating unresolved disciplinary charges;
• your failure to provide appropriate proof of your identity, U.S. citizenship, or lawful residency status; or
• your record of criminal convictions or failure to authorize a required criminal history check, or a court or law enforcement failure to provide criminal history.

How We Help Address USMLE Qualification Issues

Our attorneys may be able to help you promptly resolve your NBME / USMLE exam qualifications issues so that you can sit for your next step exam and show Oregon Medical Board licensing officials that you are diligently proceeding toward qualifying for licensure. We can communicate with the registrars, recordkeepers, and other officials who may need to update or correct the required documentation, or may need to provide the required documentation in another form or by another route. We know how to deal with these frustrating and annoying administrative issues in the most diplomatic, efficient, and effective manner. We also know how to invoke medical school or medical residency procedures, immigration and customs procedures, NBME / USMLE procedures, and other administrative or court procedures to get the action you may need to resolve records issues and get the updated or corrected records to exam officials to qualify for your next step exam. We can also help you explain to NBME / USMLE officials any misstatements, omissions, inconsistencies, or discrepancies in your exam application and to correct those issues.

Oregon Medical Licensing Exam Attempt Limits

Both the exam organizations and the state nursing boards may impose limits on the number of attempts you may have at passing the NBME, USMLE, FLEX, or other medical licensing exam. The exam organizations and state nursing boards tend to accept multiple attempts, commonly at least three or four. They understand that examinees may need to adjust their exam study efforts to exam scoring standards. A preliminary unprepared attempt may be a reasonable strategy for examinees who are unfamiliar with the exam format and unsure of their preparedness. Or unexpected factors may just have influenced your exam performance one time when a subsequent attempt would eliminate those factors. In any case, you've seen above that the Oregon Medical Board imposes a four attempts limit on the USMLE Step 3 exam, which also happens to be the USMLE's own presumptive retake limit. Running out of permitted attempts can be a dire issue preventing your ability to take and pass the medical licensing exam to qualify for Oregon Medical Board licensure.

How We Help with USMLE Retake Limit Issues

Fortunately, we may be able to help you get another chance at your next or last NBME, USMLE, or FLEX step exam, part or component, under a policy addressing emergency exam issues. The USMLE's extenuating circumstances policy is an example. Under that policy, exam officials may grant you an extra retake beyond the attempts limit if you promptly notify exam officials of the emergency circumstance that kept you from sitting for a scheduled exam counting against your limit or if you fail to complete an exam when realizing how badly those circumstances are affecting you. We can help you make that showing with appropriate documentation. The circumstance may have involved your illness or injury, the illness or injury of a close family member for whom you have principal care, or another upsetting or distracting event. Let us help you gain the extra try you need to finish your last step, part, or component to qualify for Oregon Medical Board licensure.

Oregon Physician USMLE Irregular Behavior Issues

A greater concern may involve allegations that you cheated in some way related to the NBME, USMLE, FLEX, or other medical licensing exam. The exam organizations maintain elaborate rules and procedures to ensure the exam's confidentiality and integrity, and the validity and reliability of its exam scoring. Exam proctors, test center staff, and exam administrators are all on the lookout for evidence of cheating during, before, or after the exam. The exam organizations also generally require examinees to report suspected cheating that they observe or about which they learn. The exam organizations give many examples of cheating. The USMLE Bulletin of Information, for instance, calls cheating irregular behavior, defines it as an attempt to “compromise [exam] validity, integrity, or security,” and lists the following examples:

• misstating your qualifications to sit for the exam;
• presenting forged or altered documents supporting qualifications;
• attempting to register for an exam when not eligible to do so;
• asking another person to attempt the exam as an impostor;
• attempting to take the exam for another as an impostor;
• asking another examinee for help during the exam;
• spying on another examinee's answers during the exam;
• asking a prior examinee to disclose questions before your exam;
• offering questions to a subsequent examinee;
• reproducing questions for distribution after the exam;
• obstructing exam proctors;
• disobeying exam instructions;
• bringing unauthorized devices or materials into the exam room;
• removing materials from the exam room;
• notifying state licensing officials that you passed when you didn't;
• notifying licensing officials that you remain qualified when you don't;
• failing or refusing to cooperate with an exam investigation.

How We Address USMLE Irregular Behavior Charges

Just because you face NBME / USMLE cheating allegations doesn't mean that exam officials will disqualify you from the exam or that Oregon Medical Board officials will deny your license application. We may be able to help you successfully defend irregular behavior charges. We may be able to answer the investigator's requests with your accurate, truthful, and complete information explaining the anomaly the investigator discloses. The complainant may have misidentified you, leaving someone else responsible for the misconduct, or the complainant may have been mistaken as to your innocent actions or intentions. Your exam organizations should have a procedure for us to invoke to bring your matter before an impartial decision-maker. The USMLE Office of the Secretariat, for instance, follows an adjudication process that is disclosed in the notice of irregular behavior charges. Let us invoke protective procedures to address your irregular behavior issues while also keeping Oregon Medical Board officials informed so that they do not close and reject your license application.

Oregon Physician USMLE Anomalous Performance Issues

Exam organizations are also concerned when an examinee fails to complete an exam, suggesting poor effort or scores extremely poorly, suggesting inadequate education and potentially nefarious reasons for attempting the exam, like stealing confidential questions. USMLE officials, for instance, enforce an anomalous performance policy under which they may disqualify you from further exam attempts after an especially poor or strange effort. Disqualification from further attempts would mean you could not pass the exam, preventing your Oregon Medical Board licensure.

How We Address USMLE Anomalous Performance

Challenging an allegation of anomalous performance can be harder than addressing cheating charges because of the confidential nature of the exam. NBME / USMLE officials will not generally disclose your anomalous performance or pattern of answers lest they disclose confidential questions or scoring or analysis methods. Yet we may be able to present your accurate and truthful information, with appropriate documentation, explaining the probable cause of the anomaly. You may, for instance, have realized that you inadvertently skipped exam sections or mis-entered your correct exam answers in a way that scored them as incorrect. Or you may have misunderstood exam instructions. We may, through informal channels, be able to advocate and negotiate for your retake opportunity, especially if we can demonstrate your strong medical school academic performance and your good moral character.

Oregon Physician USMLE Invalidated Score Issues

Surprising as it may seem, an anomalously high score can also create NBME / USMLE issues interfering with your Oregon Medical Board licensure. Acing the medical licensing exam is great–unless your score is so perfect as to suggest your advance access to exam questions or answers. Alternatively, if you and a group of other local examinees all get the same questions correct or a similar coordinated pattern arises, exam administrators may invalidate the scores of all exams. The USMLE's Program Statement publishes the USMLE's invalidated score policy, warning that the USMLE reserves the right to withhold the score and potentially disqualify the examinee from further attempts.

How We Address a USMLE Invalidated Score

Let us help you invoke available procedures to challenge an invalidated score, with the goal of the score's release or of a chance at a retake. We may be able to show the USMLE Office of the Secretariat or your other exam organization officials that you have such a strong medical school academic record that your outstanding licensing exam performance was due solely to your own efforts. We can also present evidence of your good moral character while keeping Oregon Medical Board officials informed of our efforts to release your invalidated score or give you a retake opportunity.

Oregon Administrative Review Procedures

If the Oregon Medical Board rejects your application and closes your file without giving you the opportunity to address and favorably resolve your NBME / USMLE issues, we can help you invoke the Board's review procedures. The Oregon Medical Board, like other state nursing boards nationwide, must generally provide due process if intending to deny you a medical license on grounds of misconduct. To satisfy that obligation relating to your constitutional rights, Section 677.200 of Oregon's Medical Practice Act expressly incorporates the state's administrative procedures act provisions for contested cases. Our attorneys know how to invoke those protective procedures to their best strategic effect for the best outcome of your NBME / USMLE issues.

Premier NBME / USMLE Defense in Oregon

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