Utah can be a great place to practice medicine once you qualify for licensure. The state has a sophisticated healthcare system with many fine medical care facilities. Utah also has a beautiful mountain, valley and plains environment, a vital economy, stable and friendly citizenry, and fine cities and towns. The Utah Division of Professional Licensing and its Medical Licensing Board invite you to apply for your medical license online, with the Licensing Board's ready assistance, especially insofar as Utah has substantially fewer physicians than the U.S. average. You must, however, resolve your NBME / USMLE medical licensing exam issues to qualify for licensure.
Don't let medical licensing exam issues thwart your rewarding Utah medical practice. Retain the Lento Law Firm's premier Student Defense Team for the skilled and experienced attorney representation you need to resolve your NBME / USMLE issues. We are available in Salt Lake City, West Valley City, Provo, West Jordan, Orem, Sandy, Ogden, St. George, Layton, South Jordan, Lehi, Millcreek, Taylorsville, Herriman, Logan, Draper, Murray, Eagle Mountain, Bountiful, Riverton, Spanish Fork, and across Utah to help you gain your Utah medical license. Call 888.535.3686 or use our contact form now for our strategic and effective representation.
Advantages of Utah Medical Practice
Utah's outstanding hospitals and medical centers can support a thriving medical practice. Those facilities include the University of Utah Hospital, Intermountain Medical Center, Utah Valley Hospital, McKay-Dee Hospital, St. Mark's Hospital, LDS Hospital, St. George Regional Hospital, Ogden Regional Medical Center, Davis Hospital and Medical Center, and Jordan Valley Medical Center, among other fine facilities around the state. The University of Utah School of Medicine is also available in the state to support your medical research needs, teaching interests, other professional development, and continuing medical education. Let us help you address and resolve your NBME / USMLE issues so that you can take due advantage of Utah's favorable environment for medical practice. You've earned the reward once you resolve your medical licensing exam issues.
Utah Medical Licensing Authority
Section 58-67-201 of Utah's Medical Practice Act establishes the Medical Licensing Board to regulate the practice of medicine in the state. The Medical Practice Act's Part 3 sets forth the Medical Licensing Board's licensure authority and requirements. Section 58-67-301 expressly requires a physician to obtain a medical license before practicing medicine in the state. The same section authorizes the Medical Licensing Board to issue a license to a qualified physician meeting the Medical Practice Act's requirements. Another law, Section 58-1-501 of the Division of Professional Licensing Act, makes it unlawful to practice medicine without a license. Section 58-1-502 of the same Act makes it a criminal Class A misdemeanor to practice without a valid license, punishable by up to one year in jail and a $2,500 fine. You must not practice medicine in Utah without first obtaining your medical license. Let us help you resolve your NBME / USMLE issues so that you are able to lawfully do so.
Utah Medical Licensure General Requirements
The Utah Medical Practice Act's Section 58-67-302 states the general licensing requirements. Those requirements include completing an approved program of medical education, completing one to two years of graduate medical education, depending on other terms and conditions, passing the medical licensing exam the Medical Licensing Board approves, and proving your capability to speak, write, and read the English language. The Medical Practice Act's Section 58-67-302.1 further requires applicants to authorize a criminal background check to ensure that the applicant has not suffered a disqualifying criminal conviction. Utah Medical Board Rule 156-67-302a adds other verification requirements to ensure that licensing officials have access to national and state databases for background checks. Our attorneys can help you address and resolve issues with any of the above requirements, including your NBME / USMLE medical licensing exam issues.
Utah Medical License Application Requirements
Utah medical licensure also has specific application requirements. The Utah Medical Practice Act's Section 58-67-302 requires that you submit your application on the approved form including all information and documentation that the Utah Medical Licensing Board requires. Do not underestimate the care and caution you should exercise in making, updating, and correcting your Utah Medical Licensing Board application. The Board may construe misstatements on your application as an attempt to deliberately defraud the Board into granting a license to a candidate who does not meet the statutory and regulatory requirements. Likewise, if your documentation is inconsistent with your application statements, is altered, or is unauthenticated or incomplete, the Medical Licensing Board may deny your application while suspecting or alleging your attempted credential fraud. Credential fraud risks are especially acute for candidates facing NBME / USMLE issues delaying their licensure. Let us help you review, update, and correct your Utah Medical Licensing Board application relating to NBME / USMLE issues as we help you address and resolve those issues.
Utah Medical Licensing Exam Requirements
Utah Medical Practice Act Section 58-67-302 does not specify the exam or exams you must take to satisfy its medical licensing exam requirement. Instead, it leaves the Utah Medical Licensing Board the discretion to specify the required exam according to administrative rules. The Utah Medical Licensing Board has adopted a comprehensive Utah Medical Practice Act Rule. Rule 156-67-302b within that comprehensive rule specifies the approved medical licensing exams. Passing all steps, parts, or components of either the USMLE, NBME, or FLEX satisfies Rule 156-67-302b and the general medical licensing exam requirements of the Medical Practice Act Section 58-67-302. But Rule 156-67-302b also permits passage of various combinations of the steps, parts, or components of those three exams and may permit your passage of alternative exams. Let us help you interpret and apply Rule 156-67-302b and advocate with Utah Medical Licensing Board officials that you can satisfy or have satisfied the medical licensing exam requirements.
Utah Medical Licensure NBME / USMLE Issues
Common medical licensing exam issues fall into these six general categories: (1) whether you can qualify for the exam; (2) whether you can pass the exam within attempt limits; (3) whether your conduct suggests exam cheating called irregular behavior; (4) whether your very low exam score indicates anomalous performance; (5) whether your very high exam score requires an invalidated exam score; and (6) whether an emergency arising around your exam qualifies as an extenuating circumstance for an extra retake. NBME, USMLE, and FLEX exam terms, conditions, and rules address these six common issues. The following discussion focuses on USMLE's treatment of these issues. Our attorneys can help you address any of these six issues or other issues under the applicable rules and procedures.
Utah Physician USMLE Qualification Issues
Qualifying for your medical licensing exam, whether the NBME, USMLE, or FLEX, may require more effort than you initially expected. The exam's sponsoring organization and the Utah Medical Licensing Board may require that you coordinate your exam application with your licensing application, conditioning your completing one application on your completing the other application. Defects or delays in one application process can complicate the other application process. The USMLE Bulletin of Information lists exam qualification requirements, including the application information and documentation necessary to qualify for the exam. The Bulletin of Information also lists the terms and conditions under which you take the exam. The following issues can arise under those requirements, terms, and conditions:
- that you attended a non-approved medical school or that your approved medical school lost accreditation before your graduation;
- that your medical school placed you on academic probation or suspended or dismissed for unsatisfactory academic progress;
- that your medical school or medical residency disciplined you for unprofessionalism, impairment, or other misconduct;
- that your medical school or medical residency records reflect unresolved disciplinary charges;
- that you have not submitted adequate proof of your personal identity, U.S. citizenship, or lawful residency status;
- that you have disqualifying criminal convictions or have failed to authorize a required criminal history check, or that a court or law enforcement agency has failed to provide criminal history;
- that you made false statements on your application, left misleading omissions from your application, or made application statements inconsistent with your application documentation, indicating suspected credential fraud; or
- that your application is missing documents, supplied document copies rather than originals, supplied documents lacking required authentication, or reflects documents delivered by someone other than the approved registrar or recordkeeper.
How We Help Address USMLE Qualification Issues
If your NBME / USMLE issues have to do with your inadequate documentation, then we can help you address those documentation issues. Our attorneys can work with your medical school's registrar to update and correct your transcript or supply an original and authenticated transcript. We can alternatively work with your medical residency director to obtain the required residency records or with immigration, court, and law enforcement officials for citizenship, residency, and background check records. If you have unresolved academic or disciplinary issues with your school or residency, we can invoke their dispute resolution procedures to address and resolve those issues, so that we can obtain updated records of their resolution to supply to the exam or licensing officials. While we work to resolve your exam qualification issues, we can keep Utah Medical Licensing Board officials informed of our diligent efforts and progress so that the Board keeps your application open.
Utah Medical Licensing Exam Passage
Passing your approved medical licensing exam is up to you, and the study resources, aids, and assistance you recruit, require, and employ. But if you run out of available attempts, we may be able to help you gain extra attempts so that you can resume your diligent exam studies and pass the exam. Utah Medical Licensing Board Rule 156-67-302b permits only three NBME, USMLE, or FLEX attempts at each part, step, or component, even though the exams may have other attempt limits. The USMLE, for instance, has a four attempts limit. Medical students and graduates fail licensing exam parts, steps, or components with a relatively high frequency. Their ability to make multiple attempts at passing is one of the reasons for the higher failure rate. Students and graduates wisely allocate their exam study time according to their prospects for passage. Over-studying for the exam may waste time for other critical professional obligations. But if you run up against the Utah Medical Licensing Board's three-attempts limit, you may find yourself disqualified from passing the exam to obtain your license.
We Can Address USMLE Attempts Limit Issues
Our attorneys have two ways in which we can help you gain extra exam attempts so that you can pass your medical licensing exam. Utah Medical Licensing Board Rule 156-67-302b permits you to submit a narrative explaining your exam issues and requesting an extra attempt. We can help you write and document a convincing narrative request. Your exam organization may have a similar policy granting you extra attempts if you exceed the exam organization's attempt limit. The USMLE's extenuating circumstances policy, for example, offers an extra attempt if you can show that an emergency prevented you from taking or completing a scheduled exam, counting against your attempt limit. You must notify exam officials promptly of your emergency circumstances, which may involve your illness or injury, the illness or injury of a close family member who depends on your care, or another unsettling event like a death in the family or domestic violence, divorce, or custody issue. We can help you write and document a convincing application to qualify under the USMLE's extenuating circumstances policy.
Utah Physician USMLE Irregular Behavior Issues
If your conduct before, during, and after the exam looks suspicious to exam administrators, test center staff, exam proctors, or fellow examinees, you may face cheating issues. Cheating charges are serious, implicating your good moral character and fitness for medical practice. Treat any notice, report, or complaint of suspected cheating with the diligence it requires, immediately retaining us to respond to minimize your risk of exam and licensure disqualification. The USMLE Bulletin of Information labels cheating irregular behavior and defines it as attempting to “compromise validity, integrity, or security” of the exam. The Bulletin of Information then lists the following illustrations of irregular behavior:
- misrepresenting to license officials that you passed the exam or that you continue to qualify for the exam and can pass it;
- failing to report cheating by others that you observed or failing to cooperate with a cheating investigation;
- attempting to register for an exam when ineligible, misrepresenting your credentials to register for the exam, or presenting forged documents to support registration;
- inducing another to act as an impostor to take your exam or attempting to act as an impostor to take the exam for another;
- getting help from or giving help to another examinee during the exam or bringing unauthorized devices or materials into the exam room;
- disclosing confidential exam questions after the exam or requesting another to disclose confidential questions to you before the exam;
- photographing or otherwise reproducing confidential exam questions during the exam or removing materials from the exam room; or
- insulting, offending, obstructing, or disobeying test center staff or exam proctors around the exam.
We Can Address USMLE Irregular Behavior Charges
We appreciate that cheating charges may cause you considerable fear and apprehension of losing your ability to pass your medical licensing exam and qualify for Utah Medical Licensing Board licensure. But irregular behavior charges are not the same thing as a finding of cheating. Exam officials may simply feel duty bound to act on cheating allegations, accusations, and reports that they already suspect are unreliable. They may expect and welcome your explanation, especially when we appear on your behalf with your organized, complete, comprehensive, and convincing defense evidence. When you receive USMLE notice of irregular behavior charges, the USMLE Office of the Secretariat will offer you an adjudication process. Our attorneys can invoke that process on your behalf, letting exam officials know that you have our skilled and experienced representation. We can simultaneously alert Utah Medical Licensing Board officials that we are diligently working to resolve your irregular behavior charges so that USMLE notice to the Board does not result in the rejection of your application.
Utah Physician USMLE Anomalous Performance Issues
Doing very poorly on your medical licensing exam can trigger other issues. NBME, USMLE, and FLEX officials expect examinees to have the requisite medical education and skills and to devote their earnest efforts to pass the exam. Those officials may suspect that an examinee who leaves many questions unanswered, scores very low on answered questions, or otherwise does not appear to make a good faith effort at passing is either unqualified for the exam or is in the exam room for illicit purposes such as to gather confidential exam questions for distribution. The USMLE maintains an anomalous performance policy to address those concerns. The policy permits USMLE officials to bar the examinee from further attempts and notify the Utah Medical Licensing Board of exam disqualification in those instances. Other medical licensing exams may have similar policies authorizing the same actions.
We Can Address USMLE Anomalous Performance Issues
Unfortunately, a notice of anomalous performance can be a hard thing to challenge directly. Indeed, the USMLE does not publish a formal process to challenge an anomalous performance determination. It instead expects you to accept the result, presumably because it cannot disclose your exam answers, its scoring and analysis methods, and its basis for disqualification without compromising exam confidentiality and integrity. Fair adjudication would require fair notice of the anomalies and a reasonable way to challenge their determination. Instead, our attorneys may be able to open informal channels of communication through which to supply exam officials with evidence of your strong medical school academic record, your standardized test-taking skill, and your good moral character. We may also be able to supply exam officials with your possible explanation of the anomalies, such as that you inadvertently skipped exam sections, misunderstood exam instructions, or mis-entered correct answers incorrectly.
Utah Physician USMLE Invalidated Score Issues
Another medical licensing exam issue, less common than the above issues, is that an unusually high score or unusual pattern of correct answers among several examinees at a single test administration site may lead to suspicion of cheating. Medical licensing exam officials examine the normal distribution of exam scores. They know the upper bounds of a high score by an especially well-qualified examinee. When a single score or multiple related scores at the same site are above those upper bounds, or the related scores show a suspicious pattern of the same answers, USMLE officials may apply their invalidated score policy to withhold a passing score and bar the involved examinee or examinees from further attempts.
We Can Address USMLE Invalidated Score Issues
Your very high score may not have been due at all to any cheating or other undue advantage but instead to your diligent exam preparation and your considerable exam-taking skills. Our attorneys can invoke the available procedures or conduct informal communications to present your strong academic record and prior standardized test results to show your diligence and skill. We can also present evidence of your good moral character and any explanation you have of your keen exam preparation to dispel suspicions. We may or may not be able to obtain a release of your passing exam score, but if not, we may be able to get you reinstated for exam retakes so that you can pass the exam.
Utah Administrative Review Procedures
The Utah Medical Examining Board should respect our communications keeping its officials informed of our progress in resolving your NBME / USMLE issues. But if Board officials instead decide to reject your application and close your file because of those pending issues, we can invoke your available protective procedures to challenge that decision. Utah Division of Professional Licensing Act Section 58-1-401 and other sections of the Licensing Act and Utah Medical Practice Act provide rules for proceedings involving the denial of a medical license. Those rules track the state's Administrative Procedure Act, guaranteeing you constitutional due process. We can help you invoke your right to fair notice and a fair hearing before an impartial administrative law judge or panel.
Premier NBME / USMLE Defense in Utah
The Lento Law Firm's premier Student Defense Team is available across Utah to help you resolve your NBME / USMLE issues. Our skilled and experienced attorneys have helped hundreds of physicians and other healthcare professionals in Utah and nationwide successfully resolve their licensing issues. Call 888.535.3686 or use our contact form now to retain our premier attorneys.
