You made a wise choice in pursuing a medical practice in West Virginia. West Virginia has a clear need for more primary care physicians and physicians in certain specialties. The state needs to increase the number of its primary care physicians by around 14% to keep pace with population and needs. The West Virginia Board of Medicine encourages your license application to fill those needs. West Virginia also has a robust and sophisticated healthcare system, providing you with a strong practice base.
You still need to qualify for West Virginia Board of Medicine licensure if you intend to practice medicine in West Virginia. And licensure means that you must promptly and favorably resolve your USMLE, NBME, FLEX, COMLEX, or other medical exam issues. Retain the Lento Law Firm's premier Student Defense Team to help you do so, whether you are in Charleston, Huntington, Morgantown, Parkersburg, Wheeling, Martinsburg, Fairmont, Weirton, Beckley, Clarksburg, South Charleston, or any other West Virginia location. Call 888.535.3686 or use our contact form now to retain our skilled and experienced attorneys.
Rewards of West Virginia Medical Practice
Keep the substantial rewards of your anticipated West Virginia medical practice in mind when retaining us to help resolve your NBME / USMLE issues. West Virginia, of course, offers a beautiful natural environment with several special state and national parks. The state also has charming cities and towns, sustaining a population approaching two million residents. To support your thriving medical practice, the state's fine medical care facilities include West Virginia University Hospitals and Health System, Charleston Area Medical Center a/k/a CAMC Health System, Vandalia Health in Charleston, Mon Health a/k/a Monongalia Health System, and Marshall Health Network a/k/a Mountain Health Network. The WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital, in particular, is a nationally recognized healthcare facility. The WVU School of Medicine, West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine, and Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine offer teaching, research, professional networking, and continuing education opportunities. We can help you with your NBME / USMLE issues so that you can get your West Virginia Board of Medicine license to enjoy these medical practice rewards.
West Virginia Medical Licensing Authority
You have no choice but to resolve your NBME / USMLE issues to the satisfaction of the West Virginia Board of Medicine. Section 30-3-5 of the West Virginia Medical Practice Act vests the West Virginia Board of Medicine with the authority and responsibility to license physicians for practice in the state. The Act's Section 30-3-13 expressly prohibits the practice of medicine, prohibits holding oneself out as a practicing physician, and prohibits the use of any title, abbreviation, or designation suggesting the qualification to practice medicine in West Virginia without a Board of Medicine license. The same section makes it a felony crime to practice without a license, punishable by no less than one year and up to five years imprisonment, plus a fine of up to $10,000. Don't expect to skirt the medical license requirement. Instead, let us help you resolve your medical licensing exam issues so that you can practice lawfully without sanction risk.
West Virginia License Application Requirements
You'll need to complete the West Virginia Board of Medicine's application process in the manner it specifies, without misstatements, misleading errors, or omissions, to get your medical license. Section 30-3-10 of the West Virginia Medical Practice Act requires that you complete the West Virginia Board of Medicine application process, including using its forms and meeting its documentation and certification requirements. Your NBME / USMLE issues complicate your application process, even creating a risk that the West Virginia Board of Medicine may accuse you of credential fraud if you do not accurately represent your medical licensing exam status. Let us help you review, evaluate, update, and correct your Board of Medicine application to accurately reflect your NBME / USMLE issues and to ensure that Board officials do not suspect you of credential fraud.
West Virginia Licensure General Requirements
You'll plainly need to meet the West Virginia Board of Medicine's general requirements for licensure. Section 30-3-10 of the West Virginia Medical Practice Act sets forth the general requirements you must meet, including graduation from an approved medical school program, completing the required one year of medical residency, proof of your good moral character and mental and physical fitness for medical practice, and passing all steps of the USMLE or another medical licensing exam the Board of Medicine approves. West Virginia Board of Medicine Administrative Rule 11-1A-3 expands those general statutory requirements, demanding details, documentation, and attestation of your identity, citizenship, professional work experience, and criminal history, among other things. Our attorneys can help you resolve issues meeting these requirements, whether or not related to your medical licensing exam issues.
West Virginia Medical Licensing Exam Requirements
You also have no choice but to meet the West Virginia Board of Medicine's medical licensing exam requirements. Section 30-3-10 of the West Virginia Medical Practice Act provides that applicants must pass all USMLE steps to meet the exam requirement while giving the Board of Medicine latitude to also accept prior exams like the NBME. Section 30-3-10 also requires that you pass all USMLE steps within ten years. While the statute does not mention any exam attempt limit, West Virginia Board of Medicine Administrative Rule 11-1A-3 limits exam attempts to the lower of six attempts or an attempt limit the exam organization itself imposes. The USMLE limits attempts to four, indicating that you have fewer permitted attempts than the West Virginia Board of Medicine's six-attempt limit.
USMLE Issues Affecting West Virginia Licensure
So, what medical licensing exam issues can arise under the above West Virginia Medical Practice Act statutes and West Virginia Board of Medicine rules? The following sections show how our attorneys can help you address the following six common issues relating, in one way or another, to your medical licensing exam:
- qualifying for the exam or remaining qualified;
- passing the exam within the applicable attempt limit;
- defending cheating charges related to exam conduct;
- overcoming disqualification for anomalous exam performance;
- overcoming an invalidated passing exam score; and
- proving extenuating circumstances preventing exam passage.
USMLE Qualifying Issues for West Virginia Physicians
You might not think that qualifying for the USMLE would prove a significant challenge. Think again. USMLE officials may treat your application for the exam like West Virginia Board of Medicine officials treat your medical license application with similar circumspection. USMLE officials may scrutinize your application statements and documentation, looking for misstatements, errors, omissions, and inconsistencies. They are gatekeepers, like Board of Medicine officials. Indeed, one organization often relies on the other while working in coordination. Gaining access to the USMLE requires more than simply completing an application. The USMLE Bulletin of Information sets forth the detailed exam qualification requirements. Discovery of misrepresentations or misleading omissions in your application, or disqualifying events or conditions as they arise, could disqualify you from the exam at any time, even after your initial qualification and passage of a first or second-step exam. Common qualifications issues include:
- incomplete application documentation;
- application misrepresentations or omissions;
- contradictions in statements and documentation;
- issues with medical school grades or discipline;
- issues with medical school accreditation;
- issues with medical residency program discipline;
- criminal arrest, charges, or conviction; and
- inadequate citizenship or lawful residency documentation.
We Address USMLE Qualification Issues
If your USMLE qualification issue has to do with missing or unauthenticated documentation, our attorneys have the reputation, relationships, and skills to work with your medical school registrar, medical residency director, court officials, or other recordkeepers to straighten out your documentation issues. If you have unresolved school or residency issues, such as pending disciplinary charges, we can invoke administrative procedures to help you resolve those issues and clear up your record. If you are unable to provide the citizenship or lawful residency documentation, we can work with immigration or other officials to get the appropriate paperwork. If USMLE officials find inconsistencies in your application, we can help you clarify, correct, and explain those inconsistencies in the best effort to avoid credential fraud charges. Meanwhile, we can communicate with West Virginia Board of Medicine officials to ensure that they know that we are diligently representing you in resolving your medical licensing exam issues so that they do not deny your license application.
West Virginia Medical Licensing Exam Attempt Limits
You are not alone if you have failed a USMLE step exam. You've probably seen classmates do so, as well. The USMLE permits up to four attempts to ensure that medical students and graduates can evaluate and adjust their preparation to the exam's rigorous standards. You have better things to do than to over-prepare for a licensing exam. However, you also have to prepare adequately to ensure that you can eventually pass each USMLE step exam within the attempt limit. While West Virginia Board of Medicine Administrative Rule 11-1A-3 grants up to six attempts on each step exam, it also limits attempts to the lower of six or the attempts limit the exam organization imposes. For the USMLE, that means just four, not six, attempts.
We Address USMLE Retake Limit Issues
We may be able to help if you have exhausted your four USMLE step exam attempts. The USMLE has an extenuating circumstances policy that may apply to your circumstances. The USMLE extenuating circumstances policy permits an extra attempt if you can timely show USMLE officials that you faced a sudden emergency, such as an illness or injury, or the illness or injury of a close family member, that prevented you from making a scheduled attempt, counted against your limit, or that kept you from making an earnest attempt once you began the exam. We can help you gather and submit the appropriate documentation proving your extenuating circumstances. We may also be able to invoke the West Virginia Board of Medicine's six-attempt limit in our effort to gain you relief and an extra attempt. Don't give up on failing your last available attempt. Let us help you evaluate and pursue all options.
West Virginia Board USMLE Irregular Behavior Issues
So, you've qualified for the USMLE, and you've passed each step of the exam or are confident that you can do so within the available attempts. But those are not your only challenges. Medical licensing exam cheating charges are another issue that medical students and graduates can face, delaying or frustrating their West Virginia Board of Medicine licensure. USMLE officials, the test center staff members, and the proctors they employ to administer step exams must protect exam integrity. They are on the lookout at all times for suspected cheating. The USMLE Bulletin of Information also requires examinees to report suspected cheating by others. Under the Bulletin of Information, USMLE officials bring irregular behavior charges whenever they believe an examinee attempted to “compromise the validity, integrity, or security” of a step exam. Irregular behavior includes:
- registering for an exam when ineligible;
- employing an impostor to take your exam;
- getting or giving confidential exam questions;
- disobeying exam rules, instructions, or proctors;
- bringing materials into or removing materials from the exam room;
- bringing unauthorized devices into the exam room;
- misrepresenting your exam score to a licensing official or
- refusing to cooperate with USMLE officials and investigators.
We Address USMLE Irregular Behavior Charges
USMLE irregular behavior charges are a serious issue. Irregular behavior charges generally indicate suspected dishonesty and bad character, the kind of professional unfitness that can lead West Virginia Board of Medicine officials to deny the license, notwithstanding your ability to pass the medical licensing exams. You need our skilled and experienced representation when facing such serious charges. The notice that the Office of the USMLE Secretariat sends you, alleging your irregular behavior, will mention the organization's adjudication process. We know how to gather and present your exonerating evidence to answer and defend the cheating charges. We can also communicate with West Virginia Board of Medicine officials to ensure that they know that we are helping you clear your name and that they should keep your license application open until we do so.
West Virginia Board USMLE Anomalous Performance Issues
Surprising as it may seem to you, your very low score on a USMLE step exam could result in your disqualification from further attempts. If you receive USMLE notice of your anomalous performance, that notice likely means that your score fell so far below the normal distribution for qualified examinees making an earnest attempt that you are either unqualified for the exam, lacking the medical education, or were in the exam room for ulterior purposes rather than to complete a genuine attempt. The USMLE anomalous performance policy permits exam officials to bar you from further attempts, resulting in notice to West Virginia Board of Medicine officials that you are unable to meet its exam requirements. You won't even get to exhaust your retake attempts if USMLE officials construe your very low score or your inability or unwillingness to complete portions of the exam as a disingenuous or unqualified attempt.
We Address USMLE Anomalous Performance
We can help you present any circumstances that you believe led to your anomalous performance to USMLE officials. You may, for example, have missed pages or sections of the exam without answering the questions. You may have been unfamiliar with the exam format. You may have had a technology issue or an unexpected mental or other concentration issue. Or you may have misrecorded your answers out of order or in some other misunderstanding when you knew the correct answers. Whatever circumstances lead to the anomalous performance, we can help you with the appropriate explanation, including attestation and documentation where available. We can also present evidence of your strong medical school performance or other academic qualifications, justifying another exam attempt. We can also present the explanations to West Virginia Board of Medicine officials if necessary to ensure that they keep your license application file open. Our goal would be to regain your qualification so that you can retake the step exam and pass it.
West Virginia Board USMLE Invalidated Score Issues
Failing the USMLE exam with a very low score is not your only potential issue. USMLE officials also enforce an invalidated score policy to withhold a passing score that is so high as to be above the normal distribution of high scores. If USMLE officials see a ridiculously high score, they may construe cheating or other undue advantage. If USMLE officials see an unusual answer pattern among a group of associated examinees, such as examinees at a single test center site, they may likewise invalidate and withhold their passing scores, barring further attempts while notifying West Virginia Board of Medicine officials of exam disqualification.
We Address USMLE Invalidated Score Issues
If USMLE officials notify you and West Virginia Board of Medicine officials that they have invalidated your score and are disqualifying you from the exam, we can help you present your explanation for your very high score along with other evidence of your ability to fairly achieve it. You may, for instance, have always done very well on standardized exams like the MCAT. You may also have shown an outstanding academic record in medical school and have studied especially diligently for the step exam you aced, for which you had a peculiar aptitude. We may also be able to present convincing character witnesses such as medical school professors and mentors. We may be able to gain the release of your withheld score or another attempt under controlled circumstances to prove your special capability to pass the exam fairly, without undue advantage.
West Virginia Board Response to USMLE Issues
As the above discussion indicates, USMLE officials may well notify West Virginia Board of Medicine officials of your medical licensing exam issues. Even if USMLE officials do not do so, Board of Medicine officials may find out about your exam issues from you or from another source, causing them to deny your license application and close your file. Board of Medicine officials have duties both to protect the public by denying unqualified candidates and to act diligently on applications rather than to let applications go unanswered. They may hurry to deny your application, even while you are still working to resolve your exam issues, just to meet their due diligence.
We Address West Virginia Board of Medicine Responses
We can help you address your issues not just with medical licensing exam officials but also with West Virginia Board of Medicine officials. Retain us immediately if you receive a Board of Medicine notice that it has denied your application or is considering doing so based on your unresolved exam issues. Our attorneys have the reputation, relationships, and skill to gain the respect and confidence of Board of Medicine officials that we are working diligently toward a successful resolution of your exam issues. You may just need time when we can show Board of Medicine officials that with a little more time, we are likely to favorably resolve your issues.
West Virginia Administrative Review Procedures
If the West Virginia Board of Medicine has already denied your license application because of your NBME / USMLE issues, we can invoke administrative procedures to challenge that denial. Section 30-3-14 and other sections of the West Virginia Medical Practice Act guarantee you the right to a hearing following a license denial or other discipline. Both the West Virginia Medical Practice Act and West Virginia Board of Medicine Administrative Rule 11-1A-6 also refer to and incorporate the procedural protections of Section 29A-5-1 of the West Virginia Administrative Procedures Act. Those protections include not only hearings but also appeals and even, in some cases, judicial review. Our attorneys can invoke these protective procedures and take other strategic and effective actions to ensure your best licensing outcome.
Premier USMLE Defense in West Virginia
The Lento Law Firm's premier Student Defense Team is available across West Virginia to help you successfully resolve your USMLE issues. Our skilled and experienced attorneys help hundreds of medical and other students and graduates in West Virginia and nationwide with their school and licensing issues. Call 888.535.3686 or use our contact form now to retain our premier attorneys.
