United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE)
National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME)
Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB)
USMLE and Appeals:
The Hefty Burden Examinees Face in Appealing
a USMLE Finding of Indeterminate Score or Irregular Behavior
by Sherri Katz and Bob Bennett1
The United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) is one of the crucial gates an aspiring medical doctor must successfully enter to gain professional licensing, and in some cases, graduate from medical school. What happens, however, if two years after passing Step One, a doctor is notified that his or her is invalid and will published as an “indeterminate” score? How does this impact a doctor’s medical career, including residency and internships?
Recent developments have increased scrutiny of examinees’ scores on the USMLE placing many examinees who acted in good faith and with complete propriety in jeopardy of having their scores labeled “indeterminate”2, which is basically the same thing as invalidated or revoked. The USMLE also has the power to have an examinee’s score reports reflect “irregular behavior”3, which could mean being barred from future testing, and forcing USMLE examinees to suffer collateral consequences such as delay in licensing, graduation, or participating in a residency program...
1. The Bennett Law Firm would like to acknowledge the contribution of Law Clerk Whitney Campbell’s research for this article.
2. See USMLE Policies and Procedures Regarding Indeterminate Scores
3. See USMLE Policies and Procedures Regarding Irregular Behavior
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How Best to Respond if the USMLE Program Questions
Your Passing Level Scores: Points to Consider
by Sherri Katz and Bob Bennett
The following points may help you decide how to respond to the USMLE Program's concerns about the validity of the passing level scores if you were involved with Optima University prior to your testing. You may have received a letter from the Secretariat of the United States Medical Licensing Examination which is a joint program of the Federation of State Medical Boards of the U. S., Inc. and the National Board of Medical Examiners. The letter may state that you have the right to have counsel accompany you to the hearing held by the Committee on Score Validity. This may be helpful but counsel should be consulted as soon as you are contacted by USMLE. The following demonstrates how helpful early attorney involvement may be. There are several reasons that based on our recent experience with the Committee that you should consider having an attorney help prepare your presentation and be present with you before the Committee.
They are as follows:
1. Importance of Experience
There are a limited number of attorneys who have ever appeared before the USMLE Committee of Score Validity or the Committee on Irregular Behavior. In Texas, we are probably the only law firm that does this type of work and have the experience of also representing doctors, attorneys, Judges, and other professionals before similar boards and panels on a national basis. Experience helps. You can see that on our website www.bennettlawfirm.com has some specific information about our practice and the doctors, lawyers, and judges we have represented. You can also find out what other clients and attorneys have said about our representation by visiting www.avvo.com and go to the Robert S. Bennett - Houston, Texas site. We hope this information will be helpful when challenging the USMLE's assertions.
Read full article here
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When the Gatekeeper Challenges Your Test Scores:
The High Stakes and Hefty Burden Examinees Face in Defending Their Scores
on the U.S. Medical License Examination
by Sherri Katz and Bob Bennett
The United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) is one of the crucial gates an aspiring medical doctor must successfully enter to gain professional licensing, and in some cases, graduate from medical school. A doctor of osteopathic medicine (DO) candidate may also be required to pass the USMLE for licensure as well.
Recent developments have increased scrutiny of examinees’ scores on the USMLE placing many examinees who acted in good faith and with complete propriety in jeopardy of having their scores labeled “indeterminate” , which is basically the same thing as invalidated or revoked. The USMLE also has the power to have an examinee’s score reports reflect “irregular behavior” , which could mean being barred from future testing, and forcing USMLE examinees to suffer collateral consequences such as delay in licensing, graduation, or participating in a residency program. In addition, recent development now includes a high-stakes copyright infringement lawsuit for damages and an injunction, filed by the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) and the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) against Optima University, a popular test preparation course provider, its founder, Eihab Mohamed Suliman, and ten John Doe defendants. This lawsuit was filed on February 23, 2009.
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