Don't undervalue your choice of Tennessee as your home for an international medical graduate (IMG) licensure and practice. You made a great choice, even if you face significant issues trying to gain a Tennessee medical license as an IMG. Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners requirements for IMG licensure include not only the usual character and fitness, medical residency, and approved exam passage requirements but also, for IMGs, ECFMG certification. These complex requirements can create troublesome IMG licensing issues. The Lento Law Firm's premier Professional License Defense Team is available to help you overcome those issues, whether you reside or practice in Nashville, Davidson, Memphis, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Clarksville, Murfreesboro, Franklin, Johnson City, Jackson, Hendersonville, Bartlett, Kingsport, Smyrna, Spring Hill, Collierville, Cleveland, Gallatin, Brentwood, Columbia, Germantown, or any other Tennessee location. Call 888.535.3686 or complete this contact form now for your best Tennessee IMG licensing outcome.
The Benefits of Tennessee IMG Licensure
Tennessee medical practice offers international medical graduates outstanding professional opportunities. The state's many well-equipped hospitals, including Baptist Memorial Hospital-Memphis, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, University of Tennessee Medical Center, TriStar Centennial Medical Center, Jackson-Madison County General Hospital, Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital Midtown, Johnson City Medical Center, and Regional One Health-Memphis, offer substantial employment and privilege opportunities. Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, University Tennessee College of Medicine, Meharry Medical College, and East Tennessee State University-Quillen College of Medicine offer outstanding professional support and development opportunities. The state's substantial population, attractive cities, strong economy, beautiful natural environment, and temperate weather add to IMG's attractions for a fruitful medical practice. Let us help you enjoy those benefits by addressing and favorably resolving your Tennessee IMG licensing issues.
The Impact of Tennessee IMG Licensing Issues
International medical graduates who face licensing issues, whether in Tennessee or elsewhere, should appreciate their stakes in those licensing applications and proceedings. Delays in your licensure can cause you to lose employment and practice opportunities, income, reputation, and relationships. Without a Tennessee medical license, you won't practice medicine long-term in the state. If Tennessee's Board of Medical Examiners refuses to grant you a license, you may not be able to get one elsewhere. Everything for which you worked in earning your international medical degree is at risk of loss. You could lose your huge investment of time and expense in your international medical education and the substantial financial, professional, and personal returns you reasonably expected from a Tennessee medical practice. Don't lose everything you have studied and worked for. Let us help you address your Tennessee IMG licensing issues.
Tennessee IMG Licensing Requirements
The Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners requires that you meet not only the Board's requirements for licensure but also the requirements for Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) certification of your international medical school. The Board of Medical Examiners also requires that you pass the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) or an equivalent exam. Consider this summary of each organization's requirements.
Tennessee Medical Board IMG Licensing Requirements
Tennessee Code Section 63-6-201 requires anyone practicing medicine in the state to obtain a Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners license. Section 63-6-209 authorizes the Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners to issue rules under which candidates may meet the requirements for a license. Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners Rule 0880-2-.04 states those requirements for international medical graduates. They include graduation from an approved international medical school on the World Health Organization list, specifically approved by the Board of Medical Examiners, or ECFMG World Directory of Medical Schools list. An IMG must also complete three years of residency in the typical case, pass an approved medical examination, and show good character and fitness. Tennessee Medical Examiners Rule 0880-2-.08 includes the USMLE, FLEX, and NBME as approved exams. Our highly qualified attorneys can help you show the Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners that you meet their requirements.
ECFMG Requirements for Tennessee IMGs
Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners Rule 0880-2-.04 expressly requires international medical graduates to obtain ECFMG certification. ECFMG certification generally requires that you show that you have U.S. citizenship or an immigration visa for lawful entry into the U.S. for medical residency and practice. ECFMG certification further generally requires that you prove your graduation from an ECFMG-approved international medical school appearing on the World Directory of Medical Schools approved list. Your graduation must be in good standing at a time when your international medical school was still approved if subsequently removed from the approved list. Let us help you meet these ECFMG requirements.
Obtaining ECFMG certification means creating an online portfolio in ECFMG's Electronic Portfolio of International Credentials (EPIC) system. Such an online system can be a great convenience. But in the case of ECFMG certification, as generally in other professional certifications, your EPIC statements, information, and documentation must be accurate, truthful, complete, and consistent. ECFMG will require your transcript and citizenship or immigration documentation to be signed, sealed, attested, delivered by certain means, or otherwise authenticated. Errors in your statements, anomalies or alterations in your documents, or contradictions among your materials may subject you to irregular behavior charges for credential fraud. Let us help with your ECFMG documentation issues.
USMLE Requirements for Tennessee IMGs
As stated briefly above, Tennessee Medical Examiners Rule 0880-2-.08 includes the USMLE, FLEX, and NBME as approved exams. Because ECFMG certification is necessary for Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners licensure, and ECFMG certification qualifies an international medical graduate for the USMLE Step 3 exam, and for access reasons, most international medical graduates may prefer and pursue the USMLE exam rather than other available exams. You must pass the USMLE Step 3 exam without anomalous answer patterns or cheating allegations indicating your violation of exam rules found in the USMLE Bulletin of Information. Your statements and representations to USMLE officials in your application and to test center staff around your exam's administration must also be truthful and accurate. As in the case of the Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners and ECFMG, errors and misleading omissions may trigger USMLE irregular behavior charges for credential fraud. Let us help you with any USMLE issues.
Tennessee IMG Issues
You should have anticipated several potentially serious issues and charges from the above discussion of the Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners, ECFMG, and USMLE requirements. You should also appreciate how issues with one organization can compound into issues with other organizations. Read the following discussion for the common issues, how they can cause other issues, and how we can help you address them.
Tennessee Medical Board IMG Issues
Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners' character and fitness requirements are probably the most likely issues that international medical graduates may face, which is common with U.S. medical graduates. Tennessee Code Section 63-6-214 authorizes the denial of a medical license on a long list of grounds. The Board of Medical Examiners designs its application and questionnaire forms to require you to disclose character and fitness issues implicating those many grounds. They include criminal convictions for felonies, crimes related to medical practice, or crimes of dishonesty or moral turpitude. They also include psychiatric hospitalization, substance abuse treatment, or hospitalization for physical or other disabilities that might indicate impaired or unfit medical practice. Many other conditions and events like restraining orders, domestic violence allegations in separation or divorce complaints, malpractice or unprofessionalism allegations in your medical residency, or drunk driving charges can trigger Board character and fitness review. Let us help you respond with convincing evidence of your recovery, rehabilitation, and fitness.
Other Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners issues can arise if your application appears to have false or conflicting information or your documentation appears to be altered, fabricated, or in contradiction to your own statements. Beware Board notice of those issues. Let us help you respond promptly with accurate information and a sound explanation of your innocence and the circumstances giving rise to any errors or omissions. Let us also help if board officials query you about pending ECFMG or USMLE issues. Board officials may need our assurances that we are working diligently on your behalf to resolve those issues so that the Board does not deny and close your application or accuse you of inconsistencies in your assertions of qualification.
Tennessee IMG ECFMG Issues
International medical graduates planning to practice in Tennessee can also face ECFMG issues, even if they confirmed at their enrollment and again at their graduation that their international medical school was on ECFMG's approved list. ECFMG removes schools from its approved list and places schools on probation. You may need our advocacy to ensure that ECFMG understands that you relied on its representations of your school's approval.
International medical graduates pursuing Tennessee medical practice can also face ECFMG issues with their international medical school transcript. You may have resolved financial holds, misconduct charges, or academic progression issues before your graduation. Yet your school's registrar or other officials may not have updated your transcript to indicate this. The transcript they supply to ECFMG for your certification may not even show your graduation. Let us help you advocate with your school registrar or other officials for the correction and updating of your transcript. If need be, we can also help you resolve any remaining and pending school issues.
International medical graduates can also face authentication issues with the documents in their ECFMG EPIC portfolio. Your transcript, U.S. passport or birth certificate, visa, or other documentation may not bear the signature, seal, attestation, or other authentication that ECFMG protocols require. Or ECFMG may have received documentation through an unauthorized transmission route. We can help you with authentication and transmission issues. If you further face ECFMG allegations that your errors or omissions were attempts to subvert ECFMG certification, we can help you defend those charges before the ECFMG's Credentials Committee. If you have already lost your hearing, let us appeal to the ECFMG's Review Committee.
Tennessee IMG USMLE Issues
Passing the USMLE Step 3 exam is plainly a great challenge for international medical graduates seeking Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners licensure. If you had extenuating circumstances for missing or failing to complete the exam, and that scheduled exam is counting against your retake limit to your detriment, we may be able to help you prove your circumstances and gain another retake. Alternatively, you may face USMLE allegations that your application to take the exam was false and fraudulent. Let us help you answer those charges, proving the truth of your answers, your inadvertence, or your other innocence.
Your more likely issue may have to do with your having done well enough to pass the exam and yet having USMLE officials withhold your score because of suspicions of irregular behavior. Proctors, test center staff, and fellow examinees may report that you attempted to bring unauthorized devices or materials into the exam room. You may face allegations that you offered an imposter to take your exam or attempted to get answers from fellow examinees. You may alternatively face accusations that you violated exam question confidentiality after the exam. We can help you defend those charges through USMLE investigation and irregular behavior procedures.
Procedural Protections for Tennessee IMGs
As already suggested above, our skilled and experienced attorneys can invoke ECFMG and USMLE Policies and Procedures on Irregular Behavior to take your issues before ECFMG's Credentials Committee. If you have already lost your Credentials Committee hearing, we can take an appeal to the ECFMG's Review Committee. The Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners must generally offer similar due process protections. Tennessee Code Section 63-6-216, for instance, expressly provides that the Board of Medical Examiners must follow the state's administrative procedures actin disciplinary proceedings. Let us help you invoke Board of Medical Examiners protections.
Tennessee IMG Licensing Representation
The Lento Law Firm's premier Professional License Defense Team is available across Tennessee to help you successfully resolve your ECFMG, USMLE, and Tennessee Medical Examining Board issues. We help hundreds of professionals in Tennessee and across the nation with their licensing issues. Call 888.535.3686 or complete this contact form now for the best outcome for your IMG licensing issues.
