Practicing medicine in Washington state can be an especially rewarding privilege. International medical graduates (IMGs) have abundant opportunities for gainful practice. Yet the Washington Medical Commission will make every effort during your licensure review to do as its mission requires, to protect the public against unfit practitioners. You must meet strict ECFMG, USMLE, and Washington Medical Commission requirements. If you are having problems, pitfalls, or issues obtaining your Washington medical license, retain the Lento Law Firm's premier Professional License Defense Team for the skilled and experienced attorney representation you need. We are available in Seattle, Spokane, Tacoma, Vancouver, Bellevue, Kent, Everett, Renton, Spokane Valley, Federal Way, Yakima, Kirkland, Bellingham, Auburn, and across Washington to represent you. Call 888.535.3686 or complete this contact form now for your best Washington IMG licensing outcome.
The Benefits of Washington IMG Licensure
Because you have chosen to seek IMG licensure in Washington state, you doubtless already know the charms and opportunities of Washington medical practice. You have seen the state's diverse and healthy economy, its large and friendly population, and the state's rugged and beautiful natural environment. You likely also know the high quality of its healthcare system, including its large and well-equipped hospitals like Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center, Swedish Medical Centre-First Hill Campus, University of Washington Medical Center-Main Campus, Providence Regional Medical Center-Everett, MultiCare Tacoma General Hospital, PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Centre, Harborview Medical Center, and Providence St Peter Hospital. Washington unquestionably offers substantial employment options and professional development for IMGs to start a rewarding medical career. Our attorneys can help you address and favorably resolve your ECFMG, USMLE, and Washington Medical Commission issues to pursue those benefits and rewards as the hard-earned fruits of your diligent IMG labors.
The Impact of Washington IMG Licensing Issues
Any international medical graduate facing ECFMG, USMLE, or Washington Medical Commission issues should know to take those issues most seriously. International medical graduates face significantly greater challenges in licensing than U.S. medical graduates face. Your international medical education adds a layer of strict scrutiny to your license application. A single issue arising out of your international education can ripple its way down through the three-step process of meeting each organization's requirements. If you fail to achieve Washington Medical Commission licensure, you may not be able to get a license in another U.S. state for the same reasons. If you cannot get a license, you cannot practice. You will have lost the considerable value of your international medical education and lost all the time, trouble, and expense you put into earning it. Don't run those risks without the skilled and experienced attorney representation you need. We are available to represent you before the ECFMG, USMLE, and Washington Medical Commission.
Washington IMG Licensing Requirements
Getting your Washington Medical Commission license is indeed a three-step process. You first have to obtain certification from the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG), proving you graduated from an approved international medical school. You next must use your ECFMG certification to sit for and pass the USMLE Step 3 exam. Only then, with validated passing Step 3 exam results, can you meet the other character and fitness requirements of the Washington Medical Commission to get your medical license. Consider more helpful information on each organization's requirements.
Washington Medical Commission IMG Licensing Requirements
Section 18.71.015 of Washington's Medical Practice Act creates the Washington Medical Commission to license physicians in the state for medical practice. The Act's Section 18.71.021 requires you to have a Washington Medical Commission license before practicing in the state. The Act states the requirements for IMG licensure in its Section 18.71.051. Those requirements include proving the ability to speak English, proving lawful immigration status to practice medicine, and obtaining ECFMG certification that you graduated from an approved international medical school and qualify to sit for and pass the USMLE Step 3 exam. You must also complete two years of approved medical residency if not excused on special circumstances. The good moral character and physical and mental fitness requirements and the application process applicable to U.S. medical school graduates also apply. Let us help you resolve any issues arising out of these rigorous and complex requirements.
ECFMG Requirements for Washington IMGs
Washington Medical Practice Act Section 18.71.015's requirement that you obtain ECFMG certification makes your Washington Medical Commission licensure significantly more challenging than the process a U.S. medical graduate must follow. Like U.S. medical graduates, your Washington Medical Commission application must be complete, accurate, and without errors or omissions that may constitute credential fraud. But as an IMG, your application must also show that you meet or can meet ECFMG requirements. Meeting ECFMG requirements entails using its Electronic Portfolio of International Credentials (EPIC) system. EPIC enables you to have your international medical school registrar supply your authenticated transcript proving your graduation is in good standing from a World Directory of Medical Schools approved school. You must also upload your U.S. citizenship or lawful immigration status (visa) documentation in the form ECFMG requires. The organization will assist you with your visa application. We can help you meet these strict requirements.
USMLE Requirements for Washington IMGs
Gaining ECFMG certification qualifies you to sit for the USMLE Step 3 exam. However, you must still apply to the USMLE and show your ECFMG certification. Errors or omissions in your USMLE application can lead to the denial of your application as an attempt at credential fraud. Once you qualify, you must comply with all USMLE exam rules stated in the Bulletin of Information. Those rules include not soliciting or using confidential exam questions in your preparations, not sharing confidential questions after the exam, not bringing unauthorized devices or materials into the exam room, and not attempting to obtain answers from other examinees or other assistance during the exam. You must also obey all instructions of exam proctors and test center staff without disrupting exam administration. Let us help if you face USMLE issues or cheating charges leading to the withholding and invalidation of your Step 3 exam score.
Washington IMG Issues
You have seen above how ECFMG, USMLE, and Washington Medical Commission requirements may trigger issues delaying or even denying your certification, exam score validation, and licensure. These issues tend to compound from one organization to another. If you have issues with ECFMG certification, then you will have issues qualifying for the USMLE Step 3 exam. If you cannot qualify for the USMLE Step 3 exam, your inability to show a validated passing score will delay your Washington Medical Commission application. Here is a further explanation of how issues with each of these organizations may arise and how we can help you address them.
Washington State Medical Board IMG Issues
When you begin to face ECFMG or USMLE issues delaying your Washington Medical Commission licensure process, you must keep Washington Medical Commission officials advised of your diligent efforts to address those issues. If you do not show Commission officials that you are able to diligently and timely resolve those issues, the Commission may deny and close your application. Or the Commission may construe your application's assertions that you qualify for licensure as misrepresentations concealing your ECFMG and USMLE issues. Our attorneys can help you assure the Washington Medical Commission that you are responsibly addressing your ECFMG and USMLE issues while disclosing accurate and material information to the Commission.
Setting aside any ECFMG or USMLE issues, the good moral character and physical and mental fitness requirements of Washington Medical Practice Act Section 18.71.50 can trigger their own challenging issues. Criminal convictions for felonies or for misdemeanors showing dishonesty or moral turpitude can require Commission scrutiny and could cause disqualification if not properly addressed with evidence of rehabilitation. Drunk driving charges, drug offenses, or substance abuse hospitalization, counseling, or treatment may trigger Commission scrutiny over addiction, dependency, and unfitness. Domestic violence allegations and restraining orders may trigger concerns over patient and public safety. Malpractice and unprofessionalism issues in your residency or clinical training may trigger competency concerns. Psychiatric hospitalization for mental illness may trigger a mental fitness review. We can help you address character and fitness issues with a thoughtful and meticulous presentation of evidence that you have recovered from or rehabilitated as to the issue or that the issue is not material to your qualifications.
For the Washington Medical Commission to determine your character and fitness, you must complete the Commission's lengthy and detailed application form accurately and completely, without errors or omissions. Your errors and omissions may look to the Commission like you are attempting to conceal convictions, conditions, or events that may disqualify you from licensure. Let us help you correct any errors or omissions while showing that they were unintentional rather than deliberate and that they do not affect your qualifications for licensure.
Washington IMG ECFMG Issues
ECFMG issues do not generally involve character and fitness but instead tend to arise from international medical school issues. You may have believed that your international medical school had ECFMG approval when you first enrolled. However, the ECFMG frequently removes schools or places schools on probation, calling their approval into question. Let us help you if the ECFMG raises issues over whether your international medical school was on its approved list at the time of your graduation.
You can also face ECFMG issues over your international medical school transcript, even if your school clearly had ECFMG approval. Transcript issues tend to arise not just around whether you completed all coursework and clinical requirements for graduation but also whether the school has financial holds, disciplinary holds, or unresolved misconduct charges pending. Your international medical school's registrar may not have updated your transcript, clearing it of those issues, even if you have resolved them. Or you may need to resolve them. We can help you do so.
A final area of concern for ECFMG is that your ECFMG EPIC portfolio includes statements and representations that are inconsistent with your documentation, suggesting that you are attempting to subvert ECFMG processes. The ECFMG's Policies and Procedures on Irregular Behavior authorize ECFMG officials to deny your certification in that event. Let us help you answer and defend irregular behavior charges, explaining the innocence and immateriality of your errors and omissions.
Washington IMG USMLE Issues
You can face similar documentation and representation issues with your USMLE application. Your ECFMG certification should qualify you for the USMLE Step 3 exam, but you still need to apply to USMLE with accurate and truthful statements of your ECFMG credentials. Your greater USMLE challenge, beyond passing the exam itself, maybe in answering cheating charges. Exam proctors, test center staff, and fellow examinees must be on the lookout for irregular behavior. USMLE will also analyze your exam answers for indications of anomalous patterns suggesting cheating. USMLE may find evidence that you used unauthorized materials or devices for the exam, that an impostor took your exam, that you solicited answers from others for the exam, that you disobeyed proctor instructions, or that you violated exam confidentiality after the exam. Allegations of these kinds could result in USMLE notice to you that it is withholding and invalidating your passing Step 3 exam score. Let us help you answer and defend any such charges.
Procedural Protections for Washington IMGs
We should have substantial opportunities to defend you under ECFMG, USMLE, and Washington Medical Commission procedures. The ECFMG and USMLE Policies and Procedures on Irregular Behavior provide for a Credentials Committee to hear disputes and a Review Committee to hear appeals of Credentials Committee adverse decisions. The Washington Medical Commission likewise follows state administrative procedure act rules to provide due process to applicants. We know how to invoke those hearing and appeal procedures to present your exonerating and mitigating evidence.
Washington IMG Licensing Representation
The Lento Law Firm's premier Professional License Defense Team is available across Washington to represent you in your ECFMG, USMLE, and Washington Medical Commission proceedings. Call 888.535.3686 or complete this contact form now for our help addressing and resolving your IMG licensing issues.
