Who accepts the Puerto Rico Medical Exam?

Recently both Washington State and Indiana changed their rules to exclude the Puerto Rico Medical Examination. This took affect May 2008 and April 2008 respectively. Now there is only one State which still accepts the Puerto Rico Medical Examination. That State is Missouri. This was confirmed on 07/15/08 during a conversation with the Missouri Medical Board's manager.

International Physicians - USA Licensing without the ECFMG

There are only 2 States which will allow an International Physician to license in the USA without an ECFMG Certificate. They are as follows:

California Medical Board
West Virginia Medical Board

All Physicians must have taken an approved examination in order to license. (i.e. USMLE, NBME, FLEX, LMCC, NBOME)

Nevada Medical Board - Licensing by Endorsement

The Nevada Medical Board is one of the few State Medical Boards which allows Physicians who are only licensed in Puerto Rico to license by Endorsement. The licensure process is contingent upon two issues. One that they are a graduate of a Domestic Medical School. Two that they are Board Certified. If the physician is not a Domestic Graduate, then an ECFMG Certificate will be required.

The Endorsement Process is typically utilized by Physician who have not passed a licensure examination within the past 10 years.

West Virginia Medical Board

The West Virginia Medical Board moved on 09/16/07 to no longer accept the Puerto Rico Medical Board Examination. Any physician applying to the West Virginia Medical Board will now have to have one of the following examinations:

-USMLE
-FLEX
-NBME
-NBOME
-LMCC
-State Board Examination in one of the 50 States

The reasons put forth were that the Puerto Rico Medical Board examination is given in both English and Spanish (on the same document). We believe that the real reason for this move is the fact that the Puerto Rico Medical Board is under investigation due to fraudulent examination score reporting to 3rd parties.

California Medical Board

The California Medical Board has a reputation of being a difficult board to apply to. The application process can in some cases take 6 to 12 months. Fortunately, our experience has been that Physicians seeking a license to practice medicine in the State of California typically run between 3 to 4 months. Licensure times can be reduced if the Physician takes a trip to California to have the Live Scan process completed instead of the Fingerprint Cards. Livescan takes 2 to 3 days to run whereas the Fingerprint Cards take 2 to 3 months (if they are not rejected).

All bets are off if the Physician has negatives in their educational, training, or practice history. Then licensure times typically run 6 to 12 months.

Puerto Rico Medical Board - Under Investigation!

The Puerto Rico Medical Board is currently under investigation by either the FSMB or the Federal Government. A Grand Jury has been interviewing Staff Members of the Puerto Rico Medical Board concerning fraudulent examination score reports. Over the past 2 years, Examination Score reports have been forged and sent out to State Medical Boards, Hospitals, and other Institutions on behalf of Physicians who did not achieve a passing score on the Puerto Rico State Medical Examination. Evidently, the person or persons committing this crime, used the same exam score for all exam reports and only changed the name of the physician on the report. It is not clear as to the findings of the investigation.

The practical issues which this has caused concern the licensure of Physicians coming from Puerto Rico applying to other Medical Boards. The Puerto Rico Medical Board is months behind on the processing of its' mail. All verification requests and examination requests are being delayed. The more serious matter involves the move by West Virginia to reject the Puerto Rico Medical Examination. As with any case of Fraud, it is the innocent who pay the price. Hopefully, Washington State will not move to take reciprocal action.

Texas Medical Board - New Updates

The Texas Medical Board recently updated their application process. This change will go into effect 10/01/07. The changes include the addition of Fingerprint Cards and an Increase in the licensure fee. Physicians who are going to accept Medicare/Medicaid patients will be given priority over those who are not. Physician who are seeking the Texas Medical License will expect to see licensure times between 3 to 9 months.