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Special licensing test still under fire in Fla.

Controversy has plagued the nation's only alternative exam for foreign-trained doctors to gain medical licensure in the United States.

By Jay Greene, amednews staff. March 26, 2001.

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Not quite half the doctors recruited to take a special physician licensing examination in Florida passed the test. Officials said 45% -- or 40 of 89 -- of the American-residency-trained doctors passed the examination, which was designed for a group of foreign-trained doctors.

Florida is the only state in the nation that offers an alternative to the U.S. Medical Licensing Examination, a three-part test required for licensure. In 1999, the state Legislature ordered the Florida Medical Licensing Examination to be made available at a cost of $2.3 million to more than 400 foreign-trained doctors.

In three tries, however, only 23 of those 400 doctors have passed the test, a pass rate of less than 6%.

Facing a lawsuit last year, the state appropriated $90,000 to hire doctors who have already passed parts of the USMLE to participate in a study to evaluate the test. The volunteer doctors were given $600 to take the test and were awarded six continuing medical education credits if they passed.

"The 45% pass rate is a very high number, considering the doctors had no incentive to pass other than six CME credits," said William Large, general counsel for the Florida Dept. of Health.

More than 93% of American- and Canadian-trained medical graduates passed step 3 of the USMLE in 1998, said the National Board of Medical Examiners. [...]