November 2003

All MD/DO scholars must have successfully completed Steps 1, 2, and 3 of the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) or Levels 1, 2, and 3 of the Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Exam (COMLEX) by the time they complete their residency training program. If an MD/DO Scholar is unable to pass all parts of the licensing exam and obtain a license to practice medicine by the time the service commitment is scheduled to begin, the Scholar will no longer be routinely eligible for a suspension of the service obligation and may be placed in default.

To assure that Scholars are able to fulfill their commitment to serve wherever needs are the greatest, immediately upon completion of their primary care residency training, the NHSC expects all MD/DO scholars to take and pass:

• Step 1 of the USMLE or Level 1 of the COMLEX by the end of the 2nd year of their MD/DO program

• Step 2 of the USMLE or Level 2 of the COMLEX by the end of the 4th year of their MD/DO program. Note that a new hands-on, patient-based component to Step 2 of the USMLE and COMLEX examinations for MDs and DOs will be implemented in the 2004-2005 school year. The NHSC will cover the additional costs through Other Reasonable Costs (ORC). For more details about the new component of the examinations, go to:

• USMLE’s news article at: http://www.usmle.org/news/cse.htm, or
• COMLEX’s Web site at: http://www.nbome.com, or directly to COMLEX’s Examination Step 2 Fact Sheet at: http://www.nbome.com/pe03oct.pdf

• Step 3 of the USMLE or Level 3 of the COMLEX by the end of the 1st year of their postgraduate (residency) training program

If you have any questions, please contact the NHSC at the following address:

National Health Service Corps
In School/In Training Branch
5600 Fishers Lane, Room 8A-55
Rockville, MD 20857
(800)793-1547