§30-3-10. Licenses to practice medicine and surgery or podiatry.

(a) A person seeking licensure as an allopathic physician shall apply to the board.

(b) A license may be granted to an applicant who has graduated and received the degree of doctor of medicine or its equivalent from a school of medicine located within the United States, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or Canada, and is approved by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education or by the board, and who:

(1) Submits a complete application;

(2) Pays the applicable fees;

(3) Demonstrates to the board’s satisfaction that the applicant:

(A) Is of good moral character;

(B) Is physically and mentally capable of engaging in the practice of medicine and surgery;

(C) Has, within 10 consecutive years, passed all component parts of the United States Medical Licensing Examination or any prior examination or examination series approved by the board which relates to a national standard, is administered in the English language, and is designed to ascertain an applicant’s fitness to practice medicine and surgery;

(D) Has successfully completed:

(i) A minimum of one year of graduate clinical training in a program is approved by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education; or

(ii) A graduate medical education residency program outside of the United States and a minimum of one year of fellowship training in the United States in a clinical field related to the applicant’s residency training which was completed:

(I) At an institution that sponsors or operates a residency program in the same clinical field or a related clinical field approved by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education; or

(II) At a time when accreditation was not available for the fellowship’s clinical field and the board has determined that the training was similar to accredited training due to objective standards, including, but not limited to, the presence of other accredited programs at the sponsoring institution during the applicant’s clinical training at the fellowship location; and

(E) Meets any other criteria for licensure set forth in this article or in rules promulgated by the board pursuant to §30-3-7 of this code and in accordance with §29A-3-1 et seq. of this code.

(c) A license may be granted to an applicant who has received the degree of doctor of medicine or its equivalent from a school of medicine located outside of the United States, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and Canada, who:

(1) Submits a complete application;

(2) Pays the applicable fees;

(3) Demonstrates to the board’s satisfaction that the applicant:

(A) Is of good moral character;

(B) Is physically and mentally capable of engaging in the practice of medicine and surgery;

(C) Has, within 10 consecutive years, passed all component parts of the United States Medical Licensing Examination or any prior examination or examination series approved by the board which relates to a national standard, is administered in the English language, and is designed to ascertain an applicant’s fitness to practice medicine and surgery;

(D) Has successfully completed:

(i) A minimum of two years of graduate clinical training approved by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education;

(ii) A minimum of one year of graduate clinical training approved by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education or one year of fellowship training which comports with the requirements of subparagraph (iii) of this paragraph and the applicant holds a current certification by a member board of the American Board of Medical Specialties; or

(iii) A graduate medical education residency program outside of the United States and a minimum of two years of fellowship training in the United States in a clinical field related to the applicant’s residency training which was completed:

(I) At an institution that sponsors or operates a residency program in the same clinical field or a related clinical field approved by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education; or

(II) At a time when accreditation was not available for the fellowship’s clinical field and the board has determined that the training was similar to accredited training due to objective standards, including, but not limited to, the presence of other accredited programs at the sponsoring institution during the applicant’s clinical training at the fellowship location;

(E) Holds a valid ECFMG certificate issued by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates or:

(i) Holds a full, unrestricted, and unconditional license to practice medicine and surgery under the laws of another state, the District of Columbia, Canada, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico;

(ii) Has been engaged in the practice of medicine on a full-time professional basis within the state or jurisdiction where the applicant is fully licensed for a period of at least five years; and

(iii) Is not the subject of any pending disciplinary action by a medical licensing board and has not been the subject of professional discipline reportable to the National Practitioner Data Bank by a medical licensing board in any jurisdiction;

(F) Can communicate in the English language; and

(G) Meets any other criteria for licensure set forth in this article or in rules promulgated by the board pursuant to §30-3-7 of this code and in accordance with §29A-3-1 et seq. of this code.

(d) A person seeking licensure as a podiatrist shall apply to the board. A license may be granted to an applicant who:

(1) Submits a complete application;

(2) Pays the applicable fees;

(3) Demonstrates to the board’s satisfaction that the applicant:

(A) Is of good moral character;

(B) Is physically and mentally capable of engaging in the practice of podiatric medicine and surgery;

(C) Has graduated and received the degree of doctor of podiatric medicine or its equivalent from a school of podiatric medicine approved by the Council of Podiatric Medical Education or by the board;

(D) Has, within 10 consecutive years, passed all component parts of the American Podiatric Medical Licensing Examination, or any prior examination or examination series approved by the board which relates to a national standard, is administered in the English language, and is designed to ascertain an applicant’s fitness to practice podiatric medicine;

(E) Has successfully completed a minimum of one year of graduate clinical training in a program approved by the Council on Podiatric Medical Education or the Colleges of Podiatric Medicine. The board may consider a minimum of two years of graduate podiatric clinical training in the United States armed forces or three years’ private podiatric clinical experience in lieu of this requirement; and

(F) Meets any other reasonable criteria for licensure set forth in this article or in legislative rules promulgated by the board.

(e) Notwithstanding any of the provisions of this article, the board may issue a restricted license to an applicant in extraordinary circumstances under the following conditions:

(1) Upon a finding by the board that based on the applicant’s exceptional education, training, and practice credentials, the applicant’s practice in the state would be beneficial to the public welfare;

(2) Upon a finding by the board that the applicant’s education, training, and practice credentials are substantially equivalent to the requirements of licensure established in this article;

(3) Upon a finding by the board that the applicant received his or her post-graduate medical training outside of the United States and its territories;

(4) That the restricted license issued under extraordinary circumstances is approved by a vote of three fourths of the members of the board; and

(5) That orders denying applications for a restricted license under this subsection are not appealable.

 (f) The board may propose rules for legislative approval in accordance with the provisions of §29A-3-1 et seq. of this code that establish and regulate the restricted license issued to an applicant in extraordinary circumstances pursuant to the provisions of this section.

(g) Personal interviews by board members of all applicants are not required. An applicant for a license may be required by the board, in its discretion, to appear for a personal interview and may be required to produce original documents for review by the board.

(h) All licenses to practice medicine and surgery granted prior to July 1, 2008, and valid on that date shall continue in full effect for the term and under the conditions provided by law at the time of the granting of the license: Provided, That the provisions of subsection (d) of this section do not apply to any person legally entitled to practice chiropody or podiatry in this state prior to June 11, 1965: Provided, however, That all persons licensed to practice chiropody prior to June 11, 1965, are permitted to use the term “chiropody-podiatry” and shall have the rights, privileges, and responsibilities of a podiatrist set out in this article.

(i) The board shall not issue a license to a person not previously licensed in West Virginia whose license has been revoked or suspended in another state until reinstatement of his or her license in that state.

(j) The board shall not issue an initial license, reinstate, or reactivate a license, to any individual whose license has been revoked, suspended, surrendered, or deactivated in another state based upon conduct which is substantially equivalent to an act of unprofessional conduct prohibited by §30-3-14(c) of this code or the board’s legislative rules, until reinstatement of his or her license in that state.

(k) The board need not reject a candidate for a nonmaterial technical or administrative error or omission in the application process that is unrelated to the candidate’s professional qualifications as long as there is sufficient information available to the board to determine the eligibility and qualifications of the candidate for licensure.