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The Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) has issued a notice to all international medical graduates that the submission of fraudulent letters of recommendation to ECFMG constitutes irregular behavior. Those with allegations of irregular behavior are reviewed by an ECFMG panel and can face certain penalties. - The individual will have a permanent annotation included in his or her ECFMG Status Reports and Certification Verification Service (CVS) Reports; - Information explaining the basis for the finding of irregular behavior and the resulting action will accompany every ECFMG Status Report and CVS Report and may also be provided to legitimately interested entities; and - The decision will be reported to the Federation of State Medical Boards Board Action Data Bank, state medical licensing authorities, directors of graduate medical education programs, and to any other organization or individual who has a legitimate interest in such information. Furthermore, an individual who is found to have irregular behavior may be further penalized by ECFMG, including being barred from ECFMG exams and having his or her Standard ECFMG Certificate withheld or revoked. The ECFMG Medical Education Credentials Committee has recently found 12 cases of irregular behavior based on the submission of partially altered or completely fabricated letters of recommendation. In 11 of these cases, the applicant's Standard ECFMG Certificate was revoked, and they will not be able to participate in an accredited residency program in the In order to address this issue, ECFMG is requiring all international medical students and graduates to submit original letters of recommendation. Letters must be written on official letterhead and manually signed by the author in an ink color other than black. Applicants are also advised to request that the letter writer attach an institutional seal onto the letter of recommendation. According to ECFMG, the directors of residency and fellowship programs are responsible for verifying the authenticity of letters of recommendation. In most of the recent fraud cases, the fraudulent letters were detected by program directors. < Back | Index | Next > Disclaimer: This newsletter is provided as a public service and not intended to establish an attorney client relationship. Any reliance on information contained herein is taken at your own risk. |
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