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Step 2 CS Cancelled

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Some key players and acronyms to know first:

 

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  • USMLE = United States Medical Licensing Exam

    • A three-part exam series (Step 1, Step 2 Clinical Knowledge, and Step 3) needed to be licensed to practice medicine in the United States. A separate entry on the three exams will be uploaded in the next few weeks.

 

  • ECFMG = Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates

    • Is an organization that grants foreign applicants with an ECFMG certification upon completion of Step 1, Step 2 Clinical Knowledge, and Step 2 Clinical Skills. With an ECFMG certification you are eligible to start medical residency in the USA.

 

  • IMGs = International Medical Graduates

  • AMGs = American Medical Graduates

 

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A quick background

 

The Step 1 and Step 2 CK exam are delivered online through the Prometric testing centers worldwide whereas Step 2 CS was delivered on site in one of the 5 testing centers located in the US (Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia) with simulated patients.

 

In May of 2020 due to the pandemic, USMLE officially suspended the Step 2 CS examinations “for the next 12-18 months”. In light of this (and because IMGs are a significant percentage of residency applicants and practicing physicians), ECFMG had to adjust its requirements for IMGs to receive their ECFMG certification given that many of them had not taken Step 2 CS yet. So they introduced a Pathway system for eligibility:

 

  • Pathway 1: Already Licensed to Practice Medicine in Another Country

  • Pathway 2: Already Passed a Standardized Clinical Skills Exam for Medical Licensure

  • Pathway 3: Medical School Accredited by Agency Recognized by World Federation for Medical Education (WFME)

  • Pathway 4: Medical School Participates in U.S. Federal Student Loan Program or Is Accredited by an Agency that Has Received a Determination of Comparability by the National Committee on Foreign Medical Education and Accreditation (NCFMEA)

  • Pathway 5: Medical School Issues Degree Jointly with a U.S. Medical School Accredited by Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME)

 

In addition to applying under one of the above pathways, IMGs had to take a standardized exam called Occupational English Test (OET) Medicine as a way to prove English proficiency.

 

Using the above requirements, applicants were applying for the Match of 2021.

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Fast forward to November 2020

 

The USMLE issues a statement that they are working on relaunching the Step 2 CS exam in a modified way and that updates about it should be expected in early 2021.

 

However, this was not the case and surprisingly on January 26th the USMLE announces that work to relaunch Step 2 CS has been discontinued, stating:

 

“We have no plans to bring back Step 2 CS, but we intend to take this opportunity to focus on working with our colleagues in medical education and at the state medical boards to determine innovative ways to assess clinical skills.”

 

Understandably, many students and applicants celebrated the elimination of such a logistically inconvenient exam. But what does this mean for them? What will ECFMG do regarding certification for the next Match 2022 applicants? Well, they have already started to address this issue by stating that they will extend the Pathway system application for the Match of 2022. Something of note in that announcement is the following section:

 

“The existing five pathways will continue to be offered with some modifications. ECFMG|FAIMER has identified an additional pathway for evaluation of clinical skills. As a result of the addition of this sixth pathway and changes to certain eligibility requirements, we expect more IMGs to be eligible to pursue a pathway for the 2022 Match. Detailed information on eligibility is not yet available; please monitor the ECFMG website since we expect to publish guidelines very soon.”

 

This obviously leads us to believe that they will be adding something to somehow evaluate clinical skills. For now, we are sure that they will retain the OET exam:

 

“Consistent with the requirements for the existing pathways, IMGs who pursue one of the six pathways for the 2022 Match will be required to pass the Occupational English Test (OET) Medicine to satisfy pathway requirements.”

 

For now, we need to wait for ECFMG to announce the certification requirements for the Match of 2022.

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Update - February 2021

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ECFMG announced on February 16th the six pathways relevant for the Match 2022 certification. Read more here.

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