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Testing Options: PSI or Prometric?

The only testing companies that can offer the in-person DOT/FMCSA NRCME national exam are PSI and Prometric. While both testing companies offer the same $80 exam, there is a difference between the two in that PSI will only allow a provider to sit for the national exam with a Certificate of Completion that is no more than one year from the date of issuance, while Prometric will allow a certificate to be no more than three years from the date of issuance, with three years being the time frame set by the FMCSA. Providers who want to sit for the exam with a certificate that is more than three years old must contact the DOT/FMCSA directly for assistance.

Schedule the in-person $80 NRCME exam with either a PSI or Prometric testing company using the 10-digit National Registry certification number issued to you by the DOT. To locate testing centers near you, visit Google Maps and search for “PSI Testing” or “Prometric Testing”. Most testing centers are open six days a week.

Medical providers who do not pass their NRCME national exam no longer have to wait 30 days to reschedule. This applies to both initial certification and 10-year recertification. As soon as the FMCSA receives the failing notice from the testing company, they will update the provider's FMCSA account, a process that may take up to 7 days. Once the update is complete, the provider can promptly reschedule their next exam. For more information, please contact the FMCSA directly at FMCTECHSUP@dot.gov or by phone at (617) 494-3003.

What to do when you cannot schedule the NRCME exam: 

It is likely that the DOT/FMCSA are backlogged, causing delays in provider credential verification. In 2014, there were over 17,000 providers who became certified. The remaining years had, on average, 2,500 providers a year certifying. If only half of the initial crowd from 2014 are recertifying, that would still be a larger than normal amount of providers the NRCME have to verify before allowing them to schedule the exam.
 
If you uploaded your PDF training certificate of completion into your DOT account, and manually input the training company name and address, and the accrediting organization’s name (both listed on your training certificate), and checked the box that this was “online” training and not “in-person” training, and if it has been more than 24 hours since you have completed all of these tasks and still cannot schedule the national exam online, you will need to:
 
1. Call the FMCSA between the hours of 9am to 5pm EST, M-F, call the FMCSA at (617) 494-3003 – press option 2 when the first greeting starts, then press the number 6 on hearing the start of the second greeting. This will bypass lengthy greetings and they will answer if they are not already on the phone.
2. Compose an email to the FMCSA requesting verification to schedule the exam and send it to FMCTECHSUP@dot.gov.
3. Attempt to schedule the exam at the end of every business day. You will know you have been verified when you can schedule the exam.

 

Other blog entries of interest:
About the NRCME Exam
NRCME Exam Testing in Hawaii
NRCME 10-Year Recertification
Scheduling Your Recertification Exam
A Tale of Recertification

Enroll in the NRCME Training Institute today or purchase our $99 NRCME Exam Reference Materials. Call us at (941) 600-8411 for more program information and for any current single provider enrollment discounts.

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10-Year Recertification Notice

Certified Medical Examiners on the National Registry are required to be recertified no sooner than 9 years and no later than 10 years from the date of issuance of their medical examiner certification credential. Recertification requires that providers complete an accredited training program such as ours and pass the in-person national NRCME certification examination.

Call (941) 600-8411 for a single-provider discount.

Enroll to Recertify