Indiana Medical Board and Puerto Rico Medical Examination

I recently had a conversation with the Indiana Medical Board concerning an item found on their Application Instructions for the full, unrestricted physician medical license. The Indiana Medical Board states in their instructions that the Puerto Rico Medical Board Examination is acceptable on a case by case basis. In other words if the Indiana Medical Board believes that the Physician's credentials warrant it, then a license will be issued even if the Physician only took the Puerto Rico Medical Board Examination and not the USMLE, FLEX, NBME, NBOME, LMCC, or SPEX.

I spoke with a Board Manager and was informed that "this was on a case by case basis". She informed me that there was no guarantee of licensure and the physicians credentials, including Board Certification, number of ACGME PGY's, and practice history, would all come into consideration to determine the issuance or rejection of the license.

Mantuve una conversación recientemente con el Consejo de médicos de Indiana con respecto a un artículo encontró en sus Instrucciones de la Aplicación para el médico repleto y sin restricción la licencia médica. El Consejo de médicos de Indiana indica en sus instrucciones que el Examen de Consejo de médicos de Puerto Rico es aceptable en un caso por la base del caso. En otras palabras si el Consejo de médicos de Indiana cree que la autorización credencial de Médico, entonces una licencia será publicada incluso si el Médico sólo tomara el Examen del Consejo de médicos de Puerto Rico y no el USMLE, DOBLA, NBME, NBOME, LMCC, ni SPEX.

Hablé con un Director de la Tabla y fui informado eso "esto estuvo en un caso por la base del caso". Ella me informó que no había garantía de licensure y los médicos credencial, inclusive la Certificación de la Tabla, el número de PGY de ACGME, y de la historia de la práctica, todo vendría en la consideración a determinar la emisión o el rechazo de la licencia.

Medical Board of Puerto Rico

** In October 2006, the Attorney General of Michigan issued new rules concerning Physician licensed in the State of Puerto Rico. The Michigan Medical Board has decided to refuse reciprocity with the Puerto Rico Medical Board and any physicians who are licensed only with Puerto Rico. What is the impact of this for Puerto Rico Licensed Physicians? For Physician who are graduates of Non-USA / Non-Puerto Rico Medical Schools, they will have to hold a valid ECFMG Certificate. Without this the Michigan Board will not approve the application. For Physicians are who graduates of a Puerto Rico Medical School and only hold a Puerto Rico Medical License, they can apply via examination if they have taken the USMLE, FLEX, NBME, or SPEX examination. The October 2006 ruling is retroactive for all pending applications.

As of October 2006 there are 3 State Medical Boards which will accept applications from Physicians who are licensed in Puerto Rico and have taken the Puerto Rico State License Examination. These are the Washington Medical Board (State), the Indiana Medical Board, and the West Virginia Board of Medicine (WV-if the examinaton was given in English) . Physicians who graduated from a Medical School outside of Puerto Rico, the USA, and Canada will also have to have at least 3 years of Internship/Residency/Fellowship in an ACGME or RCPSC approved program in Puerto Rico, the USA, or Canada. Continued

Al agosto 2005 hay 3 Consejos de médicos del Estado que aceptará las aplicaciones de Médicos que son licenciados en Puerto Rico y han tomado el Examen de la Licencia del Estado de Puerto Rico. Estos son el Consejo de médicos de Washington (el Estado), y la Tabla Occidental de Virginia de la Medicina, El Consejo de médicos de Indiana. Los médicos que se graduaron de una Facultad de medicina fuera de Puerto Rico, fuera de los EEUU, y fuera de Canadá tendrá que tener también por lo menos 3 años del Puestos de interno/la Residencia/la Confraternidad en un ACGME o RCPSC aprobó el programa en Puerto Rico, en los EEUU, o en Canadá. Continuado

Texas Medical Board news

The process with the Texas Medical Board differs from other Medical Boards. Texas has an online application. As such, clients' of MedLicense.com, must submit their application directly to the Texas Medical Board through the TSBME Website themselves. After the application has been submitted by the Physician to the Texas Medical Board, the Physician will then provide a copy of the printed out submission so that MedLicense.com can requests all of the required verifications on the Physician's behalf. MedLicense.com and other third party licensing companies are not allowed to submit the application for the Physician.

The Texas Medical Board has a reputation for being one of the most difficult Medical Boards to obtain licensure. This reputation is not unfounded. Requirements such as 10 years history verification, Jurisprudence Examination, SPEX, the Double Review Process, 3 Attempt and 7 Year limit on the USMLE, the Form L Process, and the problematic loss of verifications which have been delivered to the Texas Medical Board have allowed the Texas Medical Board to be ranked as the worst Medical Board to apply to by MedLicense.com and most of the medical community. Licensing times average between 4 to 12 months. Compare this to a State like Indiana, 35 to 90 days, and you can see why.

Recently the Texas Medical Board adopted new rules which should lessen the pain for experienced Physicians. Unfortunately the licensure process is skewed to penalize physicians who are overly experienced and have been practicing medicine for more than 10 years. The rule change in question concerns the verification of Work History. Previous to the change, the Texas Medical Board required that all Physician have the past 10 years of Work History verified through the Form L process to the Texas Medical Board. Now the Texas Medical Board has changed this rule to only require 5 years of Work History be verified by the employers and hospitals. For Physicians who have multiple Hospital Privileges or who have practiced Locum Tenens, this can shave months off of the normal licensing times typically experienced with the Texas Medical Board.

To read more about the Texas Medical Board please visit our Free Article Section. You can find the link to the Texas Medical Board by visiting the following link: Licensing with the Texas Medical Board

Florida Medical Board News

Amazingly, MedLicense.com licensed a Physician with the Florida Medical Board in 43 Days. License # ME 99495 was issued on 07/13/2007. The application was submitted to the Florida Medical Board on 06/01/2007. The verifications (11 total) were requested on 06/03/2007. The last verification was confirmed as being received 06/18/2007. We cannot guarantee that the Florida Medical License licensure times with Florida such as this, but we can guarantee that the same process which achieved these results for our client will be provided to you and your application.

As of May 2007, the Florida Medical Board no longer requires Physicians who have a clean personal and practice history to have their applications presented before the Full Board Meeting. On the surface this might not seem like a big issue but it actually is. The Florida Medical Board will now allow the license to be issued internally once the file clears the 2nd Review (Management Review). Previous to May 2007, the Florida Medical Board required that the doctor's file be completed 2 to 3 weeks before the monthly Board Meeting in order to have the file presented at the Board Meeting. Once the Board approved the application, the Physician had to wait 2 weeks for the license number. Now with the recent changes, the license will be available 4 to 8 weeks sooner than with the old system.

Now Florida has changed their internal process so as to allow the Physician or Licensing Company to handle the Privilege Hospital Verification and Internship/Residency/Fellowship Verification. This is going to shave weeks to months off the licensing time for the average physician. The Florida Medical License typically takes 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 months for the licensing process to work itself out. The reasons in the past have been two fold. The first was the FBI / FDLE Background checks. The Fingerprint Cards take 4 to 12 weeks to clear. This part of the process has not changed. The second reason why was the verification process connected with the Privilege Hospitals and Training Hospitals. Because of the recent change, we expect the licensure time will become more abbreviated when compared to the process before the change.

For more about the Florida Medical Board please visit: Florida Medical Board

South Carolina Medical Board- Mandatory FCVS Requirement

The South Carolina Medical Board recently instituted a new FCVS Policy. All physicians are now required to set up a FCVS Packet before a full license will be issued. This was placed into effect in 05/2007.

North Carolina Medical Board's new FCVS Requirement

As of June 2007, the North Carolina Medical Board now requires that all physicians applying for a full unrestricted license, whom in the past have set up a FCVS packet, now utilize the FCVS service to verify their core credentials. This requirement is limited strictly to Physicians who had previously set up a FCVS Packet. Those doctors who have not done so will not be required to utilize the FCVS service with their North Carolina Medical Application.

North Carolina now offers an online application. Unlike the Ohio Medical Board and the Texas Medical Board, the online application with North Carolina is optional.

All status reports are now obtained through the North Carolina Medical Board's website.