International Physicians - USA Licensing without the ECFMG

There are only 2 States which will allow an International Physician to license in the USA without an ECFMG Certificate. They are as follows:

California Medical Board
West Virginia Medical Board

All Physicians must have taken an approved examination in order to license. (i.e. USMLE, NBME, FLEX, LMCC, NBOME)

Nevada Medical Board - Licensing by Endorsement

The Nevada Medical Board is one of the few State Medical Boards which allows Physicians who are only licensed in Puerto Rico to license by Endorsement. The licensure process is contingent upon two issues. One that they are a graduate of a Domestic Medical School. Two that they are Board Certified. If the physician is not a Domestic Graduate, then an ECFMG Certificate will be required.

The Endorsement Process is typically utilized by Physician who have not passed a licensure examination within the past 10 years.

West Virginia Medical Board

The West Virginia Medical Board moved on 09/16/07 to no longer accept the Puerto Rico Medical Board Examination. Any physician applying to the West Virginia Medical Board will now have to have one of the following examinations:

-USMLE
-FLEX
-NBME
-NBOME
-LMCC
-State Board Examination in one of the 50 States

The reasons put forth were that the Puerto Rico Medical Board examination is given in both English and Spanish (on the same document). We believe that the real reason for this move is the fact that the Puerto Rico Medical Board is under investigation due to fraudulent examination score reporting to 3rd parties.

California Medical Board

The California Medical Board has a reputation of being a difficult board to apply to. The application process can in some cases take 6 to 12 months. Fortunately, our experience has been that Physicians seeking a license to practice medicine in the State of California typically run between 3 to 4 months. Licensure times can be reduced if the Physician takes a trip to California to have the Live Scan process completed instead of the Fingerprint Cards. Livescan takes 2 to 3 days to run whereas the Fingerprint Cards take 2 to 3 months (if they are not rejected).

All bets are off if the Physician has negatives in their educational, training, or practice history. Then licensure times typically run 6 to 12 months.

Puerto Rico Medical Board - Under Investigation!

The Puerto Rico Medical Board is currently under investigation by either the FSMB or the Federal Government. A Grand Jury has been interviewing Staff Members of the Puerto Rico Medical Board concerning fraudulent examination score reports. Over the past 2 years, Examination Score reports have been forged and sent out to State Medical Boards, Hospitals, and other Institutions on behalf of Physicians who did not achieve a passing score on the Puerto Rico State Medical Examination. Evidently, the person or persons committing this crime, used the same exam score for all exam reports and only changed the name of the physician on the report. It is not clear as to the findings of the investigation.

The practical issues which this has caused concern the licensure of Physicians coming from Puerto Rico applying to other Medical Boards. The Puerto Rico Medical Board is months behind on the processing of its' mail. All verification requests and examination requests are being delayed. The more serious matter involves the move by West Virginia to reject the Puerto Rico Medical Examination. As with any case of Fraud, it is the innocent who pay the price. Hopefully, Washington State will not move to take reciprocal action.

Texas Medical Board - New Updates

The Texas Medical Board recently updated their application process. This change will go into effect 10/01/07. The changes include the addition of Fingerprint Cards and an Increase in the licensure fee. Physicians who are going to accept Medicare/Medicaid patients will be given priority over those who are not. Physician who are seeking the Texas Medical License will expect to see licensure times between 3 to 9 months.

Applying to the Florida Medical Board

The purpose of this article is to address concerns which a physician should be aware of before applying for a Florida Medical License. The Medical Board of Florida has relaxed their process in the past 18 months to the point that it is now possible to have a Florida Medical License in 40 to 60 days. The Florida Medical Board made two changes. The first concerned the verification process. Previously, the Florida Board of Medicine sent all requests out directly to the 3rd parties being verified. This created a inefficient nightmare in which the physician or licensure company tried to act as a third party mediator between two parties. In 2006, Florida changed its' rules to allow the Physician or licensure company to send out all required verification requests. This shaved months off the licensure time. The second change took place in May 2007. Florida now allows applications to be reviewed by a Board Manager and issued internally if no negatives are present. Previously, the application had to be submitted to the full board, which met once a month. This second change now enables applications to be issued within days after they are deemed complete. Our last 5 licenses in Florida have been issued between 45 to 60 days after they were submitted to the Florida Medical Board.

What has not changed is the strict Errors and Omissions policy which the Board Enforces. Any negative information concerning the Physician's back ground which is omitted or misrepresented will result in a Mandatory Board Appearance, additional fines and penalties of $2,000 to $50,000, and possible disciplinary action against the Physician. It is imperative that the Physician answer all questions honestly and accurately on the application. Failure to do such will result in a prolonged licensure process at a minimum.

The Florida Medical License process has become very similar to that of the Medical Board of California's. Physicians which have a clean history will have a pleasant, expedited process. Those which have negatives will experience a process more comparable to that of the Texas Medical Board's.

What can a physician do to insure that his/her answers are accurate? They can order the NPDB-HIPDB (2 copies) before the process begins. Why? The NPDB-HIPDB Report provides a detailed history of all Malpractice Suits which resulted in a monetary settlement or judgment. The NPDB-HIDPB reaches back to the Mid-1980's and will have any such suit in the Physician's history from that time period to the present. The NPDB-HIDPB will also have any disciplinary issues which involve any hospital. Some times our clients do not report issue concerning their employment or privileges. If they would of reviewed the NPDB-HIPDB, they would of prevented this omission or been forced to report it.

Florida is going to receive verifications from the NPDB-HIPDB, all Hospitals where privileges are currently held, all Internships/Residency/Fellowships, all Colleges, all Medical Schools, the FSMB, the AMA, all State Medical Boards where past and present licenses are held, the FBI, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. So if any negative issues exists with any of the above, it will be reported to Florida.

We process over 300 applications a year for Physicians seeking a license in Florida.