VISTA Staffing Solutions | Locum Tenens

Have you recently been called by someone from the Nevada State Medical Board? If so, you should be aware of the following information released by the Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners (NSMBE).

The Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners has been notified of a possible credit card scam involving their licensees.  Individuals posing as employees of the “Nevada State Medical Board” may be contacting licensees and requesting credit card information in order to send the licensee emergent information about their Nevada license.  The names known to have been to be utilized during this scam are “Jennifer Riley” and “Richard,” and fraudulent telephone numbers have been provided.

Please note, The Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners will NEVER call and solicit your credit card information.

If you have been contacted by viagra individual you think may be posing as an employee of the NSMBE, you may check his or her identity by calling the Board (775-688-2559, or 888-890-8210, toll-free within Nevada), or you may find a list of all Board employees on their website, www.medboard.nv.gov, under the “About the Board” link.

 If you believe you have been a victim of such a scam, please contact your local law enforcement agency immediately.

 If you have any questions, you can reach the VISTA Licensing Department at 800-366-1884.

The AMA has recognized an issue that VISTA and other locum tenens companies have been concerned about for many years—getting physicians back into the workforce after they have left clinical practice for an extended period of time.

We get calls all the time from physicians who left practice for family or health reasons or who pursued alternative career tracks and are ready to get back to hands-on medicine. Unfortunately their options are limited, complicated, and often very expensive.

We have referred physicians to a few re-entry educational programs, including one at Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia and to the Center for Personalized Education for Physicians in Denver. The North Carolina Medical Board also has a program, as does the University of Florida College of Medicine in Gainesville.

On January 25, the American Medical Association, in collaboration with the Federation of State Medical Boards and the American Academy of Pediatrics, issued recommendations calling for a comprehensive and transparent regulatory process for physicians to return to medicine.

VISTA supports this call because we agree that bringing physicians back to medicine is one more step toward managing the physician shortage. (We believe that keeping them in the workforce through flexible options like locum tenens is another.) It is much faster and cost effective to refresh and recertify a trained physician than it is to wait for medical schools to expand and produce more doctors. The AMA estimates that as many as 10,000 physicians might opt to rejoin the ranks every year.

Plus, in our experience, “boomerang” physicians often bring a renewed sense of energy and commitment back into medicine with them.

This discussion is in the early stages. We will keep you posted as it progresses. In the meantime I’ll pass along the advice our recruiters give to physicians considering a professional transition—keep your license or licenses active! It’s the best way to ensure that you will have options down the road.

Here’s a rundown of the relicensing requirements for physicians who want to return to medicine after an absence (unrelated to discipline.) These guidelines apply to both MDs and DOs unless noted.

Alabama: No policy.
Alaska: Policy under development.
Arizona/MD: Re-entry program required after 10-year absence.
Arizona/DO: Re-entry program required after two years out.
Arkansas: Policy under development.
California: Re-entry program required after five years out.
Colorado: Re-entry program required after two years out.
Connecticut: No policy.
Delaware: Decided on a case-by-case basis.
District of Columbia: Re-entry program required after one to five years out.
Florida/MD: Re-entry program required after two years of inactivity or five years of retirement.
Florida/DO: Re-entry program required after five years out.
Georgia: Re-entry program required after two years out.
Hawaii: No policy.
Idaho: No policy.
Illinois: Re-entry program required after two years out.
Indiana: Re-entry program required after three years out.
Iowa: Re-entry program required after three years out.
Kansas: Re-entry program required after two years out.
Kentucky: Re-entry program required after two years out.
Louisiana: No policy.
Maine/MD: Re-entry program required after one year out.
Maine/DO: No policy.
Maryland: Decided on a case-by-case basis.
Massachusetts: Re-entry program required after two years out.
Michigan: No policy.
Minnesota: Re-entry program required after two to three years out.
Mississippi: Re-entry program required after three years out.
Missouri: Re-entry program required after two years out.
Montana: Re-entry program required after two years out.
Nebraska: Re-entry program required if a physician has not practiced in at least one of the prior three years.
Nevada: Re-entry program required after one year out.
New Hampshire: Decided on a case-by-case basis.
New Jersey: Re-entry program required after five years out.
New Mexico/MD: Re-entry program required after two years out.
New Mexico/DO: No policy.
New York: No policy.
North Carolina: Re-entry program required after two years out.
North Dakota: Policy in development. Currently on a case-by-case basis.
Ohio: Re-entry program required after two years out.
Oklahoma/MD: Policy in development.
Oklahoma/DO: Re-entry program may be required after one year out.
Oregon: A physician out more than 12 months may be required to take a competency exam or additional training. This is dependent on specialty.
Pennsylvania/MD: Re-entry program required after four years out.
Pennsylvania/DO: Policy in development.
Rhode Island: Policy in development.
South Carolina: No policy.
South Dakota: Decided on a case-by-case basis.
Tennessee: Re-entry program required after five years out.
Texas: Re-entry program required if a physician has been out of clinical practice for more than one year within the past two.
Utah: Re-entry program required after two years out.
Vermont/MD: Re-entry program required after five years out.
Vermont/DO: Re-entry program required after one year out.
Virginia: Re-entry program required after four years out.
Washington/MD: Re-entry program may be required if out for two years, but this varies by specialty.
Washington/DO: No policy.
West Virginia/MD: Re-entry program required if out for 18 months.
West Virginia/DO: No policy.
Wisconsin: Re-entry program required after five years out.
Wyoming: Decided on a case-by-case basis.

Source: State Medical Licensure Requirements and Statistics, 2011, American Medical Association (www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/40/physician-reentry-regulations.pdf)

The Medical Board of California Licensing Program communicated to VISTA Staffing Solutions’ licensing department regarding application processing time. The Licensing Board requests all applicants to check their application status online at the Medical Board’s Web Applicant Access System at www.mbc.ca.gov instead of calling the Board. This would help in timely if not faster processing of your application. It takes a minimum of two weeks from the time you submit your application for access to your online application record.  Please be aware that it takes up to 60 working days to complete the initial review of your application.

For more information go to: www.medbd.ca.gov/applicant/Index.html

Yesterday, the VISTA Staffing Solutions licensing department received notices in the mail for three of our Colorado licensed physicians from a company representing itself as “Colorado Physician Certification Services” with a postmark from Florida and a return address in California.   These notices indicate that the physicians’ professional certification renewal is due and they must submit $412.00 by March 15^th.  Upon investigation by Hannah Owen, VISTA Licensing Renewal Specialist, we learned that the Colorado Board of Medical Examiners did not issue these renewal notices.

VISTA’s licensing team received the following email from Lisa E. Jackson, Enforcement Program Manager, Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies.  “It has come to our attention that Colorado physicians are receiving a notification from an entity representing itself as ‘Colorado Physician Certification Services’ with an address in Sacramento, California.  Please be advised that this notification is a scam.  This entity does not represent the Colorado Board of Medical Examiners, Colorado physician licenses are not currently being renewed, and this notification should be disregarded.  Please do not send any money to this entity! We have also asked the Colorado Attorney General’s office to investigate.   A sample of the notification letter is posted on the Medical Board’s website at http://www.dora.state.co.us/medical.”

 Please be very wary of any notice you receive in the mail from any Board requesting information or money.  If you have questions about the validity of a notice you receive, contact your VISTA licensing team at 800-366-1884, or the board directly.

A heads up to physicians hoping to practice locum tenens in New Mexico, or those considering an extended or permanent position in the state:  effective January 1, 2010, the fee for the National and State Criminal History Screening has increased to $36. This change bumps the license application fee in New Mexico to $436.  Applications received after January 1, 2010 with the incorrect fee will be considered incomplete and the payment will be returned to the sender with an invoice for the correct application fee.

 The applications on the state’s website, www.nmmb.state.nm.us, reflect the fee change.

Understanding licensing requirements is really important to physicians interested in the flexibility and freedom of locum tenens assignments or extended placements. More and more hospitals are requiring physicians to be ABEM only. Some physicians erroneously think they will be fine because they're Board Eligible. The following information should help set the record straight:

• Board Eligible is no longer recognized – a physician must now fully complete residency (either 36 or 48 months, depending on the program). The new term is Board Prepared. There is NO grandfathering of the old policy.
• There is no deadline for a physician to sit for the boards – a physician can wait 20 years after completing residency, for example. However, that physician must complete a minimum of 50 CME hours each year after completing residency and before taking the exam.
• After registering for the qualifying exam, a physician has three years to sit for the boards. Once three years is up without the exam being taken, a physician's status becomes Inactive. (The 50 CME hour requirement explained above applies during these three years. If three years elapse and the CME requirement has been met each year, a physician may re-register to take the boards.)

The Medical Council of New Zealand recently announced changes to its International English Language Testing System (IELTS) requirements. These changes will affect international medical graduates who are required to pass IELTS before applying for registration in New Zealand. Here is a quick look at the changes:

Current IELTS requirements
Under the council’s current IELTS requirements an applicant must score a minimum of seven in each of the four components (listening, speaking, reading and writing) of the test. A minimum overall average of 7.5 is required.

New requirements effective February 1, 2009
The new minimum scores are:
Reading 7.0
Writing 7.0
Listening 7.5
Speaking 7.5

There is no minimum overall average score requirement.

Why the change?
The council is required to make sure that every doctor registered to practice medicine in New Zealand is, “able to communicate in and comprehend English sufficiently to protect the health and safety of the public, and for the purposes of practicing within the scope of practice in which they are registered.”

The council reports that the most common complaints it receives, after clinical competence, are concerns about communication skills. Therefore, the council considers scores in listening and speaking the most important in terms of communication with patients and colleagues.
For more information about these changes click here to visit the council’s website .

This is a great deal for new, unlicensed physicians. In an effort to recruit and retain physicians in New Mexico, the New Mexico Medical Board (NMMB) is waiving the application fee for physicians who choose New Mexico as their first state of licensure.

According to the NMMB April 2008 Newsletter, “The NMMB voted to waive the application fee on a trial basis in an effort to recruit and retain physicians in New Mexico. The authority to waive the fee just passed the 2008 Legislature and was signed by Governor Richardson pursuant to Senate Bill 127.”

Once again we are in the very busy time for both locum tenens and permanent licenses. Many boards are overwhelmed with new resident licensure. Here is a list of boards that have advised us of how far they are behind.

1. Arizona – two to three months behind with applications and verifications
2. Alaska – one month behind in going through the mail. Once the application is complete and ready for executive review it is taking three weeks to be reviewed.
3. California – 90 + days just to process the application. The board is also not able to respond to emails or message left on the phone.
4. Texas – Not able to commit to dates. They report that it is currently taking 9-12 months from start to finish of a license.
5. Wisconsin – Reports that they are six months behind.

New Mexico renewals: If a doctor received his or her license prior to September 1, 2007 and is up for renewal, the doctor will need to submit fingerprint cards as part of the renewal process. There is an additional charge of $34.00 to process the fingerprints. This process will be in effect during the 2008, 2009 and 2010 renewals periods. All New Mexico licenses expire on July 1.