Gov. DeSantis approves new requirements for out-of-state licensee applicants that worry Board of Medicine members

Gov Ron DeSantis has approved legislation (SB 1600) giving the Board of Medicine (BOM) 15 days to approve by endorsement licenses for certain out-of-state applicants.,

But the legislation also blocks many others from getting licensed by endorsement.

Filed by Sen. Jay Collins, SB 1600 helps out-of-state licensees with what Senior Assistant Attorney General and Board legal counsel Donna McNulty described as “squeaky clean” licenses. But, as Board member and Pensacola pediatrician Patrick Hunter lamented at a BOM meeting: “If you’re not squeaky clean it’s a hard stop.”

Some in the health care industry pushed to have the bill vetoed. Collins’ Office had been closely tracking the fate of the legislation.

There are 59,144 doctors with active in-state licenses in Florida today and another 23,389 doctors with active out-of-state licenses, according to the latest Medical Quality Assurance report. Medical doctors practicing in Florida can get licensed through examination or endorsement.

For those who are educated and trained in Florida, licensure by examination is the most common path taken, according to a staff analysis of SB 1600.

Requirements generally include completion of an approved or legislatively mandated educational training program; completion of an approved or legislatively mandated licensure or certification examination with a passing score; and submission of a legislatively mandated application, approved by the Department of Health, fingerprints for a criminal background check, and an application fee.

Medical doctors can also be licensed by endorsement, which is the most common alternative to licensure by examination in Florida and the path taken by out-of-state physicians, according to the bill analysis. The nuances of licensure by endorsement in the physician’s governing statutes are carried out by a BOM credentialing subcommittee that reports to the full Board.

SB 1600 eliminates the section of the statute regarding licensure by endorsement and creates a new universal endorsement statute that applies to medical doctors and a dozen-plus other medical professionals.

Meanwhile, there are concerns that SB 7016 — which was signed by the Governor last month — makes it easier for internationally trained physicians to get licensed in Florida.

The centerpiece of Senate President Kathleen Passidomo’s Live Healthy initiative, SB 7016 allows internationally trained physicians to be licensed by endorsement so long as they graduate from World Health Organization-recognized medical schools and complete international medical residencies that are “substantially similar” to those endorsed by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.

Internationally trained physicians with medical malpractice settlements or who have a pending complaint allegation or investigation aren’t precluded from the endorsement path.

“In the totality of the Legislative Session, we are making it easier for foreign medical graduates to practice in the state of Florida, but we are making it impossible for people who are American doctors who had any lawsuit or a DUI 30 years ago or whatever else to have any mechanism to be licensed in the state of Florida,” BOM member and Wesley Chapel dermatologist Amy Derick said at a BOM meeting.

The new law lays out requirements that health care practitioners, including medical doctors, must meet to qualify for licensure by endorsement.

The legislation specifically precludes physicians who have a complaint, an allegation or an investigation pending before a licensing entity in another state or territory; has been convicted of or pled nolo contendere to, regardless of adjudication, any felony or misdemeanor related to the practice of a health care profession; has had a health care provider license revoked or suspended by another state; has voluntarily surrendered any license in lieu of having disciplinary action taken against the license; or has been reported to the National Practitioner Data Bank, which includes medical malpractice settlements.