Cheapest medical license?

[Autopsy Sweet]

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Does anyone know which state has the lowest licensing fees? I'm going to have to apply for one this year and I don't really want to pay for or go through the huge hassle of applying for the Texas license yet.

I heard that Pennsylvania used to be $35 but is now upwards of $300. Nebraska and Virginia are at about $300 as well. Anything cheaper out there?

 

[icpshootyz]

I'm confused . . where are you going to practice? Isn't that what matters? For instance, I'm doing residency in MA so I had to have a MA license. I'll be doing fellowship in NY in July, and to be eligible to do the fellowship I have to obtain my NY medical license prior to starting. So how does it work for you??

 

[Autopsy Sweet]

I'm confused . . where are you going to practice? Isn't that what matters? For instance, I'm doing residency in MA so I had to have a MA license. I'll be doing fellowship in NY in July, and to be eligible to do the fellowship I have to obtain my NY medical license prior to starting. So how does it work for you??

I will eventually get a Texas license (as even if I don't work here immediately after fellowship, it's a million times easier to get it during or just out of training than after being out for a while). But, I have 3 years of training left (extra fellowships) and will have to pay an extra $1000 to $1500 to maintain the Texas license for those years on top of the $2000 (approx) in licensing fees. So, I'm going to get the cheapest license I can for now and wait to get the Texas license until my last year of training. It's actually not that uncommon here for residents to do this, and Pennsylvania was by far the cheapest, but apparently that isn't the case anymore.

Edit: I didn't realize that some states require residents to have state licenses. That isn't the case here. You can apply for a state license after having done one year of residency and having passed Step 3, but it's not required. Every resident and fellow can practice at their institution under the institution's training permit. Moonlighting is not allowed at my institution, so there's no benefit to getting your state license early. Most just wait until applying for boards.

 

[icpshootyz]

Ahh. Guess I didn't know how it worked at other places. Yeah, here in MA we have to have a MA state license, at a minimum a limited (training) license while in residency. Once we get a full license after passing Step 3 we can get a full MA license, which does allow for moonlighting. Not that there's much path moonlighting to be done in MA these days. Well, now I know how other places do it!

 

[Ombret]

Pennsylvania.... $35 to apply the first time, $300 to renew at the end of the cycle (all licenses expire end of 2012 I believe). So this could buy you two years on the cheap, but eventually, you will have to jump through licensing hoops in whatever state you are practicing in. As you know.

 

[KCShaw]

Generally, as a resident/fellow, unless for some reason you "need" one (moonlighting, etc.) or your program requires it for some reason (more common with fellows I surmise, such as those in non-accredited fellowships, etc.), there's no point in getting one until you need to for board exam application purposes. I had heard rumor Pennsylvania was the cheapest and had the least red tape as well, but I don't know for sure, and certainly it's considerably more than that sub-$100 quote you heard in the 2 states I hold a license in (Maryland and Florida, for what it's worth -- I can't recall the current exact fees though). You may have to search state by state to see what current fees & red tape exist.

You may also find that the pain of getting everything together to get the initial license in any given state is so onerous it's worth it to maintain the license even if you're not working there. And it lets you "quickly" move back to work or do locums rather than trudge through the sometimes 6+ month process, depending on the state and your circumstances.

 

[HbyHA]

Pennsylvania.... $35 to apply the first time, $300 to renew at the end of the cycle (all licenses expire end of 2012 I believe). So this could buy you two years on the cheap, but eventually, you will have to jump through licensing hoops in whatever state you are practicing in. As you know.

This is correct. $35 to apply for the first time and minimal additional crap unlike NY which was like $700 plus online courses for mandatory reporting and infection control. Obnoxious! PA expired at end of even year so I only got to have it for 1 year (got it in end of 2009 expired end of 2010) where as I got NY in early 2010 and I think it's good for 2 yrs until 2012. So I guess it was worth the $$$$$ 🙄

Also apparently Texas has an annoying jurisprudence exam before you can get your license. In PA we get MT (training) licenses then MD (unrestricted).

 

[twentyone]

I remember lots of people getting Indiana licenses for boards. I don't know if it's still cheap.