How quick to get a license in TEXAS for US Grads?

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EM Junkie

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Anyone have any experience on the time necessary to get a TEXAS medical license after completing an intern year? The reason I ask is that I would like to moonlight as soon as possible.

Can anyone tell me from their experience, the quickest turnsoround I can expect, assuming I have passed Step 3 and have everything on file with the FCVS on the date I complete intern year? By the way, I am a US grad, and am doing residency at the same school/hospital as medical school.

Thanks in advance!

-EM Junkie
 
they are running about 6-8 months from the time you pay till the time you get your license. Will probably be worse in the spring
 
expect it to cost you $3000+ when all is said and done . . .
 
Don't hold a Texas license, but know several (Texas born and bred, grads from Texas schools) that uniformly tells me that licensing is an absolute nightmare, and often requires help from expensive attorneys etc. The time frame and costs cited above more or less corresponds to what I've heard.

Generally, Calif and Texas have a reputation for being extremely picky, and very particular about insuring documented medical qualifications from those they license.
 
Don't hold a Texas license, but know several (Texas born and bred, grads from Texas schools) that uniformly tells me that licensing is an absolute nightmare, and often requires help from expensive attorneys etc. The time frame and costs cited above more or less corresponds to what I've heard.

Generally, Calif and Texas have a reputation for being extremely picky, and very particular about insuring documented medical qualifications from those they license.

An attorney? Geez...and I thought it was a pain to be fingerprinted for Jersey.
 
ballpark costs

FCVS 450
Step 3 650
Texas License Application 805
DEA License 400
Texas Jurisprudence Test 80
DPS 25
Register Texas License 800

Total 3210

This does not include other misc costs ie birth certif, transcripts, certified mail, etc
 
ballpark costs

FCVS 450
Step 3 650
Texas License Application 805
DEA License 400
Texas Jurisprudence Test 80
DPS 25
Register Texas License 800

Total 3210

This does not include other misc costs ie birth certif, transcripts, certified mail, etc


Ok...well, I was not including all the extras like Step 3, DEA, CDS, mailing, transcripts, etc. in my total. Since you have to do that for all states (ecept for the CDS) Texas isn't really more expensive in that sense, as the actual license cost is less than some other states like Cali and New Jersey.

Does Texas require you to use FCVS and what does it mean to "register" your Texas license?
 
not required to do FCVS

once you are granted a license, you must "register" it w/in 6months
 
$3200? Ouch! Good thing I can moolight after I get my license!!

Thanks for the replies everyone!

It is not 3210, it is about 2110 (still high but comparable to other states), FCVS as I understand it is not mandatory and step3 is required by all boards.
 
After 7-10 months of hell (depending on how you count) while waiting on my TX license, I have the following words of advice.

Do NOT use FCVS if applying in Texas. It just confuses the Board. Batch all of your correspondence yourself and make sure you use some form of delivery verification. Expect a delay of anywhere from 2-4 days between arrival of your paperwork in the office itself to delivery of said paperwork to your caseworker. Never have anything important mailed to you - ALWAYS road trip to Austin to pick it up in person. Do NOT believe anyone when s/he says s/he will call back. It never happens. Double check and verify everything. When in doubt, call. When your caseworker isn't receiving phone calls and you need information, tell the receptionist something along the lines of, "That's nice, I'll be calling back in 30 minutes to try again." Make a nuisance of yourself.

Click this link to see the Houston Chronicle's take on the whole mess.

I know I sound bitter. That's because I am. I didn't work for months after residency, I had to sell my car, and life generally sucked. If you plan on being in TX - APPLY NOW! And then never ever ever give up your license. Unless you're dead, and then it's okay.

***

Edit: I just realized that you have to register for the chron.com website to see the article. The next post will have a copy of the full article.
 
Paper: Houston Chronicle
Date: Tue 01/30/2007
Section: B
Page: 6
Edition: 3 STAR

Licensing logjam / End needless delays keeping new physicians from giving Texans the health care they need.

Staff

TEXANS voted in 2003 for Proposition 12, which imposed a limit on doctors' medical liability, after proponents promised the measure would alleviate the "crisis" in medical malpractice insurance and thus ensure broad access to health care for patients. True, some Texas physicians saw their malpractice premiums drop sharply, and there was a surge in applications from doctors wanting to practice in the state to avoid the onerous insurance premiums and jury awards levied in other states. But the promise of broad access to health care never materialized, due in part to exorbitant delays in processing new doctor applications.

More than 4,000 applications were received in 2006, up from around 2,500 in 2002. An application that took an average of 18 days to process in 2003 took 60 days two years later and now takes around 105 days. Complex applications take even longer.

So, to add insult to injury, the patients of Texas not only lost an important protection against incompetent doctors when Prop. 12 was passed, they now face long delays in relieving the shortage of medical care in a state that is near the bottom of the heap in doctor-to-patient ratios - 42nd in the nation in 2005.

Compounding the irony is the fact that what it would take to resolve the processing problems amounts to peanuts in the grand scheme of things: Donald Patrick, a physician and executive director of the Texas Medical Board, figures that his agency could break the logjam by hiring six extra people for less than $200,000 a year and by securing a $50,000 grant to update computers.

But his hands are tied because the Legislature needs to authorize both personnel and funds for the agency. Legislators only days ago got their committee assignments for the current session, so no action has been taken on the emergency appropriation it would take to resolve the problem.

While this is fixable - there is an excellent chance the measure will pass - it raises another concern: the growing tendency to sweep these kinds of fees into general revenue. The medical board generates $50 million to $55 million biennially and receives back only $15 million. Frustrated patients who have to wait for treatment and frustrated doctors who cannot earn a living while waiting several months to be licensed might well ask why only about 30 percent of the $805 application fee is going to the agency.

It would be a different matter if the agency had not established a track record of efficiency. In 2001, when Patrick arrived at the medical board, the 50-page application took six months to process. By the next year, it had been shortened to 10 pages, and by 2003 the application took 18 days. In the last legislative session, when the crisis was clearly building, Patrick asked for additional staffing and funding and was rebuffed.

The Legislature could relieve the licensing backlog quickly and easily, after which it should rethink its shortsighted policy of commandeering such a large bite of available funds for general revenue when it so seriously compromises the agency that raised the funds. Texas patients deserve better, as do the physicians of good will who are trying to serve them.
 
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