illinois medical license

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Hi

Anyone recently get a permanent Illinois physician medical license? If so, how long did it take for you to receive it after mailing your application?

Thanks
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footbasket said:
Hi

Anyone recently get a permanent Illinois physician medical license? If so, how long did it take for you to receive it after mailing your application?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Illinois traditionally takes a long time... more so if it's in May-August as all the new residents are sending in their stuff.
 
It involved driving down to Springfield to personally hand-deliver a piece of paperwork that they insisted I was missing only to have them tell me "oops, our bad, we had it all along".

Get your **** in early. I can't imagine it's gotten much better since Rauner put on his budget suicide vest.
 
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Took me about 6 weeks from when I submitted. I did lot of front-end work through FCVS, however, and I was gathering documents since January for the FCVS packet to send to the State. There was some information the State required after I submitted it, but the total time frame ended up being 6 weeks from when the State received my application.
 
agranulocytosis said:
Took me about 6 weeks from when I submitted. I did lot of front-end work through FCVS, however, and I was gathering documents since January for the FCVS packet to send to the State. There was some information the State required after I submitted it, but the total time frame ended up being 6 weeks from when the State received my application.
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IIRC The one quirk to be aware of is that all medical licenses are renewed on 3 year cycles, and they don't stagger the process for some god-forsaken reason. So if you're applying in 2017, 2020, 2023, etc, may god have mercy on your soul...
 
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WingedOx said:
IIRC The one quirk to be aware of is that all medical licenses are renewed on 3 year cycles, and they don't stagger the process for some god-forsaken reason. So if you're applying in 2017, 2020, 2023, etc, may god have mercy on your soul...
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I am confused by this comment. Can you please elaborate. With those years your mentioned, why is that going to be bad. Thanks.
 
footbasket said:
I am confused by this comment. Can you please elaborate. With those years your mentioned, why is that going to be bad. Thanks.
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Unless they've updated the process, every damn physician in the state has to renew their license at the same time. In other words every doc in the state's license will expire in 2017, and they are processing all the applications at the same time. So if that's your first time applying for a new license, give yourself extra time for them to process it (possibly as much as a month to be safe, especially given the budget standoff.)
 
WingedOx said:
Unless they've updated the process, every damn physician in the state has to renew their license at the same time. In other words every doc in the state's license will expire in 2017, and they are processing all the applications at the same time. So if that's your first time applying for a new license, give yourself extra time for them to process it (possibly as much as a month to be safe, especially given the budget standoff.)
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Good gawd, that's a brilliant plan. /sarcasm
 
WingedOx said:
IIRC The one quirk to be aware of is that all medical licenses are renewed on 3 year cycles, and they don't stagger the process for some god-forsaken reason. So if you're applying in 2017, 2020, 2023, etc, may god have mercy on your soul...
Click to expand...

I thought the renewal process is much easier, as in just paying the fee and answering a basic questionnaire. In that case, it wouldn't seem to create that much more of a back log of applications.

But I do agree, send it in as early as possible! I sent mine in March anticipating a 12-week time frame.
 
agranulocytosis said:
I thought the renewal process is much easier, as in just paying the fee and answering a basic questionnaire. In that case, it wouldn't seem to create that much more of a back log of applications.

But I do agree, send it in as early as possible! I sent mine in March anticipating a 12-week time frame.
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Of course nowadays we have this... which can't be helping the process along.

CjuRNsLUUAEdCBN.jpg
 
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I applied in September of 2013, got my license in May of 2014 (it was a physician renewal year).


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app
 
I just applied for permanent license. I went to springfield to submit it in person on Monday and they have all my board scores and everything. I'm holding a temp license as I'm still a resident. Lady said 4-6 weeks but then said it should be less since it's not there busy season anymore. What you guys think? 2-3 weeks if everything is there?
 
apevo8 said:
I just applied for permanent license. I went to springfield to submit it in person on Monday and they have all my board scores and everything. I'm holding a temp license as I'm still a resident. Lady said 4-6 weeks but then said it should be less since it's not there busy season anymore. What you guys think? 2-3 weeks if everything is there?
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[insert joke how when the MB says 4-6 weeks it will be 8]

Sure, we can't really say what's going to happen or be simple with your MB and license.

I just recently told someone that I reached a human being calling my MB and got answer within 2 days and an email answered within like 4. They thought this was craaaazy. So it vaires a lot.
 
Crayola227 said:
[insert joke how when the MB says 4-6 weeks it will be 8]

Sure, we can't really say what's going to happen or be simple with your MB and license.

I just recently told someone that I reached a human being calling my MB and got answer within 2 days and an email answered within like 4. They thought this was craaaazy. So it vaires a lot.
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Well I hope it isn that long. Everytime I have tried to call the board, they have responded and actually got good responses from customer service center. When I told the person at my GME who does the licensing, he surprised was well.
 
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apevo8 said:
Well I hope it isn that long. Everytime I have tried to call the board, they have responded and actually got good responses from customer service center. When I told the person at my GME who does the licensing, he surprised was well.
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It's really variable. I tried calling them a few weeks after I applied to find out if anything was missing and got a person that said the file wouldn't even be assembled for a few weeks yet and that he couldn't (or at least wouldn't) check. He said don't bother calling until it's been 6 weeks.

Then a couple weeks later they sent me a request for some form I had already sent them. So I got another copy, filled it out again... and the day after I sent it (from a couple thousand miles away), my license was issued. Guess they found the first copy. So an overall positive experience (certainly more positive than the CA board), but just odd.
 
Raryn said:
It's really variable. I tried calling them a few weeks after I applied to find out if anything was missing and got a person that said the file wouldn't even be assembled for a few weeks yet and that he couldn't (or at least wouldn't) check. He said don't bother calling until it's been 6 weeks.

Then a couple weeks later they sent me a request for some form I had already sent them. So I got another copy, filled it out again... and the day after I sent it (from a couple thousand miles away), my license was issued. Guess they found the first copy. So an overall positive experience (certainly more positive than the CA board), but just odd.
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Thanks for the response! How long ago did you apply? I dropped off my application last Monday and they had already cashed my check by Friday so I hope that means they are in midst of processing it. Or not I guess since its so variable
 
BigSib said:
Submitted everything in one packet the second week of July and got mine in 2-3 weeks by endorsement.
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Thank for the info. My application got processed in 2 weeks! Just got the license yesterday!
 
Bump on this thread.

Has anyone applied for a permanent Illinois license recently? I submitted mine online 3-4 weeks ago, wondering if anyone has recent experience with this
 
rolen05 said:
Bump on this thread.

Has anyone applied for a permanent Illinois license recently? I submitted mine online 3-4 weeks ago, wondering if anyone has recent experience with this
Click to expand...

How did you apply for yours? The application process is all online now and one required field before advanced is "postgraduate clinical training" but most of us have none and we have to fill it up. How did you bypass this step?
 
Brach Zaff JD said:
How did you apply for yours? The application process is all online now and one required field before advanced is "postgraduate clinical training" but most of us have none and we have to fill it up. How did you bypass this step?
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A permanent license requires residency experience.

Are you talking about a training license?
 
I believe it means residency training, which I put in that section.
 
My renewal last year was quick and painless.

But as I mentioned 2 years ago in this thread, my original license in 2014 was delayed so long that I almost had to be barred from clinical privileges due to the delay. By the time I could get confirmation that they had processed my application, my training license had already expired, and they told me they were missing a college transcript, which I wasn't aware you needed, so I had to call my college and pay to have them overnight a transcript to me, then take a day off to drive to Springfield the day after I accidentally flooded my car and it still smelled like mildew the whole drive down, stay in a dump hotel, show up at the ILDFPR office first thing in the morning with the transcript only to have them tell me "Oops, sorry we had your transcript the whole time. Here's your medical license."

At least I got to check out the Lincoln Museum, which I wouldn't otherwise do since there's no other reason to visit Springfield other than as a pit stop for Panera on the way to StL.

They gave everyone a grace period on their training license expiring, but I still have a 2 week gap where I technically didn't have a medical license. Thankfully I haven't been in a position where I have had to explain it to anyone. At least it's a good story...
 
Well I submitted mine in mid February...haven't heard anything yet. Supposed to start fellowship in July so we will see..
 
Raryn said:
A permanent license requires residency experience.

Are you talking about a training license?
Click to expand...

Oh yea my bad, retrospectively thoroughly reading it this is about permanent licensure, not temp for new residents
 
rolen05 said:
Bump on this thread.

Has anyone applied for a permanent Illinois license recently? I submitted mine online 3-4 weeks ago, wondering if anyone has recent experience with this
Click to expand...
Submitted mine >8 weeks ago and still waiting.
 
Just a hat tip for anyone with an IL license who applies for a license elsewhere. Do it way, way, way in advance.

Unlike any other state I've had the pleasure to deal with, IL license verification isn't online at all. It requires you to mail them a physical letter and check. They then take a month to process the check. And then (only after the check is deposited) apparently take up to a month to process the request and submit the certification that you're licensed and in good standing. This is the last thing holding up my license in the state I'm moving to. If you email to ask for an update, they'll submit and automated response that they're too busy to respond to most of their emails. If you call and ask, they send to to a call center where they state they are unable to forward you to anyone that can help with your issue and they'll get to it when they get to it.

I've filed a complaint with the Office of Executive Inspector General for the Agencies of the Illinois Governor at this point.
 
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Raryn said:
Just a hat tip for anyone with an IL license who applies for a license elsewhere. Do it way, way, way in advance.

Unlike any other state I've had the pleasure to deal with, IL license verification isn't online at all. It requires you to mail them a physical letter and check. They then take a month to process the check. And then (only after the check is deposited) apparently take up to a month to process the request and submit the certification that you're licensed and in good standing. This is the last thing holding up my license in the state I'm moving to. If you email to ask for an update, they'll submit and automated response that they're too busy to respond to most of their emails. If you call and ask, they send to to a call center where they state they are unable to forward you to anyone that can help with your issue and they'll get to it when they get to it.

I've filed a complaint with the Office of Executive Inspector General for the Agencies of the Illinois Governor at this point.
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(sigh). that's one way to prevent brain drain from the state, I guess.

Wasn't it a cashier's check too? I remember having to get one for my initial license. I'm not actually kidding when I say that your best course of action may be to just physically drive down to Springfield and sort the issue out in person.
 
WingedOx said:
(sigh). that's one way to prevent brain drain from the state, I guess.

Wasn't it a cashier's check too? I remember having to get one for my initial license. I'm not actually kidding when I say that your best course of action may be to just physically drive down to Springfield and sort the issue out in person.
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Just a personal check.
 
Stagg737 said:
Jeez, I'm getting frustrated just reading this thread. Is licensing this much of a hassle in most other states?
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I know Florida has an unfortunate reputation for this type of stuff. Illinois has never had the world's most functional state government to begin with, but the last couple years have been especially bad due to the idiotic budget standoff.
 
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WingedOx said:
I know Florida has an unfortunate reputation for this type of stuff. Illinois has never had the world's most functional state government to begin with, but the last couple years have been especially bad due to the idiotic budget standoff.
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Yea, you know it's bad when you get kicked out of powerball because you can't pass a budget. I just didn't know if the licensing issue was unique to IL or if it was just that bad all over.
 
Raryn said:
Just a hat tip for anyone with an IL license who applies for a license elsewhere. Do it way, way, way in advance.

Unlike any other state I've had the pleasure to deal with, IL license verification isn't online at all. It requires you to mail them a physical letter and check. They then take a month to process the check. And then (only after the check is deposited) apparently take up to a month to process the request and submit the certification that you're licensed and in good standing. This is the last thing holding up my license in the state I'm moving to. If you email to ask for an update, they'll submit and automated response that they're too busy to respond to most of their emails. If you call and ask, they send to to a call center where they state they are unable to forward you to anyone that can help with your issue and they'll get to it when they get to it.

I've filed a complaint with the Office of Executive Inspector General for the Agencies of the Illinois Governor at this point.
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Great. I was intending on applying for a license in another state once my Illinois one came through.

Should I apply now? I feel like having two apps pending in different states makes things dicey. If one comes through first do they have to send a letter to the second?
 
rolen05 said:
Great. I was intending on applying for a license in another state once my Illinois one came through.

Should I apply now? I feel like having two apps pending in different states makes things dicey. If one comes through first do they have to send a letter to the second?
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I believe that's exactly it. Once one comes through, you'll need to have it update the second state.
 
Raryn said:
Just a hat tip for anyone with an IL license who applies for a license elsewhere. Do it way, way, way in advance.

Unlike any other state I've had the pleasure to deal with, IL license verification isn't online at all. It requires you to mail them a physical letter and check. They then take a month to process the check. And then (only after the check is deposited) apparently take up to a month to process the request and submit the certification that you're licensed and in good standing. This is the last thing holding up my license in the state I'm moving to. If you email to ask for an update, they'll submit and automated response that they're too busy to respond to most of their emails. If you call and ask, they send to to a call center where they state they are unable to forward you to anyone that can help with your issue and they'll get to it when they get to it.

I've filed a complaint with the Office of Executive Inspector General for the Agencies of the Illinois Governor at this point.
Click to expand...
massachusetts is equally slow...i finally drove to the office when i was getting my initial unrestricted license...though renewals have been much easier.
 
Raryn said:
Just a hat tip for anyone with an IL license who applies for a license elsewhere. Do it way, way, way in advance.

Unlike any other state I've had the pleasure to deal with, IL license verification isn't online at all. It requires you to mail them a physical letter and check. They then take a month to process the check. And then (only after the check is deposited) apparently take up to a month to process the request and submit the certification that you're licensed and in good standing. This is the last thing holding up my license in the state I'm moving to. If you email to ask for an update, they'll submit and automated response that they're too busy to respond to most of their emails. If you call and ask, they send to to a call center where they state they are unable to forward you to anyone that can help with your issue and they'll get to it when they get to it.

I've filed a complaint with the Office of Executive Inspector General for the Agencies of the Illinois Governor at this point.
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Sorry your experience has been crappy with IL. I think the issue is that a lot of people are sending their apps for licensing now so they are slow to process. IL has lots of residencies and tons of practicing docs. My training license came in 2 weeks. My unrestricted one in about a month so not that bad. It’s now online so it should be faster. Now they have changed their answering service so if you call the 1800 number you should be able to talk to someone. It should not take 2 months for them to verify your license - it took me about 2 weeks to have my IL license verified to other states. Also many other states including NY have paper verifications. In NY if you send them the wrong amount of $$ as I did they don’t even process your request!! I found out only when I called.
Good for you for filling a complaint in IL but sorry to tell you it will go nowhere. It’s a democratic bureaucratic disaster.
 
Doctor Christmas said:
Sorry your experience has been crappy with IL. I think the issue is that a lot of people are sending their apps for licensing now so they are slow to process. IL has lots of residencies and tons of practicing docs. My training license came in 2 weeks. My unrestricted one in about a month so not that bad. It’s now online so it should be faster. Now they have changed their answering service so if you call the 1800 number you should be able to talk to someone. It should not take 2 months for them to verify your license - it took me about 2 weeks to have my IL license verified to other states. Also many other states including NY have paper verifications. In NY if you send them the wrong amount of $$ as I did they don’t even process your request!! I found out only when I called.
Good for you for filling a complaint in IL but sorry to tell you it will go nowhere. It’s a democratic bureaucratic disaster.
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I agree it should not take 2 months for verification (it took CA two days), but I submitted the request 6 weeks ago and was told today that it would be another 4-6 weeks.

I also anticipate nothing coming of my complaint, but I literally have nothing else I can do. *shrug*

Edit: And "a lot of people are sending their apps for licensing now so they are slow to process" is highly unlikely to be true as of when I sent in the request. Match day was last week, so temporary license season has barely started (and I sent the request in >1 month ago, before it started). Renewal season was a year ago, so it's 2 years from being around renewal time. This is at most, an average time of year for business. Maybe a little bit above average with regards to residents graduating and moving to the state, but even so it's 3-4 months before graduation time.
 
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If it takes 12 weeks to verify a license, no way to expect a new license application sooner than that...
 
rolen05 said:
If it takes 12 weeks to verify a license, no way to expect a new license application sooner than that...
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This is an incorrect statement. I got my license in about 4 weeks. No one is discounting Raryn's experience but I would say it's atypical. As I have mentioned in my experience my training license took 2 weeks, full 4.
 
Doctor Christmas said:
This is an incorrect statement. I got my license in about 4 weeks. No one is discounting Raryn's experience but I would say it's atypical. As I have mentioned in my experience my training license took 2 weeks, full 4.
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My full license also took about 4 weeks to get after the submission of the last document. No idea why verification takes longer than actual licensure.
 
Am I supposed to verify a temporary license from residency for the IDFPR application?

They did not prompt me to do this on the online application, but wonder if this will hold me up when they finally look at it. Thanks for the insight everyone!
 
rolen05 said:
Am I supposed to verify a temporary license from residency for the IDFPR application?

They did not prompt me to do this on the online application, but wonder if this will hold me up when they finally look at it. Thanks for the insight everyone!
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I did not verify all my temporary licenses for my IL license and it was not an issue. I believe you only verify full unrestricted licenses - that's how most states do it.
 
rolen05 said:
Did you submit your app online or on paper?
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I submitted my application online. I had to re-send 2 documents by mail since they claimed they never received the original documents from the organizations that forwarded them on my behalf. My NY license took less than a month to process though it took more documentation. I'm just very disappointed but what can you do except wait and wait and wait.
 
JustCallMeMD said:
I submitted my application online. I had to re-send 2 documents by mail since they claimed they never received the original documents from the organizations that forwarded them on my behalf. My NY license took less than a month to process though it took more documentation. I'm just very disappointed but what can you do except wait and wait and wait.
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What did they not receive out of curiosity? I would totally agree with you re: NY! My full license there took like 11 days after they got my documentation! It was ridiculously fast.
 
JustCallMeMD said:
I submitted my application online. I had to re-send 2 documents by mail since they claimed they never received the original documents from the organizations that forwarded them on my behalf. My NY license took less than a month to process though it took more documentation. I'm just very disappointed but what can you do except wait and wait and wait.
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Has anything updated on the check status of application via idfpr website? Or does it just say pending for everything?
 
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