Let license lapse or not?

[avatarftw]

Sorry if there are threads about this but I perused the few that I could find and there weren't too many posts about this.

I used to work in Michigan, a state that isn't very good for FM jobs.

My MI license just expired a few mo ago although I could theoretically renew it within the next 2 weeks paying a small fee. The annual costs of the MI license aren't high, about 200 a year.

I let it expire since I absolutely cannot see myself moving back there and didn't want to keep up with the particular CME requirements that come up.
I know that it's best to have more licenses but I have no family connections to MI and am 99.99% sure I will not live there again. MI licensing told me there is no inactive status to elect; you just let it lapse.

How short-sighted is this?

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[deleted87716]

If you have no intention of ever practicing in MI again, just let it lapse. If circumstances change, you can always re-apply.

 

[avatarftw]

If you have no intention of every practicing in MI again, just let it lapse. If circumstances change, you can always re-apply.

Thanks for your 2 cents. Yeah I just don't like having to keep updated with CME. I was rechecking MI and it has some particular requirements. A lot of them have specific CME requirements for certain topics like HIV, etc.

 

[Captain_Falcon]

Any reason why it's hard to find FM jobs in Michigan?

 

[hallowmann]

From my search it doesn't look like Michigan has any penalty for letting a license lapse. In some states, there is a problem with doing this, so you have to make sure you check and if you have to do something special to make your license "inactive", then its better to do that than let it expire. I think you're good though.

 

[avatarftw]

Any reason why it's hard to find FM jobs in Michigan?

Sorry I meant *good* jobs. The work conditions and pay in MI for FM jobs is not that great in my experience.

 

[Captain_Falcon]

Sorry I meant *good* jobs. The work conditions and pay in MI for FM jobs is not that great in my experience.

any examples? Just wondering because I'm hoping to be practicing in a midwest state in the future

 

[avatarftw]

You should expect 10% less in MI than many other states, even in very desirable cities. I think MI is so low-paid due to saturation; there's a lot of med schools in MI. I've heard of new FM docs in MI being paid 160,000 in like 2015. I believe these were employed positions and without the possibility of high productivity based compensation after the initial salaried period. I think they were straight salary forever. These are more extreme examples but much below what FM pays now, even when adjusting for inflation. Current freshly minted FM grads should be getting 220-250k on salary for 1-2 years with production after that period of time. At least this is what I've seen in the last year.

That said, MI has average cost of living and is a good place to raise a family on a budget with good school systems in most areas.

 

[avatarftw]

From my search it doesn't look like Michigan has any penalty for letting a license lapse. In some states, there is a problem with doing this, so you have to make sure you check and if you have to do something special to make your license "inactive", then its better to do that than let it expire. I think you're good though.

Thanks. I didn't even know about issues coming about from letting a license lapse.