Pennsylvania unrestricted medical license

[ojazz8]

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[Dave1980]

thats a thing?! it cant be common or easy! come back to give us followup!

 

[Iamnew2]

Dear All,

I am a European doctor who has been offered a fellowship in Pennsylvania starting next year (non-ACGME).

For this I need an unrestricted medical license. I have completed my training and boards in my home country. I have USMLE Steps 1-3.

I spoke to the PA board and they said I can apply for an unrestricted license 'by endorsement' where they will assess whether my experience in my home country is equivalent to allow licensing. They said I must submit as much evidence as possible including my job offer letter.

Has anyone gone down this route? Any tips on the application? How long does licensing 'by endorsement' take generally in pennsylvania?

Many thanks

I have never heard of that. Can't imagine how you can be endorsed for a license when you haven't trained in the US. typically the endorsements I am familiar with have to do with one state to another where a person already has a license. Not sure how that would be done otherwise. Who endorses you?

 

[NotAProgDirector]

Apparently, it's a thing. You can read all about it right here: 49 Pa. Code Chapter 17. State Board Of Medicine— Medical Doctors. Scroll down to 17.2

The code is incredibly vague. If you don't meet their regular requirements, the board can decide to just give you a license anyway. There's no mention of how they decide this or what criteria they use, other than your training needs to be equivalent. "Endorsement" appears to just be the board approving you.

I can't find any more information than this. Agree, please post your experience if you decide to try this.

 

[Franzd'Epinay]

I have never heard of that. Can't imagine how you can be endorsed for a license when you haven't trained in the US. typically the endorsements I am familiar with have to do with one state to another where a person already has a license. Not sure how that would be done otherwise. Who endorses you?

I'm not sure if this is the same case as what OP is describing, but several states have mechanisms by which to give full licenses to people not trained in the US. In the cases in familiar with, they're meant to attract accomplished foreign physicians to the US but they do limit the physician to practicing at a particular sponsoring hospital.

 

[Dave1980]

I am selling endorsements.

bronze level, 150k, simple endorsement
silver level, 250k, endorsement without reservation
gold level, 400k, excellent clinician, strong endorsement without reservation, feel free to call me to discuss this excellent candidate

 

[Iamnew2]

I'm not sure if this is the same case as what OP is describing, but several states have mechanisms by which to give full licenses to people not trained in the US. In the cases in familiar with, they're meant to attract accomplished foreign physicians to the US but they do limit the physician to practicing at a particular sponsoring hospital.

Oh that I have heard re: the whole you are stuck with one hospital type of thing. I guess works great if the hospital is reasonable but you have essentially no bargaining room or any room for any complaints if something goes wrong. Recipe for disaster in medicine.

 

[instantkarma]

Institutional License for training/fellowship purposes? I tutored some attending IMG's for old USMLE CS exam that they passed and were able to enter US fellowships with no prior US pgy training.

 

[arkansglm]

Dear All,

I am a European doctor who has been offered a fellowship in Pennsylvania starting next year (non-ACGME).

For this I need an unrestricted medical license. I have completed my training and boards in my home country. I have USMLE Steps 1-3.

I spoke to the PA board and they said I can apply for an unrestricted license 'by endorsement' where they will assess whether my experience in my home country is equivalent to allow licensing. They said I must submit as much evidence as possible including my job offer letter.

Has anyone gone down this route? Any tips on the application? How long does licensing 'by endorsement' take generally in pennsylvania?

Many thanks

How did it go?

 

[CarrSandMD]

Apparently, it's a thing. You can read all about it right here: 49 Pa. Code Chapter 17. State Board Of Medicine— Medical Doctors. Scroll down to 17.2

The code is incredibly vague. If you don't meet their regular requirements, the board can decide to just give you a license anyway. There's no mention of how they decide this or what criteria they use, other than your training needs to be equivalent. "Endorsement" appears to just be the board approving you.

I can't find any more information than this. Agree, please post your experience if you decide to try this.

@amnew2 - Any tips on the application? How long does licensing 'by endorsement' take generally in pennsylvania?​

Foreign graduates can apply for the state of PA and still get a full medical license. I believe that in your case, the state of PA would assess that you would qualify, even if your training and boards were completed in Europe.

Btw, the state of PA participates with FCVS. When you apply for PA, they require verification of your USMLE transcript scores, post-graduate training, and more. FCVS is a great tool because they verify all your credentials and send it right to the PA medical board.

Also, you can see on the PA medical board website, State Board of Medicine Navigator
the options foreign graduates have available as far as being licensed, the qualifications, and more.

 

[NotAProgDirector]

Although I have no primary knowledge of this, I highly doubt that the board will just give out licenses. Usually, "by endorsement" means that someone in the state writes to the board in support of a license outside the usual mechanisms. An example would be if an internationally known physician were to come to a medical school / academic center to be a leader and would need a license to do so, the school/hospital would petition the board for an exception. I expect this is very rare.

 

[Iamnew2]

@amnew2 - Any tips on the application? How long does licensing 'by endorsement' take generally in pennsylvania?​

Foreign graduates can apply for the state of PA and still get a full medical license. I believe that in your case, the state of PA would assess that you would qualify, even if your training and boards were completed in Europe.

Btw, the state of PA participates with FCVS. When you apply for PA, they require verification of your USMLE transcript scores, post-graduate training, and more. FCVS is a great tool because they verify all your credentials and send it right to the PA medical board.

Also, you can see on the PA medical board website, State Board of Medicine Navigator
the options foreign graduates have available as far as being licensed, the qualifications, and more.

Sorry perhaps my post was confusing, I don't have any personal knowledge of this PA thing, I just have heard some I think foreign grads can sometimes work with/under a certain hospital with some sort of arrangement licensing wise that only works if the person works for that institution, but honestly don't know if that's for fellowship or for work too. I think generally endorsement means that you have a license in one/several states and want another one in another state and that's done by endorsement,otherwise I would imagine that it would be like what aPD said.

 

[IlDestriero]

Stanford had/has foreign trained physicians working there as faculty doing research and clinical work. I never understood how that worked, but there is obviously a mechanism.

 

[Helpful Troll]

Stanford had/has foreign trained physicians working there as faculty doing research and clinical work. I never understood how that worked, but there is obviously a mechanism.

Medical Board of California

The Medical Board of California licenses and disciplines doctors, handles complaints against physicians and offers public-record information.

www.mbc.ca.gov

 

[gutonc]

Stanford had/has foreign trained physicians working there as faculty doing research and clinical work. I never understood how that worked, but there is obviously a mechanism.

Lots (I'd say most/all but I'm too lazy to look it up) of state medical licensing boards have a provision for "exceptional scholars" or some such nonsense to allow foreign trained physicians to practice in an academic/training setting as part of an academic appointment (which usually involves significant clinical/translational/basic research as part of the position.

I do know that Oregon recently (pre-pando, but definitely in the last 10 years) amended their law to limit the time you can have such a license to 5 years, after which you need to pass the Steps and apply for a full unrestricted license like everyone else.