Residency program & State Licensure

[RadicalTour]

Hi,

I'm curious as to how physicians are licensed according to state. I've noticed that many physicians stay within the state in which they completed their residency. Why is this? Is it more difficult for someone, for example, to complete their residency program in Cleveland, Ohio, then practice in San Francisco, CA?

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[phospho]

Hi,

I'm curious as to how physicians are licensed according to state. I've noticed that many physicians stay within the state in which they completed their residency. Why is this? Is it more difficult for someone, for example, to complete their residency program in Cleveland, Ohio, then practice in San Francisco, CA?

I was also curious and asked a friend one time who ended up practicing in the same area. It seems that when you do your residency in an area, by the time you finish it, you will have recieved job offers from the locals. Also, you will have friends from different specialties to whom you can refer patients to (if need be), and you're overall more confortable with practicing in that area since it's what you know best. Plus, you're already licensed there. Also, medicine has a "culture", and can vary somewhat, e.g. most doctors notice different "medical cultures" between the right coast and left coast.

Also keep in mind that by the time most people start residency, they are done going from one state to another (i.e. moving to another state for undergrad, then moving to a different state for medical school, etc...) You basically want to settle down, so you choose to do your residency in the state you want to live in. That also might explain why there's no such thing as a "top residency" or "lower tier residency", since top for me might be bottom for you (even though they are still often arbitrarily categorized by malignancy levels).

I could be totally off. I'm just a MS. But I've asked around a lot about this because I'm interested in doing residency on the left coast and coming back here to the midwest to practice after I'm done.

 

[smq123]

Hi,

I'm curious as to how physicians are licensed according to state. I've noticed that many physicians stay within the state in which they completed their residency. Why is this? Is it more difficult for someone, for example, to complete their residency program in Cleveland, Ohio, then practice in San Francisco, CA?

Most people, by the end of residency, are tired of moving around. They may already have a family, and children who are already enrolled in school, and don't want to uproot everyone.

If you do residency in Ohio, then you absolutely can practice elsewhere - San Francisco just happens to be a competitive job market, but there's no reason why you should automatically assume that you wouldn't be able to find a job there. In any case, you may not even have an unrestricted state license during your residency, so your question is a bit moot.

Licensing IS done by individual state boards, but, again, you can apply for a license in a different state, if needed. It's a little onerous, but there are agencies that will store your information in a central database, and send it for you if you want to apply for a license in another state.

 

[mig26x]

my recommendation is if you are going to move to another state after residency then do things with time.

I trained in MA but wanted to move to FL because of family. Started FL license process in January of 3rd year which took 2.5 months, DEA took 2 weeks after that. Had a job with contract signed by April and the credentialing process was longer than expected.

It takes time and patience!!!

In other words, there's alot to be done if moving and everything takes time.

 

[phospho]

my recommendation is if you are going to move to another state after residency then do things with time.

I trained in MA but wanted to move to FL because of family. Started FL license process in January of 3rd year which took 2.5 months, DEA took 2 weeks after that. Had a job with contract signed by April and the credentialing process was longer than expected.

It takes time and patience!!!

In other words, there's alot to be done if moving and everything takes time.

what exactly is credentialing? I tried googling it, but it still doesn't make sense. Is it when you apply for a job, your new employer verifies that you did medical school and residency? Do you have to go through credentialing every time you change jobs?

When I was googling for Ohio medical license requirements, they mentioned something about a "wallet card". Is that a card that just says you've been credentialed?

http://www.med.ohio.gov/md_licensure_info.htm

 

[DrMom]

You have to go through credentially with every job and with most if not all insurance contracts. Same deal if you decided you want to be on staff at another hospital or facility.

Credentialling verifies your training, licensure, certification, malpractice, etc. Some parts of this are re-done annually even if you aren't changing jobs or facilities.

 

[JackADeli]

what exactly is credentialing?..

When I was googling for Ohio medical license requirements, they mentioned something about a "wallet card". Is that a card that just says you've been credentialed?...

License is different then credential. License is issued by state. License is prerequisite to obtain privileges at any medical facility. Credentialing is institutional. Once you have license, diplomas, case logs, malpractice history, etc.... A hospital board will review your material (i.e. your credentials) and determine if you meet their requirements to practice and provide services within their institution. The credentials are generally reviewed to more or lesser degrees each year. The institution will make sure you have continued to provide certain services at sufficient volume to remain competent. I'll give you an example. A hospital I once worked at required the medicine folks to show they performed at least 10 central lines a year to keep their privileges.

In short, license, diplomas, training, practice history are assessed for credentialling (i.e. they review/confirm your credentials) which then translates into granting privileges.....

 

[phospho]

very interesting, thank you both!