Physician License Renewal
Requirements
All physicians are required to renew their medical licenses each year by their birthday. Failure to renew may cause the physician’s license to be placed on inactive status.
Please read the information below carefully. Gather any documents or other information before starting the renewal.
- Actions taken against you by a hospital or other health care institution.
- Misdemeanor charges or convictions.
- Felony charges or convictions.
- Actions taken against you by a regulatory board or agency.
- Malpractice lawsuits resolved by judgement, award, payment or settlement where the lawsuit was in your name, or any settlement or payment made that affects or involve you, even if no lawsuit was filed.
- CME category 1 hours earned since you last renewed. You will be shown your current three-year cycle. NOTE: As of August 1, 2012, physicians are not required to report any Category 2 CME.
- Current email address. Your renewal certificate and receipt will be emailed to you upon completion of the renewal.
Your contact data may be used by the State Health Director in case of a public health crisis.
Process
As of May 1, 2009, all physicians must renew their licenses online. NO paper renewals will be accepted.
As a courtesy, the Board sends a renewal notice, either by first class mail or by email, to registered physicians approximately two months before their birthday. Physicians may request to have this notice sent via email. The notice contains the Physician File ID#, which is required to renew online. If you lose your Physician File ID# you may recover it by clicking the button at right. After logging in to the renewal system, licensees will be prompted to answer a series of questions and required to provide certain information, if appropriate (information about malpractice payments, for example). The renewal process typically takes 10-15 minutes and licensees pay their renewal fee by Visa or MasterCard when they are done.
The Board will send a Certified Letter of Notice for “failure to register” to any physician who is 30 days delinquent in registering his or her license. (Notices are sent to the physician’s last known mailing address.) If there is no response from that physician within 30 days, the license will automatically become inactive. No other notice will be sent. A physician may NOT practice medicine in North Carolina while his or her license is inactive.
Please be sure to check your spam/junk mail folders for emails from the Medical Board.
Fees
The current annual license renewal fee for medical doctors (MDs) and doctors of osteopathic medicine (DOs) is $250. Physicians who fail to renew within 30 days of their birthday, as required under state law, must pay a $50 late fee in addition to the renewal fee.
The NCMB issues a number of other physician license types. The renewal fees for these licenses are listed below.
Faculty Limited License Renewal fee: $250 Late fee: $50
Limited Volunteer License No fee; must complete annual renewal
Retired Limited Volunteer License No fee; must complete annual renewal
Special Purpose Renewal fee: $250 Late fee: $50
CME
North Carolina physicians must complete 60 hours of continuing medical education (CME) every three years. *Physicians report completed CME to the Board. As of August 1, 2012, physicians are not required to report any Category 2 CME.
*There are exceptions to reporting CME - see CME Rule below for details.
The North Carolina Administrative Code Title 21 - Subchapter 32R contains information regarding continuing medical education requirements for physicians. The rules can be found on the Web site of the North Carolina Office of Administrative Hearings, or by clicking on the link below.
