NCMB approves path for retirees to help with COVID-19
The North Carolina Medical Board voted today to allow recently retired or inactive licensees to return to practice, in response to Gov. Roy Cooper’s declaration of a state of emergency related to North Carolina’s response to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
NCMB’s actions support Gov. Cooper’s March 10 Executive Order by helping to increase the supply of qualified medical professionals available to assist with a COVID-19 outbreak in North Carolina.
Temporary and emergency rules approved by the Board would allow a physician or PA who inactivated his or her NC medical license within the past 24 months to quickly obtain a temporary license. Under the emergency rules, the physician or PA would be entitled to practice for whichever period is shorter: 90 days or 30 days from the point at which the state of emergency in North Carolina is declared over. Read the full text of the new rules.
Access the online application form.
Issuance of temporary authority to practice is subject to the following conditions:
• The applicant must demonstrate that he or she has practiced clinical medicine for at least 80 hours during the most recent 24 months;
• The applicant must have been licensed continuously for at least 10 years prior to making his or her medical license inactive;
• The applicant must have no history of public discipline and must not have inactivated his or her license while under investigation; and
• The applicant must confine his or her practice to areas in which he or she is clinically competent.
For the latest information on COVID-19, visit NC DHHS’s coronavirus disease 2019 page or visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or World Health Organization.
