(a) Renewal of license. Every person licensed to practice medicine or osteopathy in the State of Alabama shall, on or before December 31 of each succeeding year, apply to the commission for renewal of a certificate of registration which shall be effective during the next calendar year. All new licenses issued by the commission, upon application, shall be registered by the commission at the time of issuance, and a certificate of registration, which shall be effective until and including the following December 31, shall be issued to the licensee. Each renewal application shall be made on a form to be furnished by the commission. The application shall give the name of the applicant in full, his or her address, the date and number of the license issued to the applicant for the practice of medicine or osteopathy, and such other facts as shall tend to identify the applicant for registration as the commission shall deem necessary. Each applicant for registration shall submit with the application payment in an amount to be set by the commission, not to exceed five hundred dollars ($500), as a registration fee.
(b) Late fee. Each applicant for registration submitting a renewal application during the period of time, January 1 through January 31, in addition to the registration fee set forth herein, shall pay to the commission a late fee in an amount to be set by the Medical Licensure Commission not to exceed two hundred dollars ($200).
(c) Grace period. When a licensee fails to renew his or her license on or before December 31, the license shall remain in full force and effect during the period January 1 through January 31.
(d) When any licensee shall fail to register and pay the annual registration fee and late fee on or before January 31, as provided in this section, the license of such person shall automatically become inactive without further notice or hearing and such person shall not be authorized to practice medicine; provided, that any person whose license becomes automatically inactive as provided herein may make application in writing to the commission for the reinstatement of such license, which shall be accompanied by payment of all fees which would have been assessed for past renewal periods and the sum of two hundred fifty dollars ($250) not to exceed a total of eight hundred fifty dollars ($850) for each reinstatement.
In addition to other requirements established by law and for the purpose of determining an applicant's suitability for reinstatement of a license to practice medicine, each applicant shall submit to a criminal history background check. Each applicant shall submit a complete set of fingerprints to the Medical Licensure Commission. The commission shall submit the fingerprints provided by each applicant for reinstatement of a license to practice medicine to the Alabama Bureau of Investigation (ABI). The fingerprints shall be forwarded to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for a national criminal history record check. Costs associated with conducting a criminal history background check shall be borne by the applicant. The Medical Licensure Commission shall keep information received pursuant to this section confidential, except that any such information received and relied upon in denying the reinstatement of a license to practice medicine in this state may be disclosed as necessary to support the denial.
Reinstatement of the license shall be accomplished in accordance with subsections (e) to (j), inclusive, of this section.
(e) Within five days after receipt of the written application for reinstatement, the fees as provided above, fingerprints, and related information, the commission shall notify the Board of Medical Examiners that the applicant has applied for reinstatement and shall furnish the board with a copy of the application for reinstatement. Within 60 days from the receipt of the application for reinstatement by the commission, the board may file with the commission a notice which shall be termed a "NOTICE OF INTENT TO CONTEST REINSTATEMENT." The contents of the notice shall be sufficient to inform the commission that the board has probable cause to believe that grounds exist for the denial of the application for reinstatement and informing the commission that a hearing is requested before the commission prior to the reinstatement of the license of the applicant. A copy of the NOTICE OF INTENT TO CONTEST REINSTATEMENT shall be sent by the commission to the applicant by certified mail return receipt.
(f) After 60 days from the date that the commission receives the application for reinstatement if the board has not filed a NOTICE OF INTENT TO CONTEST REINSTATEMENT, or at any time that the board notifies the commission in writing that it has determined not to file a NOTICE OF INTENT TO CONTEST REINSTATEMENT or that it has determined to withdraw a NOTICE OF INTENT TO CONTEST REINSTATEMENT previously filed, then the commission shall reinstate the license of the applicant.
(g) Within 30 days after the filing of a NOTICE OF INTENT TO CONTEST REINSTATEMENT, the board shall file with the commission a written complaint which shall be served upon the applicant and set down for hearing by the commission in the manner prescribed in subsection (e) of Section 34-24-361.
(h) The commission may deny reinstatement of a license upon a finding that the applicant has committed any of the acts or offenses set forth in Sections 34-24-360, 34-24-57, 16-47-128, or any other provision of law establishing grounds for the revocation, suspension, or discipline of a license to practice medicine. In addition, the commission may reinstate the license and impose any penalty, restriction, or condition of probation provided for in subsection (h) of Section 34-24-361 and Section 34-24-381 as the commission deems necessary to protect the public health and the patients of the applicant. If, at the conclusion of the hearing, the commission determines that no violation has occurred, the license of the applicant shall be reinstated.
(i) All hearings and appeals under this section shall be governed by Sections 34-24-310 to 34-24-384, inclusive, and the Alabama Administrative Procedure Act, Section 41-22-1, et seq.
(j) When a license to practice medicine becomes inactive under subsection (d) of this section for nonpayment of the annual registration fee, the commission shall not be deprived of jurisdiction to hear and adjudicate written complaints filed by the Board of Medical Examiners under subsection (e) of Section 34-24-361 and subsection (g) of this section. In all cases where an application for reinstatement is denied, the fees which accompany the application for reinstatement shall not be refunded and no applicant shall have the right to recover any part of such fees, the board being empowered to retain all of the fees in order to reimburse the state of expenses incident to the investigation of the applicant and the conduct of hearings as provided in this section.
Last modified: May 3, 2021