6524. Requirements for a professional license. To qualify for a license as a physician, an applicant shall fulfill the following requirements:
(1) Application: file an application with the department;
(2) Education: have received an education, including a degree of doctor of medicine, "M.D.", or doctor of osteopathy, "D.O.", or equivalent degree in accordance with the commissioner's regulations;
(3) Experience: have experience satisfactory to the board and in accordance with the commissioner's regulations;
(4) Examination: pass an examination satisfactory to the board and in accordance with the commissioner's regulations;
(5) Age: be at least twenty-one years of age; however, the commissioner may waive the age requirement for applicants who have attained the age of eighteen and will be in a residency program until the age of twenty-one;
(6) Citizenship or immigration status: be a United States citizen or an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the United States; provided, however that the board of regents may grant a three year waiver for an alien physician to practice in an area which has been designated by the department as medically underserved, except that the board of regents may grant an additional extension not to exceed six years to an alien physician to enable him or her to secure citizenship or permanent resident status, provided such status is being actively pursued; and provided further that the board of regents may grant an additional three year waiver, and at its expiration, an extension for a period not to exceed six additional years, for the holder of an H-1b visa, an O-1 visa, or an equivalent or successor visa thereto;
(7) Character: be of good moral character as determined by the department; and
(8) Fees: pay a fee of two hundred sixty dollars to the department for admission to a department conducted examination and for an initial license, a fee of one hundred seventy-five dollars for each reexamination, a fee of one hundred thirty-five dollars for an initial license for persons not requiring admission to a department conducted examination, a fee of five hundred seventy dollars for any biennial registration period commencing August first, nineteen hundred ninety-six and thereafter. The comptroller is hereby authorized and directed to deposit the fee for each biennial registration period into the special revenue funds-other entitled "professional medical conduct account" for the purpose of offsetting any expenditures made pursuant to section two hundred thirty of the public health law in relation to the operation of the office of professional medical conduct within the department of health, provided that for each biennial registration fee paid by the licensee using a credit card, the amount of the administrative fee incurred by the department in processing such credit card transaction shall be deposited by the comptroller in the office of the professions account established by section ninety-seven-nnn of the state finance law. The amount of the funds expended as a result of such increase shall not be greater than such fees collected over the registration period.
(9) For every license or registration issued after the effective date of this subdivision, an additional fee of thirty dollars shall be paid and deposited in the special revenue fund entitled "the professional medical conduct account" for the purpose of offsetting any expenditures made pursuant to subdivision fifteen of section two hundred thirty of the public health law. The amount of such funds expended for such purpose shall not be greater than such additional fees collected over the licensure period or for the duration of such program if less than the licensure period.
(10) A physician shall not be required to pay any fee under this section if he or she certifies to the department that for the period of registration or licensure, he or she shall only practice medicine without compensation or the expectation or promise of compensation. The following shall not be considered compensation for the purposes of this subdivision: (a) nominal payment solely to enable the physician to be considered an employee of a health care provider, or (b) providing liability coverage to the physician relating to the services provided.
(11) No physician may be re-registered unless he or she, as part of the re-registration application, includes an attestation made under penalty of perjury, in a form prescribed by the commissioner, that he or she has, within the six months prior to submission of the re-registration application, updated his or her physician profile in accordance with subdivision four of section twenty-nine hundred ninety-five-a of the public health law.
Last modified: February 3, 2019