Report Title:

Physician Licensure

Description:

Allows individuals receiving their medical training through accredited bodies in Canada to qualify for licensure in the State of Hawaii.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

1731

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2004

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

RELATING TO PHYSICIAN LICENSURE.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that under current law, physicians who have fulfilled their medical residency requirements through Canadian accrediting bodies are unable to obtain medical licensure in the State of Hawaii. However, Canadian residency program requirements are as stringent as American-accredited programs, and most states in the United States recognize Canadian-accredited residency programs as fulfilling their state's medical licensing requirements.

The purpose of this Act is to allow residency training completed under Canadian accrediting programs to be recognized as fulfilling the residency requirements for medical licensure in the State of Hawaii.

SECTION 2. Section 453-4, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsections (a) through (c) to read as follows:

"(a) Except as otherwise provided by law, no person shall be licensed to practice medicine or surgery unless the applicant has passed an examination and has been found to possess the necessary qualifications. No applicant shall be eligible for the examination sooner than the first year of residency; provided that if the applicant is a graduate of a foreign medical school[,] other than a school located in Canada, the applicant shall be eligible no sooner than the second year of residency.

(b) Before any applicant shall be eligible for licensure, the applicant shall furnish proof satisfactory to the board that:

(1) The applicant is of demonstrated competence and professional knowledge;

(2) (A) The applicant is a graduate of a medical school or college located in the United States or Canada whose program leading to the M.D. degree is accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, and has served a residency of at least one year in a program which has been accredited for the training of resident physicians by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education[,] or the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, or if outside the United States[,] and Canada, in a program which is shown by the applicant to the satisfaction of the board to possess standards substantially the equivalent of those required for accreditation by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education[;] or the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada; or

(B) The applicant is a graduate of a foreign medical school other than a school located in Canada and has had at least two years of residency in a program accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education[,] or the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and:

(i) Holds the national certificate of the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates, or its successor; or

(ii) Holds the certificate of the Fifth Pathway Program of the American Medical Association;

provided that for a period of two years after June 26, 1990, the requirements of subsection (b)(2)(B)(i) and (ii) shall not apply to any applicant who has had four years of residency in a program accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education[.] or the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.

(c) Applicants who have passed the National Board of Medical Examiners examination (NBME), the Federation Licensing Examination (FLEX), [or] the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE), or the Licentiate of the Medical Council of Canada (LMCC), or a combination of these examinations as approved by the board, with scores deemed satisfactory by the board, and who meet the requirements of subsection (b) shall be licensed without the necessity of any further examination; provided that with respect to any applicant, the board may require letters of evaluation, professional evaluation forms, and interviews with chiefs of service or attending physicians who have been associated with an applicant, or chief residents on a service who have been associated with an applicant during the applicant's training or practice, to be used by the board in assessing the applicant's qualifications to practice medicine."

SECTION 3. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:

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