Current through Reg. 50, No. 187; September 24, 2024
(1) A Physician Assistant must renew his
licensure on a biennial basis. Upon request by the Board or Department, the
licensee must submit satisfactory documentation of compliance with the
requirements set forth below.
(2)
Requirements for Renewal.
(a) Completion of
the Physician Assistant licensure renewal application on the appropriate form
provided by the Department.
(b)
Completion of 100 hours of Continuing Medical Education in the previous two (2)
years or documentation that the licensee is certified at the time of renewal by
the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants. A minimum of
50 hours must be Category I Continuing Medical Education approved by the
American Academy of Physician Assistants, the Accreditation Council for
Continuing Medical Education, the American Medical Association, the American
Osteopathic Association Council on Continuing Medical Education, or the
American Academy of Family Physicians. The remaining 50 hours may be Category
II Continuing Medical Education. If not NCCPA certified, the Physician
Assistant must be able to produce evidence of the 100 hours of reported CME for
the relevant biennium.
(c) As part
of every third biennial renewal licensure period, all licensees shall complete
two (2) hours of training in domestic violence which includes information on
the number of patients in that professional's practice who are likely to be
victims of domestic violence and the number who are likely to be perpetrators
of domestic violence, screening procedures for determining whether a patient
has any history of being either a victim or a perpetrator of domestic violence,
and instruction on how to provide such patients with information on, or how to
refer such patients to, resources in the local community, such as domestic
violence centers and other advocacy groups, that provide legal aid, shelter,
victim counseling, batterer counseling, or child protection services, and which
is approved by any state or federal government agency, or nationally affiliated
professional association, or any provider of Category I or II American Medical
Association Continuing Medical Education. Home study courses approved by the
above agencies will be acceptable.
(d) Upon a licensee's first renewal of
licensure, the licensee must document the completion of one hour of Category I
American Medical Association Continuing Medical Education which includes the
topics of Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome;
the modes of transmission, including transmission from healthcare worker to
patient and patient to healthcare worker; infection control procedures,
including universal precautions; epidemiology of the disease; related
infections including TB; clinical management, prevention; and current Florida
law on AIDS and its impact on testing, confidentiality of test results, and
treatment of patients. Any hours of said CME may also be counted toward the CME
license renewal requirements. In order for a course to count as meeting this
requirement, licensees practicing in Florida must clearly demonstrate that the
course includes Florida law in HIV/AIDS and its impact on testing,
confidentiality of test results, and treatment of patients. Only Category I
hours shall be accepted.
(e)
Completion of two hours of continuing medical education relating to prevention
of medical errors which includes a study of root cause analysis, error
reduction and prevention, and patient safety, and which is approved by any
state or federal government agency, or nationally affiliated professional
association, or any provider of Category I or II American Medical Association
Continuing Medical Education. One hour of a two hour course which is provided
by a facility licensed pursuant to Chapter 395, F.S., for its employees may be
used to partially meet this requirement.
(3)
(a) For
purposes of this rule, risk management means the identification, investigation,
analysis, and evaluation of risks and the selection of the most advantageous
method of correcting, reducing or eliminating identifiable risks.
(b) Five hours of continuing medical
education in the subject area of risk management or medical ethics as
designated by the licensee at the time of attendance may be obtained by
attending one full day or eight (8) hours, whichever is more, of disciplinary
hearings at a regular meeting of the Board of Medicine or the Board of
Osteopathic Medicine in compliance with the following:
1. The licensee must sign in with the
Executive Director of the Board before the meeting day begins.
2. The licensee must remain in continuous
attendance.
3. The licensee must
sign out with the Executive Director of the Board at the end of the meeting day
or at such other earlier time as affirmatively authorized by the Board. A
licensee may receive CME credit in risk management for attending the
disciplinary portion of a Board meeting only if he or she is attending on that
date solely for that purpose; he or she may not receive such credit if
appearing at the Board meeting for another
purpose.
(4) Up
to 5 hours, per biennium, of continuing education credit may be fulfilled by
performing pro bono medical services, for an entity serving the indigent,
underserved populations or in areas of critical need within the state where the
licensee practices. The standard for determining indigency shall be low-income
(no greater than 150% of the federal poverty level) or uninsured persons.
Credit shall be given on an hour per hour basis.
(a) The Board approves for credit under this
rule, the following entities:
1. The
Department of Health,
2. Community
and Migrant Health Centers funded under section 330 of the United States Public
Health Service Act; and,
3.
Volunteer Health Care provider programs contracted to provide uncompensated
care under the provisions of Section
766.1115, F.S., with the
Department of Health.
(b)
For services provided to an entity not specified under this rule, a licensee
must apply for prior approval in order to receive credit. In the application
for approval, licensees shall disclose the type, nature and extent of services
to be rendered, the facility where the services will be rendered, the number of
patients expected to be served, and a statement indicating that the patients to
be served are indigent. If the licensee intends to provide services in
underserved or critical need areas, the application shall provide a brief
explanation as to those facts.
(c)
Unless otherwise provided through Board order, no licensee who is subject to a
disciplinary action that requires additional continuing education as a penalty,
shall be permitted to use pro-bono medical services as a method of meeting the
additional continuing education requirements.
(5) Upon request by the Board or Department,
the licensee must submit satisfactory documentation of compliance with the
requirements set forth above.
(6)
Additional Education for Physician Assistants with Delegated Prescriptive
Privileges. In addition to the requirements of subsection (2), above, all
physician assistants with prescritive privileges shall complete a minimum of 10
hours of continuing education in the specialty area(s) of the supervising
physician(s), during the previous 2 years. Three of the 10 hours must consist
of a continuing education course on the safe and effective prescribing of
controlled substance medications which is offered by a statewide professional
association of physicians in this state accredited to provide educational
activities for the American Medical Association Physician's Recognition Award
Category 1 credit or designated by the American Academy of Physician Assistants
as a Category 1 credit, or designated by the American Osteopathic Association
as a Category 1-A credit, or designated by the American Osteopathic Association
as a Category 1-A credit. These hours may be utilized to meet the general
continuing education requirement.
(7) Reactivation of Inactive License. To
reactivate a license that has been inactive for two (2) consecutive biennial
cycles, the licensee must:
(a) Submit to the
Department the original inactive license;
(b) Provide the Department with licensure
verification from each state in which the licensee is licensed to practice as a
physician assistant, or a statement that the licensee is licensed only in
Florida;
(c) Provide to the
Department a statement of medical activities from the date the licensee became
inactive to the present; or, if the licensee has not practiced as a physician
assistant for at least 2 of the 4 years preceding application for reactivation,
the licensee must:
1. Submit proof of
recertification by NCCPA; and,
2.
Practice under the direct supervision of a supervising physician approved by
the Council for one (1) year.
(d) Submit to the Department a statement of
any criminal or disciplinary actions pending in any jurisdiction;
(e) Submit proof of completion of the
continuing medical education requirements in compliance with paragraphs
64B15-6.0035(2)(c), (d), (e) and
(f), F.A.C., for each biennium in which the
license was inactive;
(f) Pay the
appropriate fees.
(8) The
renewal and reactivation fees are found in Rule
64B8-30.019 or
64B15-6.013, F.A.C.
(9) The failure of any license holder to
renew the license on or before the license expires shall cause the license to
become delinquent.
(a) The delinquent status
licensee must apply for active or inactive license status during the licensure
cycle in which the license becomes delinquent. The failure by the delinquent
licensee to become active or inactive before the expiration of the licensure
cycle in which the license became delinquent shall render the license null and
void without further action by the Board or the Department.
(b) The delinquent status licensee who
applies for active or inactive licensure shall:
1. File with the Department the completed
application for either active or inactive license status,
2. Pay to the Board the applicable license
renewal fee, the delinquency fee, and if applicable, the processing fee; and,
3. If active status is elected,
demonstrate compliance with the continuing education requirements found in Rule
64B15-6.0035,
F.A.C.
(10)
Licensees who are spouses of members of the Armed Forces of the United States
shall be exempt from all licensure renewal provisions for any period of time
which the licensee is absent from the State of Florida due to the spouse's
duties with the Armed Forces. The licensee must document the absence and the
spouse's military status to the Board in order to obtain the exemption. Upon
the licensee's return to Florida, the licensee must inform the Department of
his or her return within 30 days.
(11) Reactivation of a retired status
license. To reactivate the license of a retired status licensee whose license
has been on retired status for more than five (5) years or a licensee from
another state who has not been in the active practice of osteopathic medicine
within the past five (5) years shall be required to appear before the Council
and establish the ability to practice with the care and skill sufficient to
protect the health, safety, and welfare of the public. At the time of such
appearance, the physician assistant must:
(a)
Surrender to the Department the original retired status license;
(b) Provide the Department with licensure
verification from each state in which the licensee is licensed to practice as a
physician assistant, or a statement that the licensee is licensed only in
Florida;
(c) Provide to the
Department a statement of medical activities from the date the licensee entered
retired status to the present;
(d)
Submit proof of recertification by NCCPA;
(e) Practice under the direct supervision of
a supervising physician approved by the Council for one (1) year;
(f) Submit proof of completion of the
continuing medical education requirements in compliance with paragraphs
64B15-6.0035(2)(c)
-(f), F.A.C., for each biennium in which the license was inactive;
and,
(g) Pay the appropriate fees
set forth in Section 456.036(4)(b),
F.S., and subsections
64B15-6.013(6) and
(10), F.A.C.
(12) The Department shall refuse to
reactivate the license of a retired status physician assistant who is under
investigation or prosecution in any jurisdiction for an action that would
constitute a violation of this chapter or the professional practice acts
administered by the department and the boards, until 15 days after the
Department receives the final results of the investigation or
prosecution.
Rulemaking Authority
456.013, 456.033(1), 459.005,
459.022 FS. Law Implemented 456.013,
456.031,
459.022(6)(b),
(c)
FS.
New 10-28-87, Amended 4-21-88, 1-3-93, Formerly 21R-6.0035,
Amended 11-4-93, 3-29-94, Formerly 61F9-6.0035, 59W-6.0035, Amended 6-7-98,
10-16-01, 3-10-02, 7-13-04, 7-27-04, 2-25-07, 11-11-07, 6-2-08, 11-3-09,
1-27-13, 11-13-16, 10-21-20, 3-10-22.
