Current through Reg. 49, No. 38; September 20, 2024
(a)
General. Except as otherwise provided, an individual applying for licensure
must:
(1) submit completed application on
forms approved by the board;
(2)
pay the appropriate application fee;
(3) certify that the applicant is mentally
and physically able to function as a medical physicist; and
(4) be of good moral character.
(b) Eligibility. To be eligible
for a license, a person must:
(1) have an
earned master's or doctoral degree:
(A) from
a program of study in medical physics that is accredited by the Commission on
Accreditation of Medical Physics Education Programs (CAMPEP);
(B) from a regionally accredited college or
university in physics, medical physics, biophysics, radiological physics,
medical health physics or equivalent courses; or
(C) from a regionally accredited college or
university:
(i) in physical science
(including chemistry), applied mathematics or engineering; and
(ii) have twenty semester hours (30 quarter
hours) of upper division semester hour credit or graduate level physics
courses, if offered:
(I) by the faculty of a
Department of Physics and would be acceptable in meeting undergraduate or
graduate degree requirements in physics of the offering department;
or
(II) by the faculty of a program
accredited in medical physics by the CAMPEP; or
(III) by the faculty of another science
department and acceptable to the board.
(2) have demonstrated, to the
board's satisfaction, the completion of at least two years of full-time work
experience in the medical physics specialty for which the application is
made.
(3) have work experience in
more than one specialty to include six additional months of full-time
equivalent work experience in each additional medical physics specialty for
which the application is made.
(c) Work experience. Full-time work
experience shall be at least 32 hours per week in the specialty area. Part-time
work experience may be aggregated in order to meet the minimum of 32 work hours
per week. All work experience must have been completed in the five years
preceding the date of application for licensure as a medical physicist, or
training license in the medical physics specialty for which application is
made.
(d) International academic
credit. Degrees and course work received at international universities shall be
acceptable only if such course work could be counted as transfer credit by
regionally accredited universities. An applicant having an international
degree(s) must furnish at the applicant's own expense an International
Credential Evaluation from the Foreign Credential Service of America (FCSA), a
credential evaluation from an American Board of Radiology (ABR) approved
Credentials Evaluation organization, or another similar entity as approved by
the board. The degree evaluation must be sent directly to the board by the
evaluation service. An applicant must submit with the application complete
certified copies of academic transcripts showing proof of the degree(s) awarded
(or equivalent degree) and the date awarded. Documents written in languages
other than English shall be accompanied by a certified English
translation.
(e) Approved specialty
examination. An applicant under this section must successfully pass one of the
following examinations in each specialty for which application is submitted:
(1) for the therapeutic radiological physics
specialty, the examination offered by:
(A)
the American Board of Radiology or its successor organization in therapeutic
radiological physics, radiological physics or therapeutic medical
physics;
(B) the American Board of
Medical Physics or its successor organization in radiation oncology physics;
or
(C) the Canadian College of
Physicists in Medicine or its successor organization in radiation oncology
physics;
(2) for the
medical nuclear physics specialty, the examination offered by:
(A) the American Board of Radiology or its
successor organization in medical nuclear physics radiological physics or
nuclear medical physics;
(B) the
American Board of Medical Physics or its successor organization in nuclear
medicine physics;
(C) the American
Board of Science in Nuclear Medicine or its successor organization in physics
and instrumentation or in molecular imaging science; or
(D) the Canadian College of Physicists in
Medicine or its successor organization in nuclear medicine physics;
(3) for the diagnostic
radiological physics specialty, the examination offered by:
(A) the American Board of Radiology or its
successor organization in diagnostic radiological physics, radiological physics
or diagnostic medical physics;
(B)
the American Board of Medical Physics or its successor organization in
diagnostic imaging physics or diagnostic radiology physics; or
(C) the Canadian College of Physicists in
Medicine or its successor organization in diagnostic radiology health
physics;
(4) for the
medical health physics specialty, the examination offered by:
(A) the American Board of Radiology or its
successor organization in radiological physics;
(B) the American Board of Health Physics or
its successor organization in health physic or comprehensive health
physics;
(C) the American Board of
Medical Physics or its successor organization in medical health physics;
or
(D) the American Board of
Science in Nuclear Medicine or its successor organization in radiation
protection.
(f) Jurisprudence Examination. Applicants for
licensure must pass a jurisprudence examination ("JP exam"), which shall be
conducted on the licensing requirements and other laws, rules, or regulations
applicable to the medical physicist profession in this state. The jurisprudence
examination shall be developed and administered as follows:
(1) Questions for the JP Exam may be prepared
by board staff with input from the Advisory Committee and board, or contracted
out to a third party vendor. Board staff shall make arrangements for a facility
by which applicants can take the examination;
(2) Applicants must pass the JP exam with a
score of 75 or better within three attempts, unless the Board allows an
additional attempt based upon a showing of good cause. An applicant who is
unable to pass the JP exam within three attempts must appear before the
licensure committee of the board to address the applicant's inability to pass
the examination and to re-evaluate the applicant's eligibility for licensure.
It is at the discretion of the licensure committee to allow an applicant
additional attempts to take the JP exam;
(3) An examinee shall not be permitted to
bring books, compends, notes, journals, calculators or other help into the
examination room, nor be allowed to communicate by word or sign with another
examinee while the examination is in progress without permission of the
presiding examiner, nor be allowed to leave the examination room except when so
permitted by the presiding examiner.
(4) Irregularities during an examination such
as giving or obtaining unauthorized information or aid as evidenced by
observation or subsequent statistical analysis of answer sheets, shall be
sufficient cause to terminate an applicant's participation in an examination,
invalidate the applicant's examination results, or take other appropriate
action;
(5) A person who has passed
the JP Exam shall not be required to retake the Exam for another or similar
license, except as a specific requirement of the board;
(g) Alternative License Procedures for
Military Service Members, Military Veterans, and Military Spouses.
(1) An applicant who is a military service
member, military veteran, or military spouse may be eligible for alternative
demonstrations of competency for certain licensure requirements. Unless
specifically allowed in this subsection, an applicant must meet the
requirements for licensure as specified in this chapter.
(2) To be eligible, an applicant must be a
military service member, military veteran, or military spouse and meet one of
the following requirements:
(A) holds an
active unrestricted medical physicist license issued by another state that has
licensing requirements that are substantially equivalent to the requirements
for a Texas medical physicist license; or
(B) within the five years preceding the
application date held a medical physicist license in this state.
(3) The executive director may
waive any prerequisite to obtaining a license for an applicant described by
this subsection, after reviewing the applicant's credentials.
(4) Applications for licensure from
applicants qualifying under this section shall be expedited by the board's
licensure division. Such applicants shall be notified, in writing or by
electronic means, as soon as practicable, of the requirements and process for
renewal of the license.
(5)
Alternative Demonstrations of Competency Allowed. Applicants qualifying under
this section, notwithstanding:
(A) the one
year expiration in §
160.8(a)(2)
of this title (relating to Application Procedures), are allowed an additional
six months to complete the application prior to it becoming inactive;
and
(B) the 20 day deadline in
§
160.8(a)(6)
of this title, may be considered for permanent licensure up to five days prior
to the board meeting.
(h) Applicants with Military Experience.
(1) For applications filed on or after March
1, 2014, the Board shall credit, with respect to an applicant who is a military
service member or military veteran as defined in §
160.2 of
this title (relating to Definitions), verified military service, training, or
education toward the licensing requirements, other than an examination
requirement, for a license issued by the Board.
(2) This section does not apply to an
applicant who:
(A) has had a medical
physicist license suspended or revoked by another state or a Canadian
province;
(B) holds a medical
physicist license issued by another state or a Canadian province that is
subject to a restriction, disciplinary order, or probationary order;
or
(C) has an unacceptable criminal
history.
