Florida Senate - 2020 SB 218 By Senator Harrell 25-00458-20 2020218__ 1 A bill to be entitled 2 An act relating to licensure requirements for 3 osteopathic physicians; amending s. 459.0055, F.S.; 4 revising licensure requirements for persons seeking 5 licensure or certification as an osteopathic 6 physician; providing an effective date. 7 8 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 9 10 Section 1. Subsection (1) of section 459.0055, Florida 11 Statutes, is amended to read: 12 459.0055 General licensure requirements.— 13 (1) Except as otherwise provided herein, any person 14 desiring to be licensed or certified as an osteopathic physician 15 pursuant to this chapter shall: 16 (a) Complete an application form and submit the appropriate 17 fee to the department; 18 (b) Be at least 21 years of age; 19 (c) Be of good moral character; 20 (d) Have completed at least 3 years of preprofessional 21 postsecondary education; 22 (e) Have not previously committed any act that would 23 constitute a violation of this chapter, unless the board 24 determines that such act does not adversely affect the 25 applicant’s present ability and fitness to practice osteopathic 26 medicine; 27 (f) Not be under investigation in any jurisdiction for an 28 act that would constitute a violation of this chapter. If, upon 29 completion of such investigation, it is determined that the 30 applicant has committed an act that would constitute a violation 31 of this chapter, the applicant is ineligible for licensure 32 unless the board determines that such act does not adversely 33 affect the applicant’s present ability and fitness to practice 34 osteopathic medicine; 35 (g) Have not had an application for a license to practice 36 osteopathic medicine denied or a license to practice osteopathic 37 medicine revoked, suspended, or otherwise acted against by the 38 licensing authority of any jurisdiction unless the board 39 determines that the grounds on which such action was taken do 40 not adversely affect the applicant’s present ability and fitness 41 to practice osteopathic medicine. A licensing authority’s 42 acceptance of a physician’s relinquishment of license, 43 stipulation, consent order, or other settlement, offered in 44 response to or in anticipation of the filing of administrative 45 charges against the osteopathic physician, shall be considered 46 action against the osteopathic physician’s license; 47 (h) Not have received less than a satisfactory evaluation 48 from an internship, residency, or fellowship training program, 49 unless the board determines that such act does not adversely 50 affect the applicant’s present ability and fitness to practice 51 osteopathic medicine. Such evaluation shall be provided by the 52 director of medical education from the medical training 53 facility; 54 (i) Have met the criteria set forth in s. 459.0075, s. 55 459.0077, or s. 459.021, whichever is applicable; 56 (j) Submit to the department a set of fingerprints on a 57 form and under procedures specified by the department, along 58 with a payment in an amount equal to the costs incurred by the 59 Department of Health for the criminal background check of the 60 applicant; 61 (k) Demonstrate that he or she is a graduate of a medical 62 college recognized and approved by the American Osteopathic 63 Association; 64 (l) Demonstrate that she or he has successfully completed 65 ana residentinternship or residency of not less than 12 months 66 in a program accreditedhospital approvedfor this purpose by 67 the Board of Trustees of the American Osteopathic Association or 68 the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Educationany69other internship program approved by the boardupon a showing of 70 good cause by the applicant. This requirement may be waived for 71 an applicant who matriculated in a college of osteopathic 72 medicine during or before 1948; and 73 (m) Demonstrate that she or he has obtained a passing 74 score, as established by rule of the board, on all parts of the 75 examination conducted by the National Board of Osteopathic 76 Medical Examiners or other examination approved by the board no 77 more than 5 years before making application in this state or, if 78 holding a valid active license in another state, that the 79 initial licensure in the other state occurred no more than 5 80 years after the applicant obtained a passing score on the 81 examination conducted by the National Board of Osteopathic 82 Medical Examiners or other substantially similar examination 83 approved by the board. 84 Section 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.