Physician Assistant License Renewal
Requirements
All physician assistants are required to renew their PA licenses each year by their birthday. Failure to renew may cause the physician assistant’s license to be placed on inactive status. A detailed description of what it means to have an “inactive” license appears below.
Inactive Status for Licenses
The Medical Practice Act (NCGS 90, Article 1) allows a physician assistant’s North Carolina license to become “inactive” if they decide not to practice in North Carolina . PAs whose licenses are inactive are not required to renew annually with the Board or to pay the annual renewal fee. It must be clearly understood that when a license becomes inactive, the PA holding that license is no longer permitted to practice medical acts in North Carolina.
To request inactive status please send an email to registration@ncmedboard.org. Include your full name, license number and inactive date.
To reinstate an inactive license, you must apply to the Board, meet the current licensing requirements, and pay the full PA license fee, which is currently $230, including a $38.00 fee for criminal history record check.
Please remember, when your license is inactive, you may NOT practice in North Carolina .
Process
As a courtesy, the Board sends a renewal notice by email to registered Physician Assistants approximately two months before their birthday. The notice contains the Physician Assistants License Number, File ID and Renewal Date. Physician Assistants are required to use their personal username and password to login. After logging in to the renewal system, licensees will be prompted to answer a series of questions and required to provide certain information, if appropriate (information about malpractice payments, for example). The renewal process typically takes 10-15 minutes and licensees pay their renewal fee by Visa or MasterCard when they are done.
Note: Please be sure to check your spam/junk mail folders for emails from the Medical Board.
The Board will send a Certified Letter of Notice for “failure to register” to any physician assistant who is 30 days delinquent in renewing his or her license. (Notices are sent to the PA’s last known mailing address.) If there is no response from that PA within 30 days, the license will automatically become inactive. No other notice will be sent. A physician assistant may NOT practice medical acts in North Carolina while their license is inactive.
Fees
The annual license renewal fee for physician assistants is $140, effective April 1, 2019. Physician assistants who fail to renew within 30 days of their birthday, as required under state law, will pay a renewal fee of $165.
CME
A physician assistant must complete at least 50 hours of National Commission On Certification Of Physician Assistants (NCCPA) Category I continuing medical education (CME) every two years. CME documentation must be available for inspection by the board or its agent upon request. The two year period shall run from the physician assistant’s birthday, beginning in the year 1999, or the first birthday following initial licensure, whichever occurs later.
You are not required to report CME on your annual renewal if either of the following apply to you:
- You are currently certified by NCCPA
- You have just graduated or it has been less than two years since your date of graduation
You will be required to attest to meeting the above criteria on your annual renewal in order to comply with the requirement of PA Rule 21 NCAC 32S.0216.
