BILL REQ. #:  S-4511.1 

Read first time 01/25/2006.   Referred to Committee on Health & Long-Term Care.

     AN ACT Relating to application requirements for licensing physicians; and amending RCW 18.71.050.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 18.71.050 and 1994 sp.s. c 9 s 307 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) Each applicant who has graduated from a school of medicine located in any state, territory, or possession of the United States, the District of Columbia, or the Dominion of Canada, shall file an application for licensure with the commission on a form prepared by the secretary with the approval of the commission. Each applicant shall furnish proof satisfactory to the commission of the following:
     (a) That the applicant has attended and graduated from a school of medicine approved by the commission;
     (b) That the applicant has completed two years of postgraduate medical training in a program acceptable to the commission, provided that applicants graduating before July 28, 1985, may complete only one year of postgraduate medical training;
     (c) That the applicant is of good moral character; ((and))
     (d) That the applicant is physically and mentally capable of safely carrying on the practice of medicine. The commission may require any applicant to submit to such examination or examinations as it deems necessary to determine an applicant's physical and/or mental capability to safely practice medicine;
     (e) That the applicant has a professional record that indicates that the applicant has not committed any act or engaged in any conduct that would constitute grounds for disciplinary action against a licensee under this chapter;
     (f) That the applicant has not had a license to practice medicine revoked by a medical regulatory board in another jurisdiction for an act that occurred in that jurisdiction that constitutes unprofessional conduct pursuant to this chapter;
     (g) That the applicant is not currently under investigation, suspension, or restriction by a medical regulatory board in another jurisdiction for an act that occurred in that jurisdiction that constitutes unprofessional conduct pursuant to this chapter. If the applicant is under investigation by a medical regulatory board in another jurisdiction, the board shall suspend the application process and may not issue or deny a license to the applicant until the investigation is resolved; and
     (h) That the applicant has not surrendered, relinquished, or given up a license to practice medicine in lieu of disciplinary action by a medical regulatory board in another jurisdiction for an act that occurred in that jurisdiction that constitutes unprofessional conduct pursuant to this chapter.
     (2) Nothing in this section shall be construed as prohibiting the commission from requiring such additional information from applicants as it deems necessary. The issuance and denial of licenses are subject to chapter 18.130 RCW, the Uniform Disciplinary Act.