Section 43-34-26. License requirement for persons engaged in practice of medicine; qualifications; evaluation program; examinations

   (a) (1) (A) Any person who wishes to obtain the right to practice medicine in this state and who was not, prior to March 16, 1970, registered or licensed to practice medicine, either by the State Board of Medical Examiners or the State Board of Examiners in Osteopathy, shall, before it shall be lawful for him or her to practice medicine in this state, make application to the board through the executive director, upon such forms and in such manner as shall be adopted and prescribed by the board, and shall obtain from the board a license to practice medicine. Any person who practices medicine without first having obtained a license shall be deemed to have violated this article. All applicants for a license to practice medicine or for a renewal of any such license which has been revoked shall furnish the board with evidence of good moral character. Applications from candidates to practice medicine or surgery in any of its branches shall be accompanied by proof that the applicant is a graduate of some legally incorporated medical school or osteopathic medical school.

      (B) The board by rule or regulation may establish standards for evaluating, inspecting, and approving any medical school or osteopathic medical school. The evaluation procedure may include consideration of reports from any outside agency having expertise in medical school or osteopathic medical school evaluation; provided, however, that the board shall make the final decision on approval of medical schools and osteopathic medical schools. Nothing contained in this Code section shall prevent the approval of medical schools outside of the United States or the licensing of graduates of medical schools outside of the United States if such schools and their graduates comply with the standards established in this Code section and by rule of the board.

   (2) Each medical school or osteopathic medical school in good standing with the board shall have a minimum preliminary educational requirement of the completion of a two-year premedical college course.

   (3) Graduates of board approved medical schools or osteopathic medical schools and persons who graduated on or before July 1, 1985, from medical schools or osteopathic medical schools which are not approved by the board must complete one year of a postgraduate residency training program. Persons who graduated after July 1, 1985, from medical schools or osteopathic medical schools which are not approved by the board must complete three years of residency, fellowship, or other postgraduate medical training that is approved by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), the American Osteopathic Association (AOA), or the board to be eligible for a license to practice medicine in this state. Current certification of any applicant by a member board of the American Board of Medical Specialties may be considered by the board as evidence that such applicant's postgraduate medical training has satisfied the requirements of this paragraph. However, before any such person shall be eligible to receive a license to practice medicine in this state, he or she shall furnish the board with satisfactory evidence of attainments and qualifications under this Code section and the rules and regulations of the board. Nothing contained in this Code section shall be construed so as to require a person who has previously passed an examination given by the board for a license to practice medicine in this state to stand another examination.

   (4) If the applicant submits proof that he or she has had postgraduate training as required in paragraph (3) of this subsection and if he or she furnishes satisfactory evidence of qualifications under this article and the rules and regulations of the board, he or she shall be eligible to receive a license from the board giving him or her absolute authority to practice medicine in this state.

   (5) If the date of graduation from an institution mentioned in subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1) of this subsection is on or before January 1, 1967, no proof of postgraduate training in an approved hospital need be submitted to obtain a license from the board.

(b) (1) Students who have completed the academic curriculum in residence in a foreign medical school and who:

      (A) Have studied medicine at a medical school located outside of the United States, Puerto Rico, and Canada which is approved by the board; and

      (B) Have completed all of the formal requirements of the foreign medical school except any postgraduate training equivalent

may substitute for the postgraduate training equivalent required by a foreign country an academic year of supervised clinical training (clinical clerkship) prior to entrance into the first year of American Medical Association approved graduate education. The supervised clinical training must be under the direction of a medical school approved by the liaison committee on medical education.

   (2) Before beginning the supervised clinical training, the students must have their academic records reviewed and approved by the medical schools supervising their clinical training and shall pass the Educational Council for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) qualifying examination.

   (3) Students who are judged by the sponsoring medical schools to have successfully completed the supervised clinical training shall be eligible to enter the first year of American Medical Association approved graduate training program without completing internship obligations required by the foreign country and without obtaining Educational Council for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) certification.

(c) For any applicant who has not passed a board approved licensing examination or a board approved specialty board examination or recertification examination within seven years of the date of application, the board shall determine, by an evaluation program established by rule, such person's fitness to resume active status and may require the person to complete a period of evaluated clinical experience and successful completion of an examination. The board may also require a licensee or applicant who is subject to discipline pursuant to Code Section 43-34-9 to take and pass a clinical competency assessment or similar examination approved by the board as a condition of licensure. Nothing contained in this Code section shall be construed so as to require a person who has previously passed an examination approved by the board for a license to practice medicine in this state to stand another examination as a condition of renewal of a current unrestricted license.

(d) The board may approve any examination or examinations that it deems must be passed in order to meet the requirements for licensure. Such examinations shall be in English. The board shall establish the passing score which all applicants for licensure shall meet or exceed. If an applicant fails for the third or any subsequent time any examination which is required to be passed in order to become a licensed practitioner in this state, the applicant shall not be eligible to retake any such examination until such applicant furnishes proof of having completed one year of approved Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) postgraduate training.

Ga. L. 1909, p. 123, § 7; Civil Code 1910, § 1738; Ga. L. 1913, p. 101, §§ 6, 8, 9; Ga. L. 1918, p. 173, §§ 4, 5; Code 1933, §§ 84-907, 84-1207; Ga. L. 1935, p. 412, § 1; Ga. L. 1941, p. 352, § 1; Ga. L. 1966, p. 232, § 1; Ga. L. 1967, p. 826, § 1; Ga. L. 1970, p. 301, § 5; Ga. L. 1972, p. 847, § 1; Ga. L. 1976, p. 403, § 1; Ga. L. 1977, p. 334, § 2; Ga. L. 1978, p. 1381, § 1; Code 1981, § 43-34-27; Ga. L. 1983, p. 881, § 1; Ga. L. 1984, p. 1067, § 1; Ga. L. 1992, p. 2062, § 4; Ga. L. 1993, p. 91, § 43; Ga. L. 1999, p. 296, §§ 22, 25; Ga. L. 2005, p. 526, § 1/HB 608; Code 1981, § 43-34-26, as redesignated by Ga. L. 2009, p. 859, § 1/HB 509; Ga. L. 2010, p. 878, § 43/HB 1387.