In 2014, Missouri passed legislation creating a new pathway for mid-level primary care providers, the assistant physician. Assistant physicians are mid-level healthcare providers who would work under the supervision a licensed physicians–similar to the way nurse practitioners and physician assistants work.
Applications for assistant physicians licensure went live on January 31, 2017.
It appears that this pathway is aimed primarily at US-IMGs who do not Match.
i think the word “physician” in the title needs to go.
of the various medical titles: RN/nurse, nurse practioner, medic, paramedic, EMT, doctor/physician…it would seem like we could come up with a title that wasn’t so underestimating like Physician Assistant or Assistant Physician.
Since the license is only valid in Missouri, they can only work in Missouri.
Doctors, lawyers, teachers, paramedics, dentists all need a valid professional license for a specific state in order to work/practice in that specific state. There are no national licenses for physicians, lawyers, teachers, paramedics or dentists.
(And as an aside, the abbreviation MS=Mississippi. Missouri=MO.)
Each state has its own state medical licensing board. A physician will apply to the licensing board of the state he wishes to practice in, pay a heft fee, provide a CV and any & all the documentation the specific state requires, then wait for the state medical licensing board to meet (board may only sit one a month or once every other month) to either approve the license, request additional information or reject the licensing request. The process is slow–often taking 2-3 months to get licensed.
Med students only take the USMLE/COMLEX series once. Physicians never have to take it again. Instead physicians must take & pass a certain number of CME (Continuing Medical Education) course credits every year to maintain their medical licenses. Additionally, physicians are required to take national written board exams periodically to maintain their specialty board certification.