The Sources Behind Every Page on state-medical-board.org/
Every state walkthrough is verified against a defined hierarchy of authoritative sources — the official state medical board first, then FSMB, then the federal credentialing and certification framework, then state Medical Practice Acts. This page sets out who we trust, how we verify, and what we won’t link to.
What’s on this page
1. Why a Source Hierarchy?
U.S. medical licensing is fragmented across more than 70 state and territorial medical boards. Each board publishes its own contact, complaint procedures, license-verification portal, disciplinary records, renewal cycle, and CME requirements. A small number of national bodies — FSMB, NPDB, ABMS, ACGME — coordinate or layer on top. Federal agencies (HRSA, OIG, DEA, CMS, FDA) operate cross-cutting systems. State Medical Practice Acts set the legal framework. Without a deliberate hierarchy, it is easy to cite a press summary or aggregator that has copied a stale URL or misstated a CME requirement. Our hierarchy puts the originating agency first; secondary sources are used only for context, never as the sole source for a procedure or contact.
State Medical Boards (and Osteopathic Boards Where Separate)
The first and primary source for everything on a state page: phone numbers, mailing addresses, hours, license-verification URLs, complaint forms, disciplinary search portals, renewal procedures, CME requirements, IMLC participation, telehealth registration. Most states have a single board governing both MDs and DOs; ~13 states (CA, FL, MI, NV, NM, OK, PA, TN, UT, VT, WA, WV, and one or two others depending on year) operate separate osteopathic boards. New York is structurally unique — physician licensing is run by the State Education Department, Office of the Professions, not by a standalone “medical board.”
| State | Board name | URL |
|---|---|---|
| California (MD) | Medical Board of California | mbc.ca.gov |
| California (DO) | Osteopathic Medical Board of California | ombc.ca.gov |
| Texas | Texas Medical Board | tmb.state.tx.us |
| Florida (MD) | Florida Board of Medicine | flboardofmedicine.gov |
| Florida (DO) | Florida Board of Osteopathic Medicine | floridasosteopathicmedicine.gov |
| New York | NY State Education Dept — Office of the Professions, Medicine | op.nysed.gov/professions/medicine |
| Pennsylvania | PA State Board of Medicine | pa.gov — State Board of Medicine |
| Illinois | IDFPR Division of Professional Regulation | idfpr.illinois.gov |
| Ohio | State Medical Board of Ohio | med.ohio.gov |
| Georgia | Georgia Composite Medical Board | medicalboard.georgia.gov |
| North Carolina | North Carolina Medical Board | ncmedboard.org |
| Massachusetts | Board of Registration in Medicine | mass.gov/orgs/board-of-registration-in-medicine |
| Virginia | Virginia Board of Medicine | dhp.virginia.gov/medicine |
| Washington | Washington Medical Commission | wmc.wa.gov |
| Michigan | LARA Boards of Medicine and Osteopathic Medicine & Surgery | michigan.gov/lara |
The remaining 35+ state and territorial boards are documented on their respective state pages with the same level of verification.
FSMB, DocInfo, and the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact
The Federation of State Medical Boards is the umbrella body for the 70+ U.S. state and territorial medical boards. FSMB does not issue licenses but coordinates standards, runs the consumer-facing DocInfo license search, jointly administers USMLE with NBME, and publishes data on disciplinary actions and physician workforce. The Interstate Medical Licensure Compact provides an expedited multi-state licensure pathway across 40+ participating states.
| Body | Role | URL |
|---|---|---|
| Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) | National umbrella; member-board directory; standards; physician data services | fsmb.org |
| DocInfo (operated by FSMB) | Free public license-verification search across participating boards | docinfo.org |
| Interstate Medical Licensure Compact Commission (IMLC) | Expedited multi-state physician licensure across 40+ participating states | imlcc.org |
USMLE, NBOME, ECFMG, ACGME, ABMS, AOA Bureau
The framework around medical training and specialty certification. USMLE is the licensing examination for MDs (jointly sponsored by FSMB and NBME); NBOME administers COMLEX-USA for DOs. ECFMG certifies international medical graduates. ACGME accredits U.S. residency and fellowship programs. ABMS is the umbrella for 24 MD specialty certification boards. The AOA Bureau of Osteopathic Specialists certifies DO specialists.
| Body | Role | URL |
|---|---|---|
| USMLE | United States Medical Licensing Examination — co-sponsored by FSMB and NBME | usmle.org |
| NBOME (COMLEX-USA) | National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners — DO licensing exam | nbome.org |
| ECFMG | Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates — IMG certification | ecfmg.org |
| ACGME | Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education — residency programs | acgme.org |
| American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) | Umbrella for 24 MD specialty certification boards (ABIM, ABFM, ABS, ABOG, etc.) | abms.org |
| American Medical Association (AMA) | National professional association for MDs; AMA Physician Profile Service | ama-assn.org |
| American Osteopathic Association (AOA) | National professional association for DOs; Bureau of Osteopathic Specialists | osteopathic.org |
HRSA NPDB, HHS-OIG LEIE, DEA, CMS, FDA MedWatch
The federal credentialing and oversight layer. NPDB is the federally mandated channel for hospital credentialing under the Health Care Quality Improvement Act of 1986. OIG-LEIE lists individuals and entities excluded from federal healthcare programs. DEA registers practitioners to prescribe controlled substances. CMS NPI Registry assigns and publishes National Provider Identifiers. FDA MedWatch is the post-market adverse-event reporting system for drugs and devices.
| Body | Role | URL |
|---|---|---|
| National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) | HRSA-operated; federally mandated for hospital credentialing under HCQIA 1986 | npdb.hrsa.gov |
| HHS Office of Inspector General — LEIE | List of Excluded Individuals/Entities (Medicare/Medicaid) | exclusions.oig.hhs.gov |
| HHS-OIG main | Healthcare-fraud enforcement; OIG hotline 1-800-HHS-TIPS | oig.hhs.gov |
| DEA Diversion Control | Controlled-substance registration and verification | deadiversion.usdoj.gov |
| CMS NPI Registry | National Provider Identifier lookup | npiregistry.cms.hhs.gov |
| CMS main | Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services | cms.gov |
| FDA MedWatch | Adverse-event and product-quality reporting for drugs and devices | fda.gov/safety/medwatch |
State Medical Practice Acts and Public-Records Frameworks
The legal authority for board action lives in each state’s Medical Practice Act and implementing administrative code. Examples cited across the site:
| State | Statute |
|---|---|
| California | Business & Professions Code Division 2 Chapter 5 (Medical Practice Act); Title 16 California Code of Regulations |
| Texas | Texas Occupations Code Title 3 Subtitle B (Physicians); Title 22 Texas Administrative Code |
| Florida (MD) | Florida Statutes Chapter 458 (Medical Practice); Florida Administrative Code 64B8 |
| Florida (DO) | Florida Statutes Chapter 459 (Osteopathic Medicine); Florida Administrative Code 64B15 |
| New York | NY Education Law Title VIII Article 131; 8 NYCRR Part 60 |
| Illinois | 225 ILCS 60 (Medical Practice Act of 1987); 68 Illinois Administrative Code Part 1285 |
| Pennsylvania | 63 P.S. § 422.1 et seq. (Medical Practice Act of 1985); 49 Pa. Code Chapter 16 |
| Ohio | Ohio Revised Code Chapter 4731; Ohio Administrative Code Chapter 4731 |
| State public-records laws | Each state has a public-records / sunshine framework; California Public Records Act, Texas Public Information Act, Florida Sunshine Law (FOIA equivalent), etc. |
Reputable Healthcare Press & Health-Policy Research
Used for context only — never as the sole source for a current portal URL, phone number, fee, or procedure. Reputable healthcare press, peer-reviewed health-policy journals, state medical society publications, and peer-reviewed clinical journals are useful for understanding why a board acted, what a regulatory trend looks like, or how a national debate intersects with state-level rulemaking.
- Modern Healthcare
- MedPage Today
- Health Affairs
- New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM)
- JAMA / JAMA Internal Medicine / JAMA Network journals
- BMJ (for international comparators)
- STAT News
- State medical society publications (CMA, TMA, FMA, etc.)
- Reuters Health, AP Health, Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF)
Sources We Avoid
- Pay-to-remove disciplinary record services — predatory operations that demand payment to take down or suppress accurate records of board action; we do not link to them and do not accept advertising from them
- Unlicensed credentialing operations marketing themselves as substitutes for NPDB query — NPDB is the federally mandated channel and there is no commercial substitute
- FCRA-prohibited “background check” products marketed as physician verification for employment, tenant, or credit purposes — for those uses, a licensed FCRA-compliant CRA is required
- Aggregator sites that have copy-pasted stale board contacts without verification
- Anonymous or unattributed forum threads asserting board procedure
- “Doctor rating” sites that conflate consumer reviews with regulatory record
- Politically partisan opinion sites presenting opinion as regulatory fact
- Marketing-funded “rankings” of state boards published by paid-placement aggregators
- AI chatbot output that has not been independently verified against a primary source
Verification Workflow
- Identify the right authoritative source. Start with the state board’s official page on the state .gov domain (or .org for legally-incorporated independent boards), cross-checked against the FSMB member-board directory.
- Click-test the URL. Confirm the link still resolves to the live page.
- Dial-test the phone number. Call the main line and any complaint line listed; confirm the voicemail menu reaches the right unit.
- USPS verify the mailing address. Cross-check ZIP+4 against USPS lookup.
- Cross-check FSMB. Confirm the board name and basic contact match the FSMB member-board listing.
- Cite the statute. Reference the actual Medical Practice Act citation rather than paraphrasing from a secondary source.
- Editor sign-off. A second editor reviews end-to-end, with explicit verification of the FCRA non-CRA notice, the NPDB credentialing carve-out, the “not medical advice” framing, and the MD/DO board distinction for separate-board states.
Federal Laws Referenced Across the Site
| Law | Citation | Relevance |
|---|---|---|
| Health Care Quality Improvement Act | 42 U.S.C. § 11101 et seq. (1986) | Established NPDB; mandatory reporting of malpractice payments and adverse actions |
| Fair Credit Reporting Act | 15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq. | FCRA — restrictions on consumer-report use for permissible purposes |
| HIPAA Privacy Rule | 45 C.F.R. Part 164 Subpart E | Patient health information protection; we are not a covered entity |
| HIPAA Security Rule | 45 C.F.R. Part 164 Subpart C | Security of electronic PHI |
| Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) | 15 U.S.C. §§6501–6506; 16 C.F.R. Part 312 | Children under 13 |
| FTC Endorsement Guides | 16 C.F.R. Part 255 | Disclosure of material connections in advertising |
| Digital Millennium Copyright Act | 17 U.S.C. § 512 | Copyright takedown and counter-notice procedure |
| Computer Fraud and Abuse Act | 18 U.S.C. § 1030 | Unauthorised access to NPDB or board systems |
| Privacy Act of 1974 | 5 U.S.C. § 552a | Federal-agency record handling; relevant to NPDB and federal-agency records |
| Federal Stalking Statute | 18 U.S.C. § 2261A | Federal interstate stalking; enforcement against doxing/harassment |
Key State Concepts
- Medical Practice Act — the umbrella state statute creating the board, defining unprofessional conduct, setting licensure requirements, authorising discipline
- Administrative procedure — state administrative procedure act governs board hearings, evidence, due process, and judicial review
- Public records / sunshine framework — state-by-state framework determining what board records are publicly accessible
- Physician Health Programs (PHPs) — confidential evaluation and treatment for physician impairment; structurally separate from disciplinary process in most states
- Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) — state-run database of controlled-substance prescriptions; mandatory consultation rules vary
- Continuing Medical Education (CME) — biennial or annual hour requirement; mandatory topics vary (opioid prescribing, implicit bias, suicide assessment, child-abuse reporting, human trafficking)
- Telemedicine / telehealth registration — state-by-state framework for cross-state practice
- Scope of practice — which mid-level provider types (NP, PA, CRNA) the board licenses, and what scope-of-practice rules apply
Update Cycles by Content Type
| Content type | Review interval |
|---|---|
| State board URLs, phones, addresses | Quarterly |
| License-verification and complaint portals | Quarterly |
| Disciplinary search portals | Quarterly |
| CME requirements and mandatory topics | Annually + on legislative session |
| IMLC participation status | Quarterly |
| Telehealth registration framework | Quarterly |
| State Medical Practice Act citations | Annually + on legislative session |
| Federal references (NPDB, OIG, DEA, CMS) | Annually + on regulatory change |
| External links sitewide | Quarterly |
Corrections Process
Reader corrections are our priority queue. Email info@state-medical-board.org with subject “Correction” and the page URL. We acknowledge within seven business days, verify against the official source, and update — usually within a few business days. Broken phone numbers and license-verification URLs get an expedited 48-hour turnaround.
Email subject “Sealed-record notice.” We will hold the page and refer you to the originating board, which is the only body that can update the underlying database.
Want to Suggest a Source?
If you know of an authoritative source we should be using, or a state board page that has been migrated to a new URL, please send it our way.
📧 Suggest a source 📋 Read the editorial policy