Notice on Inactive and Retired Medical Licenses

On July 1, 2024, the Board of Medicine will move to a new licensing system. As part of that transition, the Board will no longer offer inactive licenses as a distinct license type. Instead, licenses that are not timely renewed will enter an inactive status. For physicians, the main consequence of this change is that they will no longer be required to renew their inactive license or to pay a fee for that inactive license. As is now the case, physicians will not be able to practice medicine under a license with an inactive status. A license with inactive status will still provide title protection, allowing holders of inactive-status medical licenses to identify themselves as medical doctors (MD), doctors of osteopathic medicine (DO), or physicians. And physicians may, within five years, reinstate a license that has been placed in an inactive status. After five years, the physician will be required to submit an application to the Board of Medicine.

Physicians who have ceased the active practice of medicine may also elect to place their licenses into a retired status. To make this election, the physician must contact board staff and affirmatively request that the license be placed into a retired status. This election may not be made by a physician who is the subject of a disciplinary investigation in an effort to avoid potential discipline. As with an inactive-status license, a physician with a retired-status license is still a physician and may continue to publicly identify as a physician, MD, or DO. Generally, a physician may not actively practice medicine under a retired-status license. However, physicians who have elected to place their license into a retired status are still eligible to apply for a volunteer license pursuant to Idaho Code § 54-1841, should they wish to continue to provide medical services to the populations identified in that statute.