(a) Any physician assistant who notifies the Board in writing on forms prescribed by the Board may elect to place his or her license on inactive status. A physician assistant whose license is inactive shall be excused from payment of renewal fees and shall not practice as a physician assistant. Any licensee who engages in practice while his or her license is inactive shall be considered to be practicing without a license, which shall be grounds for discipline under § 1774B of this title. A physician assistant whose license has been inactive for 3 years or less may reactivate the license by paying the renewal fee pursuant to § 1774A of this title and meeting the requirements for ordinary license renewal as determined by the Board.
(b) If a physician assistant whose license has been on inactive status for in excess of 3 years and who has not practiced as a physician assistant in any jurisdiction of the United States for over 3 years requests to reactivate the license, the Board may grant a re-entry license and may, after consultation with the Council, impose additional practice and collaboration requirements for the re-entry license. A re-entry license granted under this subsection shall be valid for no longer than 6 months and may be renewed only once at the Board's discretion. In the month immediately preceding the month during which the re-entry license will expire, a physician assistant may apply to the Board for a full license as a physician assistant. The Board shall grant a full license to a physician assistant who meets all qualifications for licensure and whom the Board determines is qualified to practice. If the Board determines that a physician assistant is still not qualified to receive a full license at the conclusion of the re-entry license period, the Board may only once renew the re-entry license. If the Board elects to renew a re-entry license instead of issuing a full license, the Board shall provide to the physician assistant a written explanation for that decision when issuing the renewed re-entry license.
Additional practice requirements that the Board may choose to impose as a condition of a re-entry license may include:
(1) Requiring the collaborating physician to be physically on-site while the physician assistant is practicing;
(2) Requiring the collaborating physician to review and countersign a portion of patient charts for patients seen by the physician assistant;
(3) Requiring the physician assistant to possess current certification from the NCCPA;
(4) Requiring the physician assistant to take a review course or to complete a specified amount of Category 1 CME, as determined by the Council and agreed upon by the Board as appropriate; and
(5) Requiring documentation of a specific minimum number of clinical practice hours performed under the re-entry license.
(c) The above subsection (b) of this section shall also apply to a physician assistant who has not placed his or her license on inactive status in this State but who has previously practiced as a physician assistant in another jurisdiction of the United States and has not actively engaged in clinical practice for a period in excess of 3 years immediately prior to applying for a license under this subchapter.