45:9-6.1 Biennial registration for practitioners of medicine and surgery; reinstatement procedure.

1. All persons who are licensed to practice medicine and surgery shall be required on or before July 1 biennially to register on the form prescribed by the board and furnished by the executive director of the board, and to pay a biennial registration fee to be determined by the board.

The license of any licensee who fails to procure any biennial certificate of registration, shall be automatically suspended on July 1. It shall be the duty of the executive director of the board on June 1 of each year to send a written notice to each licensee whose license is expiring that year, whether a resident or not, at his last address on file with the board, that his biennial registration fee is due on or before July 1 and that his license to practice in this State will be suspended if he does not procure said certificate by July 1 of that year.

Any licensee whose license has been suspended under this section may be reinstated by the payment of all past due annual registration fees and in addition thereto a fee to be determined by the board to cover cost of reinstatement.

Any person who desires to retire from the practice of medicine and surgery, and during retirement to refrain from practicing under the terms of his license, upon application to the executive director of the board, may be registered biennially, without the payment of any registration fee, as a retired physician. The certificate of registration which shall be issued to a retired physician shall state, among other things, that the holder has been licensed to practice in New Jersey, but that during his retirement he shall not so practice. The holder of a certificate of registration as a retired licensee shall be entitled to resume practice at any time; provided, he first shall have obtained from the executive director a biennial certificate of registration as hereinbefore provided.

If an applicant for reinstatement of licensure has not engaged in practice in any jurisdiction for a period of more than five years, or the board's review of the reinstatement application establishes a basis for concluding that there may be clinical deficiencies in need of remediation, before reinstatement the board may require the applicant to submit to, and successfully pass, an examination or an assessment of skills. If that examination or assessment identifies clinical deficiencies or educational needs, the board may require the licensee, as a condition of reinstatement of licensure, to take and successfully complete any educational training, or to submit to any supervision, monitoring or limitations, as the board determines are necessary to assure that the licensee practices with reasonable skill and safety.

The license to practice medicine and surgery of any person who fails to procure any biennial certificate of registration, or in lieu thereof a biennial certificate of registration as a retired licensee, at the time and in the manner required by this act shall be automatically suspended. Any person whose license shall have been automatically suspended shall, during the period of such suspension, be regarded as an unlicensed person and, in case he shall continue or engage in practice under the terms of his license during such period, shall be liable to the penalties prescribed by R.S.45:9-22. Any person to whom a certificate of registration as a retired licensee shall have been issued who shall continue or engage in practice under the terms of his license without first having obtained a certificate of registration authorizing him to resume such practice, shall be liable to the penalties prescribed by R.S.45:9-22 for practicing without a license.

It shall be the duty of each such licensee holding a certificate to practice medicine and surgery in this State, whether a resident or not, to notify the executive director of the board in writing of any change in his office address or his employment within ten days after such change shall have taken place.

This section shall not be construed so as to render inoperative the provisions of R.S.45:9-17.

L.1971,c.236,s.1; amended 2001, c.307, s.5.