Illinois Will Steeply Hike Physician Licensing Fees

Illinois plans to more than double the annual licensing fees it charges physicians in an attempt to strengthen sanctions against bad physicians and speed up the disciplinary process.

Gov. Pat Quinn said he intended to sign the bill, which was passed by the state House of Representatives last week, into law.

The bill raises the fee for a three-year licensure for new physicians from $300 to $700 through 2017. The fee would then drop to $500 in the intervening years. Current physicians practicing in Illinois would pay $690 to renew their licenses for three years.

It's the first time Illinois has raised its physician licensing fee in more than a quarter of a century.

The fee hike was considered necessary in the wake of deep budget cuts that led to the layoffs of 18 employees in the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation in January – about two-thirds of its entire staff, as well as a depletion of its Medical Disciplinary Fund. The department oversees physician licensure and undertakes disciplinary actions against rogue doctors.

With the staff cuts, it was feared that new doctors could wait a year or more before receiving clearance to practice in Illinois, possibly contributing to an already sizable physician shortage statewide.

“The passage of this bill will help ensure that Illinois can continue to attract the best physicians in the world,” said IDFPR Secretary Manuel Flores. “I’m pleased that we were able to reach a bipartisan solution, which will allow the department to continue to protect citizens from physicians who violate the Medical Practice Act and process physicians’ licenses in an efficient and timely manner.”

In addition to the fee hike, the department will also see a cash infusion of $6.6 million from the state Local Government Tax Fund as part of the bill. It will be used to rehire the laid off employees by late summer. However, that money needs to be repaid to the LGTF by 2018.

The Illinois State Medical Society was in support of a fee hike, but had lobbied for a smaller increase. It also criticized the relative swiftness of the bill's passage.

“Because of the urgency to pass legislation to fund the department, better solutions were left on the table,” said ISMS President William Werner, M.D. “The state had an obligation to restore previously swept funds, and it failed. The Medical Disciplinary Fund must never again be swept.”