Three simple ways to simplify your Mississippi medical license renewal
New technology lets doctors & PAs in the magnolia state fly through renewal
Friday August 17, 2018
For physicians and physician assistants in Mississippi, renewing the state medical license has always been an annual pain in the…errr, an annual chore. If you’re looking for tips on streamlining this process, you’ve come to the right place. Since you’re going to be renewing your state license every year for decades, you might as well make this process as simple as possible. Here are our three tips to work into your Mississippi state license renewal.
1. Don’t miss renewal deadlines
The entire process gets a little more painful when you’re filing a renewal on a medical license that’s expired. Sometime on or before May 1st, you’ll receive notification that it’s time to renew. If you forget to renew, you’ll need to pay a fine in addition to the renewal fee.
Worse than fines, if you’ve let your license expire, you’re not eligible to renew your online. Anything pen-and-paper is going to be more painful than an online form. To get started with your online renewal, click here.
Needless to say, missing shifts because your license expired totally sucks. Don’t bother practicing medicine without an active medical license. Here’s one rule to live by — renew your state medical license on time, and your renewal will be simpler.
2. Be ready for a CME credit audit
As a doctor or PA in Mississippi, you’re required to earn 40 Category 1 credits every two years. In addition, the Mississippi state board has explicit rules about keeping CME records, under threat of license suspension. Fortunately, new technology like Orbit’s plugin makes it easy to earn that credit and automatically generate bulletproof audit reports.
The state-level CME requirement for doctors and PAs is the same. More specifically, the two year period starts July 1st and ends June 30th. The “Category 1 credit” designation includes courses that provide AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™. If you’re using Orbit’s groundbreaking plugin to earn credits based on your browsing history at work, you’re all set. Otherwise, you’ll need to scrounge around for conferences and other activities that give this specific type of credit. CME activities aren’t too hard to find, although you’ll end up spending lots of time or money over the years, unless you use something more streamlined like Orbit which starts at $9.99/month and lets you finish credits on shift.
Regardless of where you earn your CME, be sure to keep your CME certificates for 3 years from when you earn them. The Mississippi state board has explicit rules about keeping CME records for three years, under threat of license suspension. Here’s the direct quote from the state board rules:
Failure to provide such records upon request to the Mississippi
State Board of Medical Licensure, is hereby declared to be unprofessional conduct and may constitute grounds… for the suspension of the physician’s license to practice medicine — §73–25–14, Rule 2.5
If you’re already using Orbit’s plugin to earn your CME on shift, record-keeping is automatically completed in the background. If the board ever calls, in an instant, you’ll generate a beautiful audit report that spells out exactly which peer-reviewed articles you claimed for AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™. Plus, the audit report is hosted on Orbit’s site, so officials can rest assured that it’s not counterfeit. Because the entire process is certified by Tufts University School of Medicine, you’re doubly assured that your credits are bulletproof for audit.
If you’re not an Orbit user, you might be lucky enough that your practice has a credentialing administrator who spends a good portion of their FTE manually tracking everyone’s credits with Excel and Dropbox. In that case, your group might want to look into Orbit Enterprise, which generates automatic CME compliance reminders without clogging up your inbox. Your credentialing administrator will be grateful because they’ll be able to guarantee compliance in an instant without bothering the providers in your group.
If you don’t have Orbit, a credentialing administrator, or Excel… hmm… there’s always the trusty old filing cabinet. Manilla folders anybody?
3. Remember your controlled substance CME
If you hold a DEA license, then 5 of your 40 hours of CME every two years must be related to controlled substances. The only requirement for activities that satisfy this requirement is that the topic needs to relate to prescribing medications with an emphasis on controlled substances.
For every Mississippi licensee with an active DEA certificate, five hours must be related to the prescribing of medications with an emphasis on controlled substances — Part 2610 Chapter 2, Rule 2.1
Using Orbit to satisfy your CME requirements is the easiest way to earn your state-required controlled substance CME. To earn this credit with the Orbit, you’ll look up peer-reviewed articles that relate to opioid substances through PubMed or other any of a number of other peer-reviewed sources while logged into the Orbit plugin. Subsequently, you’ll claim those visits for CME by using the controlled substance tag when you redeem your CME on your Orbit feed.
If you’re not an Orbit user, make sure that whatever other activity you choose provides authentic AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™. Be sure the activity relates to prescription of medications with an emphasis on controlled substances. And take the time to fully document, tally, and store your certificates.
4. Bottom Line
Streamline your Mississippi state license renewal, and you’ll thank yourself year-over-year during your multi-decade career as a physician or PA. Submit your renewal application on time, take advantage of online renewal, and leverage new technology like Orbit’s plugin to simplify the process of earning credits, tracking progress, and submitting audit reports.
— Orbit Staff
