| OREGON MEDICAL BOARD FEES |
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| About Our Revenue |
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The Oregon Medical Board (“OMB” or “Board”) is entirely self-supporting; it receives no General Fund revenue. The Board receives approximately 98% of its revenue from fees for licensure and registration of medical doctors (MD), doctors of osteopathy (DO), podiatrists (DPM), physician assistants (PA), and acupuncturists (LAc). Approximately 2% of the Board's revenue is derived from sales of lists, directories or labels; fees for license verification; and disciplinary fines.
New fees were added by the Oregon Legislature in 2009. The fees collected by the Board but remitted to other state agencies are as follows:
- House Bill 2009 established a fee of $5 per license period for each of our MD, DO, DPM and PA licensees to fund the compilation and analysis of Oregon healthcare workforce information.
- Senate Bill 355 established a fee of $25 per year for our MD, DO, DPM and PA licensees to fund a state-wide prescription monitoring database.
- ORS 677.290 requires our MD and DO licensees to pay $10 per year to support the Oregon Health Sciences University library.
For 2011-13, these three pass-through fees are estimated to account for about 8% of the Board’s revenue. However, this revenue is transferred directly to the funded agencies and is not available to the Board.
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| Board Fees |
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Licensure and registration fees cover the cost of 98% of Board functions, including license processing with meticulous background checks for new applicants, investigations, legal expenses, medical consultants, telephone and Internet license verifications, educational outreach, public information services, a diversion program through the Department of Human Services, office space, computers, equipment, supplies and staffing to support agency functions.
The Board strives to balance the need to provide low-cost or free information with reasonable fees to licensees. In this effort, Oregon's annual license renewal fees have not been increased in twelve years and compare very favorably with those charged by neighboring states. Further, the Board works diligently to reduce fees when possible.
- License renewal fees were lowered for physicians with emeritus status in April 2003. These physicians, retired from active practice, may do volunteer work without pay in Oregon. The decreased fee for this group encouraged physicians to continue practicing medicine in volunteer and not-for-profit settings.
- The fee for each update to a physician assistant’s practice description was eliminated by the Board in February 2004. The $50 charge is now included in the license renewal fee and allows unlimited practice description changes. The Board made this change in support of the Governor’s Regulatory Streamlining Initiative, and the regulatory impact has resulted in greater compliance with filing practice description changes and more efficient processing.
- The Board delegated certain licensing authority to its Executive Director to streamline the license application process in October 2005. This eliminated the need for a category of temporary licensure called Limited License Special. The Board made this change in support of the Governor’s Regulatory Streamlining Initiative. Eliminating the need for a Limited License Special saves each applicant $185.
- The Board eliminated six other fees in July 2006. These fees were for miscellaneous services such as making a name change or replacing a lost wallet or wall license. The Board made this change to provide better customer service to its licensees and in recognition of the staff time and cost in processing payments for these services.
- The Board has made marked enhancements to its website. Licensees, healthcare facilities and the general public are able to obtain more licensee information from the Board electronically. The Board now provides free primary source verifications on the OMB website and has instituted a free on-line database of closed malpractice claims.
FEE INCREASE
The Oregon Medical Board last sought a fee increase in 1998. In the intervening years, the Board's expenses have risen, both from inflation and from adding staff members to handle an increased workload, new technology, and increased service expectations from licensees, the medical community, and the public.
With its 2011-13 Budget, the Board has requested and the Oregon Legislature has approved an increase in renewal fees and to recover the fees for workforce data reporting. The Board fees, effective July 1, 2011 for each license type are presented below.
Just a few of the new responsibilities and initiatives of the Board since the last fee increase include:
- Fingerprint criminal background checks of applicants.
- Prepared for and executed the workforce data requirements of 2009 House Bill 2009. Prepared for and educated licensees on the new, required, pain management continuing education requirements under 2007 Senate Bill 879.
- Applied legislative changes to allow physician assistants to be supervised by more than four physicians or a supervising physician organization.
- Introduced an expedited application process for rural physicians; established an expedited endorsement license as required by 2009 House Bill 2434.
- Restructured our licensing department to introduce a call center to handle applicant and licensee inquiries.
- Improved availability of information on the OMB website, including OMB newsletters, meeting minutes, and applicant status reports.
- Online license applications, license renewals, and address maintenance.
Here is how our new renewal fees compare with our neighboring states. Other agency fees for services, including license application fees, remain unchanged.
* Does not include the following pass-through fees:
$10 to the OHSU Library
$25 to support the state-wide Prescription Monitoring database
$5 to support the workforce database
For a complete list of license renewal fees, click here.
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