Keeping Original State License

[AFMD]

I've heard that if you move to a different state than residency you should keep your original license current. Is this true, and what is the advantage to keeping your original license active if you do not work in that state any longer?

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[cabinbuilder]

Depends on what you want to do. If you do locums then you want to keep your license active. Its easier to put into an inactive status if you don't use it than let it expire. If you let it expire then you have to start all over again with applying should you ever go back. to that state. A real hassle in some states that can take up to 10 months to get a license (Texas, Oregon, Nevada, Alaska).

I had such bad luck with permanent jobs that I always figured I could get a quick locum job with an active license should I quit or get fired suddenly (happened to me 5 times in 5 years)

Even to this day after 4 years on my permanent job, I still keep my other licenses active because sometimes I still do locums in those other states on a short vacation coverage job.

 

[raptor5]

Keep it, especially difficult states. You never know when life with throw you a curve ball.

 

[Vandalia]

It is a risk/benefit calculation based on the cost of maintaining the license versus the chances of returning to that state. As an example I kept a license in the state I was born for decades, until they demanded a couple thousand bucks from each licensed physician to initially fund a state medical malpractice insurance pool. I was close to retirement and knew the only way I would return was as a retiree. It just wasn't worth it. If I was 30 it might have been a different calculation.

So it really just depends; but as a very general rule it is not worth it to start the licensing process from scratch to save a couple of hundred bucks.