Frequently Asked Questions

NICA is a Florida no‑fault program that compensates families of children with birth‑related neurological injuries without the need for litigation. The fee is applicable to all licensed physicians, regardless of specialty, and is part of the annual assessments that fund the NICA Plan.

At the time of applying for initial Compact licensure, physicians select one of three statuses: non-participating (pay a $250 fee and do not receive NICA malpractice protections); participating (pay a $5,000 annual assessment and receive malpractice liability protections); or exempt (no fee). The Florida board collects the appropriate NICA fee when issuing an expedited license. After initial licensure, annual NICA assessments must be paid directly to NICA for satisfaction of renewal requirements.

For information regarding renewal, see information under IMLC Renewal Requirements tab.

Note: The Florida license renews on the same biennial cycle as a regular license, and continuing medical education hours and other renewal requirements apply. Applicants are encouraged to renew online.

No. Florida physicians who designate Florida as their State of Principal Licensure (SPL) continue to renew biennially under existing Florida Statutes.

An expedited license through the IMLC permits both in‑person and telehealth practice, but practitioners must comply with the laws of the state where the patient is located.  For example, a practitioner who holds an expedited Florida license must follow Florida telehealth statutes when treating a patient located in Florida. 

If interested in practicing telehealth exclusively, please visit the Department’s Telehealth webpage.

Exemptions can only be granted by NICA to eligible physicians. To determine if you may be eligible, please visit
https://www.nica.com/medical-providers/exemptions/

Unfortunately, there is no way to expedite the process.

The process takes up to 48 hours.

The profile contains required and optional information from the practitioner. Required information includes:

• The practitioner’s education and training, including other health-related degrees, professional and post graduate training specialty
• The practitioner’s current practice and mailing addresses
• The practitioner’s staff privileges and faculty appointments
• The practitioner’s reported financial responsibility
• Legal action taken against the practitioner
• Board final disciplinary action taken against the practitioner
• Any liability claims filed against Podiatric Physicians which exceed $5000
• Any liability claims filed against M.D.s and osteopathic physicians which exceed $100,000 Optional information may include committees/memberships, professional or community service awards, and publications the practitioner has authored.

Profiles can be accessed by on our License Verification screen. If the health professional is licensed in one of profiled professions, a “Practitioner Profile” tab will be available.

No; however, Licensure Verification is available for all health care professionals currently or previously licensed in Florida.

Livescan device is a term used to describe the scanners used to directly capture fingerprints through a scanning function. Persons being screened place their hands directly on the scanner for reading. Fingerprint scanning using a Livescan device provides faster results and generally costs less than hard card scanning as there is less handling involved.

Livescan capture also produces a better quality print, so there is a lower rejection rate of illegible prints (no ink smudging, etc). Hard card scanning is a method of submitting a traditional fingerprint card where finger prints are “rolled” in ink onto an FBI fingerprint card.

Cards may be converted to “electronic” by using a machine that scans the cards. There is typically a fee associated with “rolling the prints” as a high degree of skill is required to achieve the necessary quality.

If this feature is currently available for your profession, you may check the status of your application in real time via our Online Services. You will need your User ID and password in order to log in. If you lose your User ID and password, you can log in alternatively using the ‘Get Login Help?‘ link located below the login fields.