Florida Healthcare License Search: How to Verify a License

How does the Florida healthcare license search work?

DOH’s search (the Florida medical license search, or “FL license check”) is at mqa-internet.doh.state.fl.us and needs no login. Search by license number, name, profession, board or location, and filter for practicing or non-practicing statuses. Type the number as DOH asks, “License Prefix and License Number with no spaces, leading zeros or colons”: ME99999.

Each record lists licensure dates, status, primary address and flags for controlled substance prescriber, discipline and public complaints. Its Printer Friendly Version keeps the “Data As Of” date, when the information left DOH’s databases, and the shield, which DOH says confirms primary-source verification by its Division of Medical Quality Assurance.

What does a Florida state license number tell you?

APRN replaced the ARNP prefix on October 1, 2018 (chapter 2018-106, Laws of Florida), so older files may carry ARNP numbers.

Sources: DOH prefix list (Jan 16, 2026) and search help (Oct 6, 2025); ss. 456.041, 456.47(4)(h), 458.347(3), 464.0123(6), 491.0045(3), F.S.

What does each status mean when you verify a license in Florida?

“A licensee may practice a profession only if the licensee has an active status license.”

DOH’s definitions:

• May practice: Clear Active; Obligations Active or Probation Active (disciplined, practicing under the board’s order); Emergency Restriction Active (within the emergency order); Military Active (only in a military facility).
• May not practice: Clear Inactive; Delinquent (held a clear license “but failed to renew the license by the expiration date”); Emergency Suspension; Suspended; Revoked; Retired; Null and Void (“failed to renew their licensure status for two renewal cycles”).

The clock is in s. 456.036(5)–(6): a license not renewed before it expires becomes delinquent in the next cycle, and one not made active or inactive before that cycle ends is null “without any further action”; only a new application brings it back.

A name in the results is not proof of a license to practice:

How do you check a doctor’s medical license and discipline record in Florida?

MDs, DOs, chiropractic and podiatric physicians file profile information at licensure and every renewal (s. 456.039, F.S.). DOH checks their discipline and malpractice history against the National Practitioner Data Bank at both points and updates a profile within 30 calendar days of new information (s. 456.041). The profile must show:

• every final disciplinary action, in plain language, with links to final orders;
• criminal information directly related to the ability to practice;
• paid malpractice claims over $100,000 in the last 10 years for MDs and DOs (over $5,000 for podiatric physicians);
• how an MD or DO meets Florida’s financial responsibility requirement;
• hospital or ambulatory surgical center discipline;
• a Florida Medicaid termination for cause or sanction (physicians and APRNs).

The Discipline & Admin Actions search finds final orders, emergency actions and administrative complaints in the public record, by case number or by name, license and action dates. A complaint stays confidential “until 10 days after probable cause has been found”, or until the licensee waives confidentiality (s. 456.073(10)(a)). In fiscal year 2024–25, DOH received 34,994 complaints and issued 346 emergency orders, 281 of them suspensions.

How do you find a nurse’s license number or verify a multistate license?

For an FL BON license verification, search MQA under the Florida Board of Nursing by name; the number is the prefix plus digits (RN, LPN or APRN). Since Florida joined the Nurse Licensure Compact on January 19, 2018, a nurse may also work here on another compact state’s multistate license, which DOH’s search page tells you to verify on Nursys.

• QuickConfirm on Nursys looks up license and discipline status for free, from data Nursys calls a “primary source equivalent”.
• e-Notify sends free expiration and status updates for an employer’s enrolled nurse list.
• The 60-day rule: a multistate licensee who moves permanently to another compact state must apply there within 60 days; Florida deactivates its license once the new one issues.

In fiscal year 2024–25, 7,489 Florida RNs and LPNs upgraded to a multistate license.

When is a Florida medical license renewal due, and what does a late one cost?

MD licenses renew every two years: Group 1 expires January 31 of even-numbered years, Group 2 January 31 of odd-numbered years.

The $355 is the rule’s $350 fee, a one-time reduction until February 1, 2027 (regularly $360), plus the $5 unlicensed-activity fee on every renewal (Rule 64B8-3.003, F.A.C.; s. 456.065(3), F.S.). RNs renew in three groups (Group 3 expires April 30, 2027; Groups 1 and 2 on April 30 and July 31, 2028) for $75 on time, $130 late and $205 after the 120-day notice.

Who must run a license verification, and how fresh must it be?

• Licensed clinics. The medical director must “Ensure that all practitioners providing health care services or supplies to patients maintain a current active and unencumbered Florida license” (s. 400.9935(1)(b), F.S.).
• Medicare Advantage plans. Initial credentialing includes “verification of licensure or certification from primary sources”, and recredentialing follows at least every 3 years (42 CFR 422.204(b)(2)).
• NCQA-accredited credentialing. NCQA’s verification timeframes allow 180 days for the license and 120 days for state licensing sanctions, and accredited organizations monitor sanctions and license expirations monthly between recredentialing cycles.

The rest of a credentialing file is in medical credentialing explained.

What else belongs in a Florida license check before you hire or credential?

• OIG exclusions. OIG’s exclusion list (LEIE) of October 9, 2026 held 9,146 records with a Florida address: 3,060 (33.5%) imposed for a license revocation, suspension or surrender, for at least the “Period imposed by the state licensing authority” (section 1128(b)(4) of the Social Security Act), and 2,611 (28.5%) with the specialty “NURSE/NURSES AIDE”. Search steps are in our OIG exclusion guide.
• The NPDB. A group practice that “engages in professional review activity through a formal peer review process” is a “health care entity” (45 CFR 60.3) and may query the National Practitioner Data Bank about a practitioner it hires or affiliates with (45 CFR 60.18): $2.50 per query, or $2.50 a year per practitioner in Continuous Query.

What you can do today

1. Run each clinician’s Florida medical license verification on MQA by full license number and save the Printer Friendly Version in the personnel file.
2. Open Discipline/Admin Actions and, for MDs, DOs and APRNs, the Practitioner Profile; read every final order linked there.
3. For each PA, and each APRN not registered as autonomous, match the Subs/Supers or ARNP Protocols tab to the physician who supervises at your practice.
4. For a nurse on another state’s multistate license, run Nursys QuickConfirm and enroll the nurse in e-Notify.
5. Search the OIG exclusion list before the offer; if your group runs formal peer review, add an NPDB query.
6. Check every MD’s expiration date on the record: Group 2 licenses expire January 31, 2027.

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