If you’re looking to open a practice in Missouri, one wrong hire—such as an unlicensed or restricted physician—could compromise patient trust, impact the quality of care your practice provides, and expose you to serious legal consequences.
License verification assures you that each physician on your team is fully certified, maintains a clean record, and is qualified to provide the high level of care your practice should strive for.
In this post, let’s learn how to use the Missouri physician license verification tool to check an MD’s credentials.
Key Takeaways
- Verifying Missouri physician licenses ensures patient safety and legal compliance.
- License verification checks credentials, certifications, disciplinary history, and malpractice records.
- Conduct license checks before hiring and regularly throughout employment to avoid risks.
- Use Missouri’s online tool or contact the Board for any unclear license status.
Table of Contents
Why Should You Verify a Missouri Medical License?
Patients who choose your practice do so with the expectation of getting quality care, and each credentialed physician on your team reassures them that they’re in safe, skilled hands. This means you need to know who cares for your patients and whether they meet the high standards your practice aims to meet.
License verification helps you do just that. When you take the time to verify medical licenses, you ensure that each physician’s credentials are active and legitimate—free of any restrictions that could otherwise go unnoticed.
With this step, you avoid unknowingly bringing on a Missouri medical professional who might compromise patient safety. It also protects you from surprises, like finding out that a physician’s license has been revoked or that they have unresolved disciplinary issues.
Who Needs to Verify a Missouri Physician License?
Anyone who depends on the expertise of MDs should verify their medical license. Examples include:
- Healthcare employers and facilities—To ensure they’re protected against legal and reputational risks
- Patients—To make sure they’re receiving care from a licensed and qualified doctor
- Insurers—To figure out an MD’s eligibility for coverage (malpractice and owner’s disability), reimbursement, and network inclusion
Types of Information Available Through the Missouri License Verification Process
Here’s the information you’ll find through the Missouri physician license verification tool:
- Licensee name
- License status
- License issue and expiration dates
- Educational background
- Board certifications
- Disciplinary actions and restrictions
- Malpractice history
Steps to Verify a Missouri Physician License
To verify a Missouri physician’s license, take the following steps:
1. Navigate to the Missouri medical license lookup on this web page. Here’s what you should see:
Note how the website mentions that “the licensee search function of this website…constitutes a Primary Source Verification.”
2. Choose your county and profession name. If you’re verifying an MD, you should choose “Medical Physician & Surgeon.” Here’s an example:
3. Select one criterion— licensee name, license number, or practitioner DBA name. If you’re entering the physician’s name, make sure to start with their last name and then add their first. Here’s what that should look like:
If you can’t find anything when specifying the county and profession name, select “All” for both the county and profession names.
4. Click “Search”. Here’s what you’ll see:
You can click on “Detail” to find more information.
How Often Should You Verify a Physician’s License?
You should conduct a license verification before hiring medical professionals and keep checking it throughout their employment—usually annually or whenever a license renewal is due. This helps you catch any recent disciplinary actions or status changes.
While annual checkups are a good start, there are still 364 days in which a license status could change without your knowledge. This could increase the risk of financial penalties, some reaching millions of dollars.
To reduce this risk and maintain compliance, you should consider performing more frequent checks, whether biannual or quarterly.
What to Do if a License Status Is Unclear or Concerning?
If you come across a license status that’s unclear or concerning, here’s what you can do:
- Reach out to the Missouri Board of Registration for the Healing Arts—The Missouri Board can provide details on disciplinary actions, clarify any unclear statuses, and explain recent updates to a physician’s record that you may not be able to see online.
- Ask the physician—If you’re still unsure after contacting the Missouri Board, you can ask the MD to provide an explanation or documentation.
Build a Successful Missouri Medical Practice With Physicians Thrive
Missouri Medical Board license verification through the Missouri Division of Professional Registration website is the simplest way to ensure that every expert you partner with meets the legal requirements and professional standards necessary to provide care.
Still, to run an efficient medical practice, you also need to ensure that you are financially prepared, supported, and focused on your career. That’s where we come in.
At Physicians Thrive, we understand financial pressures, like student loan debt, compensation plans, and retirement planning, can cause issues if they aren’t managed well. That’s why we help you plan your financial future with strategies that address each of these challenges head-on.
Looking to make your practice a place where you and your colleagues want to stay and grow? Give us a call today!
