45 ILCS 180/5 — Illinois Code / Chapter 45 / Act 180 / Section 5
Section 5
Status: in_force

(45 ILCS 180/5) Sec. 5. Interstate Medical Licensure Compact. The State of Illinois ratifies and approves the following compact: INTERSTATE MEDICAL LICENSURE COMPACT SECTION 1. PURPOSE In order to strengthen access to health care, and in recognition of the advances in the delivery of health care, the member states of the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact have allied in common purpose to develop a comprehensive process that complements the existing licensing and regulatory authority of state medical boards, provides a streamlined process that allows physicians to become licensed in multiple states, thereby enhancing the portability of a medical license and ensuring the safety of patients. The Compact creates another pathway for licensure and does not otherwise change a state's existing Medical Practice Act. The Compact also adopts the prevailing standard for licensure and affirms that the practice of medicine occurs where the patient is located at the time of the physician-patient encounter, and therefore, requires the physician to be under the jurisdiction of the state medical board where the patient is located. State medical boards that participate in the Compact retain the jurisdiction to impose an adverse action against a license to practice medicine in that state issued to a physician through the procedures in the Compact. SECTION 2. DEFINITIONS In this compact: (a) "Bylaws" means those bylaws established by the Interstate Commission pursuant to Section 11 for its governance, or for directing and controlling its actions and conduct. (b) "Commissioner" means the voting representative appointed by each member board pursuant to Section 11. (c) "Conviction" means a finding by a court that an individual is guilty of a criminal offense through adjudication, or entry of a plea of guilt or no contest to the charge by the offender. Evidence of an entry of a conviction of a criminal offense by the court shall be considered final for purposes of disciplinary action by a member board. (d) "Expedited License" means a full and unrestricted medical license granted by a member state to an eligible physician through the process set forth in the Compact. (e) "Interstate Commission" means the interstate commission created pursuant to Section 11. (f) "License" means authorization by a state for a physician to engage in the practice of medicine, which would be unlawful without the authorization. (g) "Medical Practice Act" means laws and regulations governing the practice of allopathic and osteopathic medicine within a member state. (h) "Member Board" means a state agency in a member state that acts in the sovereign interests of the state by protecting the public through licensure, regulation, and education of physicians as directed by the state government. (i) "Member State" means a state that has enacted the Compact. (j) "Practice of Medicine" means the clinical prevention, diagnosis, or treatment of human disease, injury, or condition requiring a physician to obtain and maintain a license in compliance with the Medical Practice Act of a member state. (k) "Physician" means any person who: (1) Is a graduate of a medical school accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical