The Auditor
State of Hawai‘i

A Comparative Study of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Professional and Vocational Licenses

Report No. 05-14
December 2005

 

Foreword

Introduction

License Summaries

Accountant, Certified Public

Acupuncture

Chiropractor

Contractor

Electrician, Journeyman

Electrician, Supervising

Optometrist

Osteopathic Physician

Pharmacist

Pharmacy

Physician

Physician Assistant

Plumber, Journeyman

Plumber, Master

Podiatrist

Veterinarian

 

PHYSICIAN
Summary Overall Rank Education License Fees Table 

Summary

Hawai‘i
ranks close to the national median in physician license requirements. Hawai‘i’s physician license fees are lower than the national median, but Hawai‘i is among the minority of states that do not provide reciprocity or endorsement.   

Requirement

Hawai‘i

Category Rank

National Median

OVERALL RANK (quintile)

 2

 

 

Education and Experience

U.S. school: 1 year residency training

Foreign school: 2 years residency training.

4

U.S. school: 1 year residency training

Foreign school: 3 years residency training

Examination

USMLE

Not ranked.

USMLE

License Fees

$410

4

$530

Continuing Education

20 hours per year

3

20 hours per year

Reciprocity or Endorsement

No

1

Yes. 36 states have some form of reciprocity or endorsement.

 Notes on Physician rankings:

1 = most difficult, most requirements, highest fees.
5 = least difficult, fewest requirements, lowest fees.

Education and Experience:  Education and experience are considered together as most states impose different residency training requirements depending on whether an applicant is a graduate of a U.S. or foreign medical school. For graduates of U.S. medical schools, the median residency training required is one year, while the median is three for graduates of foreign medical  The number of foreign school graduates is sufficiently significant to warrant inclusion. According to a recent Journal of the American Medical Association, over one-fourth of resident physicians graduated from foreign medical schools.
      Rankings are based on an average of the rank for U.S. graduate and foreign graduate residency training requirement. Ranks were assigned as follows:

      Rank                 U.S. graduate requirement         Foreign graduate requirement
         1                      More than 1 year                       More than 3 years
         3                      1 year                                       3 years
         5                      Less than 1 year                        Less than 3 years

Examination: All states now rely on the USMLE, so this category is not ranked.

Fees: Rank is based on the cost of an initial license and an annualized renewal fee. This reflects the cost of obtaining and renewing a license.

Continuing education: This is expressed as average hours per year.

Reciprocity:  Most states have some form of reciprocity or endorsement. A rank of 1 was assigned to states that do not have reciprocity or endorsement, and a rank of 5 assigned to states that did offer some form of reciprocity or endorsement.