Mississippi

At a Glance

Category	Details
IMLC Member	Yes
FCVS	Accepted
NP Independent Practice	No
PA Independent Practice	No
Physician-Owned PC Allowed	No
Max NPs per Physician	4
Max PAs per Physician	4

Licensure

Item	Cost
Initial License	$600
Renewal Fee	$600
Renewal Cycle	Biennial
Annualized Cost	$300.00
Controlled Substance Registration	No

In-State Physician Requirement

Strict: MD must be within 75 miles of site. 80 hours a month and 20 hours a week in state in person. Never approve excemptions purely telehealth based.

APC Supervision

Nurse Practitioners

NPs require physician supervision in Mississippi.

• Maximum NPs per physician: 4

Physician Assistants

PAs require physician supervision in Mississippi.

• Maximum PAs per physician: 4

CME & Training Requirements

Requirement	Details
Total CME	1 hours
Category 1 Minimum	40 hours
Cycle	Annual
Opioid/Pain Mgmt	100 hrs/cycle
Human Trafficking	Required
Implicit Bias	Not required
Suicide Prevention	Not required
DEA MATE Act	8 hrs one-time (federal)
Jurisprudence Exam	Required

Fingerprint Requirements

Detail	Info
Required	Yes
FBI Check	Unknown
Method	LiveScan / Ink cards (FD-258)
Out-of-State Options	Mail-in ink cards available
Timing	After application submitted

Quirks & Gotchas

Application Requirements

• Six mandatory appendices** — all must come directly from the issuing institution (not the applicant): Appendix A (medical school), Appendix B (every postgrad training program), Appendix C (all activity since graduation with each activity in the past 5 years individually verified), Appendix D (every state where you have ever held a license), Appendix E (hospital staff membership within past 5 years), Appendix F (Fifth Pathway, if applicable pre-2010).
• Notarized, physically mailed Affidavit** — the original Affidavit and Perpetual Release Form must be notarized and mailed to the board. Copies with a wallet-sized passport photo are also required for hospital privilege submissions.
• Passport photo requirement** — must be taken within the past 60 days; two formats required (physical attached to Affidavit + electronic upload in MELS).
• Hard 365-day deadline** — if the application is not completed within 365 days of submission, it becomes null and void with no exceptions and no refunds. Each outside verification received resets the 90-day activity window, but cannot extend beyond the 365-day outer limit.
• $50 incomplete application penalty** — assessed retroactively if MSBML staff discover missing or undisclosed records during review (e.g., unreported training gaps or public records not disclosed).
• No refunds under any circumstances** once the $550 application fee is paid.
• License validity trap** — if a license is issued before April 1, it expires June 30 of the same year (potentially under 3 months of validity). If issued on or after April 1, it expires June 30 of the following year. You pay the full $550 either way.
• IMGs face a higher postgrad training bar** — domestic graduates need at least 1 year of ACGME/AOA-accredited postgraduate training; international medical graduates typically need 3 years.
• ABMS or AOA board certification required** if it has been 10 or more years since your licensing examination.

Fingerprints & Background Check

• Fingerprints required for all applicants** — two options: (1) two FD-258 fingerprint cards completed and mailed to the board, or (2) LiveScan appointment at MSBML (scheduled by the board after application review — you cannot initiate it yourself). A separate $50 background check fee applies on top of the $550 license fee.
• The board does not schedule LiveScan until after it reviews your application, which adds time.

Fees

• Pain Practice Registration and Dispensing Registration** are separate registrations with their own fees on top of the base license — you cannot operate in either capacity on the base license alone.

Other Gotchas

• Triggered automatically** if more than 50% of your patients receive prescriptions for opioids, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, carisoprodol, butalbital, or tramadol for chronic non-cancer pain for more than 180 days in a 12-month period. Many physicians cross this threshold without realizing it applies.
• Requires one of: subspecialty board certification in pain medicine (ABMS/ABAM), AOA pain certification, ABPM certification, residency in anesthesiology/neurology/neurosurgery/PM&R, or 100 hours of interactive Category 1 CME in pain management.
• Ongoing: 30 additional hours of Category 1 CME in pain management, addiction, or opioid prescribing every two years (on top of the standard 40-hour CME requirement).
• Practice must be majority-owned (>50%) by physicians or healthcare entities; physician owners must practice a minimum of 20 hours per week in Mississippi.
• Mississippi Prescription Monitoring Program (MPMP) report must be reviewed at every initial and subsequent patient visit — not just periodically.
• Prior denial or restriction of DEA registration, Medicare/Medicaid termination, or felony/drug misdemeanor conviction is an automatic disqualifier.

CME & Mandatory Training

• 40 Category 1 hours per 2-year cycle** (current cycle: July 1, 2024 – June 30, 2026), reported in even years.
• Mandatory topic — controlled substance prescribing: 5 hours** every two-year cycle for those authorized to prescribe controlled substances.
• Mandatory topic — human trafficking: 1 hour** required for the 2024–2025 renewal cycles.
• DEA MATE Act — 8-hour one-time training** on opioid/substance use disorder treatment, required for all DEA-registered practitioners at their first DEA initial or renewal on or after June 27, 2023. This satisfies the board’s controlled substance training requirement.
• CME documentation change effective February 27, 2026** — physicians no longer submit CME docs to the board directly; instead, you must track via a board-approved system (CE Broker, ACCME, ABMS, or AOA) or maintain active board certification (ABMS or AOA). Lifetime-only certification without active maintenance does not satisfy requirements. Records must be retained for potential audit.
• Active board certification alone satisfies the 40-hour CME requirement, but only if it is actively maintained — not grandfathered lifetime certification.

The 75-Mile / APRN Collaboration Rule

• The 75-mile rule is still on the books as the baseline: APRNs may generally practice only within 75 miles of their collaborating physician’s primary office. If the APRN practices more than 75 miles away (“Free-Standing Clinic” as defined in regulations), the collaborating physician must personally appear before the MSBML board (in person or by phone) to present and get approval for the collaborative protocol — this is not a simple paperwork filing.
• Primary care exemption exists** (effective March 2018): The mileage restriction is waived if (1) the collaboration is between a primary care physician and a primary care NP (family medicine, general internal medicine, or general pediatrics), (2) the physician uses electronic medical records with direct access to the NP’s EMR, and (3) the physician practices at least 20 hours/week or 80 hours/month in Mississippi (telemedicine hours excluded from that count).
• Collaborating physicians must add each NP to their MELS file before the NP begins seeing patients — not at renewal, not retroactively. The board explicitly states waiting until renewal is unacceptable and requires immediate notification when any collaborative relationship changes.
• Quarterly face-to-face or video meetings** with the NP are required.
• Chart review requirement**: Physician must review the lesser of 10% or 20 randomly selected patient charts per month.
• A backup/secondary physician must be named in the collaborative protocol and must be a co-signatory.
• All protocol changes must be submitted to the board before implementation, not after.
• Practice sites must be individually approved — an NP cannot simply start practicing at a new location without prior board notification/approval.

Telemedicine

• No separate telemedicine license exists. You must hold a full permanent unrestricted Mississippi license to practice telemedicine with Mississippi patients. Telemedicine hours do not count toward the 20-hours/week minimum required for the primary care APRN collaboration exemption.

IMLC (Interstate Medical Licensure Compact)

• Mississippi participates, but requires a two-step renewal: both the IMLC Compact portal and MELS must be completed separately. License lapses if either step is missed. Letter of Qualification expires after 365 days. Physicians who have passed individual USMLE or COMLEX components more than 3 attempts are ineligible. Canadian medical graduates are generally excluded unless their residency was ACGME/AOA-accredited.

Other Gotchas

• Any license lapsed more than one year requires a full reinstatement process, not simple renewal. Late fees accumulate: $25/year (up to 5 years) plus $5/month delinquency fee, bringing a fully delinquent year to $385 on top of the $250 reinstatement application fee.

Miscellaneous

• Board-directed competency evaluations** can be required; a list of approved Competency Assessment Facilities is maintained by the board.
• Active scam alert**: Fraudulent callers impersonate DEA agents threatening license suspension to demand payment. MSBML has issued an advisory — do not respond or pay.
• All actions go through MELS (gateway.msbml.ms.gov). Do not send forms to the board before submitting the online application — doing so will not be processed.
• MSBML Home
• MD/DO Permanent License Application
• MD/DO Licensure Overview
• CME Requirements
• Fee Schedule
• Pain Practice Registration
• APRN Collaboration Page

Researched from state board websites and regulatory sources. Verify with the board directly before applying.

Resources

• Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure
• FSMB State Licensure Directory
• Interstate Medical Licensure Compact

Sources

Data compiled from state medical board websites, FSMB, and regulatory filings. Last updated June 2026.

Have a correction or update? Let us know.