The American Board of Radiology

At the time of certification by the ABR and throughout the certification and maintenance of certification processes, the physician must hold a current, full and unrestricted license to practice medicine in at least one jurisdiction in the United States, its territories or Canada, including the state(s) in which he/she currently practices, or if practicing abroad, in the country of practice (see Policy for International Licensure). Restrictions placed on a medical license must be reported to the AR by the physician within 60 days of their imposition.

B. Potential Certificate Sanctions

The Board may at its discretion revoke or suspend a certificate for due cause as provided in the ABR bylaws:.

“Any license of the person to practice is not, or ceases to be, a valid and unrestricted license to practice within the meaning set forth in the Rules and Regulations of the American Board of Radiology. In the event that a Diplomate’s license to practice is suspended, revoked or restricted in any state in which the Diplomate practices, holds a license or has held a license, the Diplomate’s board certification may be revoked or suspended.”

Definitions of Sanctions:
	1.	Revocation: Diplomate ceases to be certified. Re-entry is under provisions of re-entry policy, with a new time-limited certificate requiring participation in MOC for its maintenance.
	2.	Suspension: Diplomate is not certified for at least the specified period of time (possibly concurrent with the licensure action). Conditions may be stipulated by the board; when met, the suspended certificate is reinstated (as a lifetime certificate, if it was originally lifetime.)
	3.	An alternative to certificate sanctions is “probation” in which the diplomate continues to be certified; monitoring is done, there may be restrictions on practice, periodic contacts and other requirements may be stipulated.

C. Regaining or Reinstatement of Certification

1.	Once a valid, unrestricted license is held in the state of current practice, a physician may contact the Board to initiate a request to regain board certification, or have his/her original certificate reinstated.
2.	After suspension: When the Board reinstates a physician’s board certification after it has been subject to suspension by the Board, he or she is entitled to resume use of his/her original board certification with the appropriate expiration date of that certificate. If the original board certification was not time-limited, after reinstatement the physician will continue to have a non-time-limited certificate. The Board may, however, in its sole discretion, set other conditions and terms for reinstatement that it deems appropriate considering, among other things, the underlying facts that led to the restriction, the period of time the physician has not been able to engage in the unrestricted practice of medicine, and her/his specialty.
3.	After revocation: When the Board has revoked a physician’s board certification, the physician is not eligible to have the original certificate reinstated. In addition to other terms and conditions, the Board may require that a physician first pass the examination(s) required for ABR certification or maintenance of certification in the specialty or subspecialty. Upon satisfactory completion of all steps required by the Board, the physician whose certificate previously was revoked shall be issued a new certificate that is time-limited, and the physician shall be required to participate in MOC for its maintenance.