(a) Unless otherwise provided by law, a postgraduate training licensee, intern, resident, postdoctoral fellow, or instructor shall not engage in the practice of medicine, or receive compensation therefor, or offer to engage in the practice of medicine unless they hold a valid, unrevoked, and unsuspended physician’s and surgeon’s certificate issued by the board. However, a graduate of an approved medical school may engage in the practice of medicine whenever and wherever required as a part of a postgraduate training program under the following conditions:

(1) The medical school graduate has taken and passed the board-approved medical licensing examinations required to qualify the applicant to participate in an approved postgraduate training program.

(2) If the medical school graduate graduated from a foreign medical school approved by the board pursuant to Section 2084, the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) has submitted an official ECFMG Certification Status Report directly to the board confirming the graduate is ECFMG certified.

(3) The medical school graduate is enrolled in a postgraduate training program approved by the board.

(4) The board-approved postgraduate training program has submitted the required board-approved form to the board documenting the medical school graduate is enrolled in an approved postgraduate training program.

(5) The medical school graduate obtains a physician’s and surgeon’s postgraduate training license in accordance with Section 2064.5.

(b) A medical school graduate enrolled in an approved postgraduate training program in accordance with this section may engage in the practice of medicine whenever and wherever required as a part of the training program, and may receive compensation for that practice.

(c) A graduate from a medical school approved pursuant to Section 2084 who is engaged in an Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)-accredited postgraduate training program outside of California may, as a participant in guest rotations in an approved postgraduate training program in California or a participating training site affiliated with an ACGME-accredited program, engage in the practice of medicine whenever and wherever required as part of that training program, not to exceed a total of 90 days for all rotations, and may receive compensation for that practice without obtaining a physician’s and surgeon’s postgraduate training license in accordance with Section 2064.5.

(d) All approved postgraduate training the medical school graduate has successfully completed in the United States or Canada shall count toward the postgraduate training requirement to obtain a physician’s and surgeon’s license under Section 2096.

(e) The program director for an approved postgraduate training program in California shall report to the board, on a form approved by the board, and provide any supporting documents as required by the board, the following actions within 30 days of the action:

(1) A postgraduate training licensee is notified that they have received partial or no credit for a period of postgraduate training, and their postgraduate training period is extended.

(2) A postgraduate training licensee takes a leave of absence or any break from their postgraduate training, and they are notified that their postgraduate training period is extended.

(3) A postgraduate training licensee is terminated from the postgraduate training program.

(4) A postgraduate training licensee resigns, dies, or otherwise leaves the postgraduate training program.

(5) A postgraduate training licensee has completed a one-year contract approved by the postgraduate training program.

(f) Upon review of supporting documentation, the board, in its discretion, may grant an extension beyond 36 months to a postgraduate training licensee who graduated from a medical school approved by the board pursuant to Section 2084 to receive credit for the 12 months of required approved postgraduate training for graduates of medical schools in the United States and Canada and 24 months of required approved postgraduate training for graduates of foreign medical schools other than Canadian medical schools.

(g) An applicant for a physician’s and surgeon’s license who has either graduated from medical school in the United States or Canada and has received 12 months credit of board-approved postgraduate training in another state or in Canada, or has graduated from a foreign medical school approved by the board pursuant to Section 2084 and has received 24 months credit of board-approved postgraduate training and who is accepted into an approved postgraduate training program in California shall obtain their physician’s and surgeon’s license within 180 days after beginning that postgraduate training program or all privileges and exemptions under this section shall automatically cease.

(h) Upon review of supporting documentation, the board, in its discretion, may grant a physician’s and surgeon’s license to an applicant who demonstrates substantial compliance with this section.

(Amended by Stats. 2023, Ch. 294, Sec. 8.5. (SB 815) Effective January 1, 2024.)