FEDERATION CREDENTIALS VERIFICATION SERVICE (FCVS)

Benefits of Using FCVS

Permanent Repository
Applicants who complete the verification process establish a permanent, lifetime portfolio of primary-source verified credentials that can be used throughout the applicant's career for state licensure, hospital privileges, employment and professional memberships. This service is extremely valuable for physicians and for those graduating from medical schools outside the U.S. or Canada, where verification is often time consuming, costly and difficult. Finally, should the applicant's related programs close or records be permanently lost or destroyed, the FCVS records become invaluable for future credential verification needs.

International Physicians
International medical school graduates are aware of the cost and time associated with obtaining verifications from their medical schools. As FCVS obtains the necessary verifications from your medical school (Verification of Medical Education Form, official medical school transcript and a certified diploma) and stores the information permanently in your Physician Information Profile the time and cost to provide this verification will be reduced. FCVS has collaborated with ECFMG to provide verifications for physicians who were ECFMG certified after July 2004 within a few days.

Domestic Physicians

• Once FCVS has obtained the primary source verifications, the cost and time required for processing is reduced. Please note that any updates (i.e. additional training or completion of training that was previously in progress) will require additional processing time.
• Records are stored in central location for ease of access
• Emergency/disaster preparedness
• Records available in the event of program closure (more than100 programs close each year)
• License Portability

Emergency/Disaster Preparedness
Unforeseen disasters can call for physicians to be licensed quickly in order to help those injured or to continue training or practicing medicine. Hurricanes, tornadoes, floods can cause personal and institutional records to be lost. Many cannot be retrieved or replaced. The verified forms in your FCVS Physician Information Profile will help resolve this problem, as they are maintained at FCVS indefinitely.

Highest Standards/Primary Source Verification
FCVS obtains all verifications of medical school attendance, postgraduate training, licensure examinations and ECFMG certification directly from the primary source. FCVS mails the request directly to the authorized verification address and requires the completed forms be returned directly to FCVS.

Board Acceptance/License Portability
Sixty-four state medical boards accept the documents in the FCVS Physician Information Profile as primary source verification for issuance of licensure. The standardization of these documents make moving from one state to another a quicker and easier process.

Hospitals and Insurance Providers
Hospital and insurance providers can also use the FCVS Profile in their credentialing process. FCVS meets the standards set by The Joint Commission and NCQA. Once your Profile is established, this allows for hospital and insurance applications to be processed quicker.

Uniform Application for Physician Licensure
The online Uniform Application for Physician Licensure (UA) is a licensure application process for physicians. UA has been developed to:

• Standardize the licensure application for all medical boards
• Allow the physician to collect and store uniform information for their use throughout their career
• Add convenience for physicians applying for licensure in multiple states
• The physician can access the UA by clicking here approximately seven days after submission of the FCVS application. All information reported to FCVS that is also required for the UA will be auto-populated into the UA.