IDFPR Profile: Address Requirements
It’s important to consider the impact of the addresses that you keep on file with the State of Illinois. A number of factors are at play in your choice of address listings: what the law requires you to provide, what the State of Illinois makes available to the general public, and what you may want to provide for potential patients. Additionally, there are several issues to think about: public accessibility of your home address, legal requirements for public profiles, and other licensing requirements.
Official License Address – Home or Office?
Do you use your home address for your license? During every licensure period, the Illinois Chiropractic Society performs a cursory review of the information contained in the chiropractic physician database maintained by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR). While reviewing the state information recently, we noticed that many doctors are using their home addresses for their license renewal. Although there is nothing illegal about using the home address, be aware that the address used to acquire or renew your license is available to the public. This means that any number of individuals have access to the address you use for your license, such as disgruntled patients who simply see the license posted in your office or even insurance auditors.
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Although the state no longer includes licensees’ registered addresses as public record, it is a legal requirement for doctors to post their licenses in their offices. For both liability and privacy reasons, the ICS strongly recommends that physicians use the professional office address as the license address of record.
The process to change your address of record with the IDFPR is not difficult:
Visit https://idfpr.illinois.gov/applications/LicenseReprint/Verify.aspx
Choose “Chiropractic Physician” from the dropdown list, add the remaining information, and click Search. Follow the instructions to update your address.
Make sure you select the option to reprint your license here. There is no charge, and you should save the PDF version of your license and store it electronically.
If your name has changed (i.e., due to marriage or divorce), you are required to change the name on your license. You can access the form for that purpose here.
E-Mail Address Required for License Renewal Notification AND Disciplinary Action
Until recently, the IDFPR sent renewal notifications by regular U.S. mail to the official license address of record. The IDFPR will no longer send these forms by regular mail but will send only electronic renewal notices and most other communication in the form of email. Therefore, the IDFPR requires that you update your email address on your IDFPR address change form (a non-public form). However, although you must provide it to the IDFPR, your email address is optional on your physician profile (a separate form from the IDFPR address change form) and will not be shown publicly on the physician profile unless you add it.
You MUST maintain your most recent email address with IDFPR.
Additionally, the Medical Practice Act now allows the IDFPR to notify physicians of disciplinary hearings and investigations by email only. This change underscores how important it is for you to keep this information current, because the IDFPR’s obligation is only to send these notices to the last registered email address. It is NOT a defense for the licensee to assert that he/she did not actually receive the notices. Therefore, the IDFPR is permitted to proceed through an entire disciplinary case and impose discipline on a license, so long as it can show that it sent email notices to the registered email address. Also, this demonstrates that licensees should not wait until renewal time to file a change of address, to ensure that they receive any such notices that occur during a license cycle.
Physician Profile Address
Illinois maintains, by law, a database of physician profiles for the benefit of health care consumers. The profile includes a significant amount of information provided by the state (including license status, disciplinary actions, and malpractice settlements) and must include your office address, participation in Medicare and Medicaid, your education, and post-graduate education. Additionally, chiropractic physicians may choose to include other insurance plan participation, previous locations, board certifications, professional affiliations (i.e., membership in the Illinois Chiropractic Society), honors & awards, community activities, and more.
Beyond the importance of having this information available for potential patients, the law actually requires that you update your profile. In short, you have 60 days to update your public profile information after the following events: when you are first licensed, when your office address changes, and any time that the information in your profile changes. It is your responsibility to ensure that the information contained in your profile continues to be accurate. Failure to comply with the completion of your profile may result in disciplinary action against your license.
You can access the IDFPR website to update your profile here.
ICS Patient and Physician Referrals
ICS Members are automatically included in our chiropractic physician search engine. Patients (or other physicians for referrals) can simply use their current location to find the closest chiropractic physician. In fact, as a part of the ICS’ public awareness initiatives, potential patients are directed to the ICS chiropractic physician finder at www.ilchiro.org/find and through our www.healthierillinois.com patient initiative. ICS Members should ensure their office address is up to date with the ICS. You can access your online profile here.
