Federation Credentials Verification Service

One of the most frustrating organizations I have ever dealt with. I will say, everyone I spoke to on the phone was very nice (only positive thing possible to say). However: the fact that it (a) costs so much (b) is so extremely slow © you can’t speed it up makes it nearly useless for people applying to a single state after graduating training. Because it was being so slow, I applied directly to the NY State medical board several weeks AFTER I began the FCVS process. My manual/​direct application was complete before FCVS even SENT anything to NY State. Every. Single. Time. Anything. Had. To. Be. Added, it took a week. Need to verify something with my internship? Two days to get message to me, two days to get message back to FCVS, two days to get message from them to my internship, two days to get info back from internship. It was like watching paint that was already dry dry further. It seems like a «tax» on doctors, but that serves a questionable benefit. Maybe if one day down the line I apply to another state’s medical board it will have utility for me, but in my case it just wasted hundreds of dollars and hours of frustration. What is the purpose of creating an organization that charges so much and operates so inefficiently. If the fee were $ 50 I could understand it as a mildly useful but slow public service: however, it costs nearly 10 times that.

Overall, service is very shoddy, expensive, inconsistent and inaccurate.
FCVS has delayed subsequent applications by attempting to re-​verify each certification with the primary source on multiple occasions. This defeats the whole point and purpose of having a permanent repository.
Unfortunately, many states mandate usage of the FCVS.

my application was submitted and complete. two business weeks later the verification process had not been started and when I called to check why, the representative got my identification numbers wrong twice and told me my application had not yet been submitted. once this was corrected the representative told me an analyst had not yet been assigned. this, despite paying more than 400 dollars. if you can you are probably better off going without.

Customer service is useless in terms of explaining the process and they talk like they own us. It’s unfortunate we have to use this service even though we don’t want to

I wish I can give this service 0 starts. they are SUPER slow. their operators can’t provide you with ANY information except what is on the website. if you can AVOID using this service. There are some states that require it — like my state — but if your state does not — PLEASE SAVE YOURSELF TIME AND $ and AVOID these people.

Nevada medical board has this site listed on website. It is a terrible service. Costs upwards of 400 dollars and for that price all you really get is someone that forwards all the documents you end up requesting. In the end, I requested all the documents on my own (diploma, usmle, board certificate…) and then sent them to FCVS. Then it took them over 2 months to review my file and approve it. Finally after that then sent it to the state medical board.
It would be easier to just request and send all your documents straight to the state medical board you are applying to and you save 400 dollars.
You have been warned.

Do NOT use this «service» if you need credentialing verified within 6 months.
I initially started this application in December of 2013 to verify my credentials for a state license, Illinois. After 1 month it was obvious that this was going to take a while. I therefore finished my Illinois license application without using the FCVS service but continued the completion of my FCVS profile. Applying to Illinois without FCVS took 2.5 months to have my new license number in hand. The FCVS packet was still not complete until 6 months after initial application.
They messaged me through their portal multiple times. I would reply back with the appropriate response but also asked them to call me on three different occasions to clarify certain points. They never called. What would have taken a 10 minute phone call, ended up taking 1.5 months of messages but only about 6 messages because their response was delayed by 5 – 7 days.
I had them cancel my FCVS profile being sent to illinois since I already had the license. Once my packet was completed, I had them send it to a second state other than Illinois. This took an additional 3.5 weeks, and their response was that the 2^nd state and different verification requirements to complete the profile. This made no sense to me, but they would never call when I asked, so I will never understand. They also charged another $ 60 (in addition to what I paid 6 months earlier) for USMLE scores even though they did not send my packet to the 1^st location.
Also, after my initial profile was completed, I paid the $ 90 plus $ 60 to have my profile sent to a hospital for credentialing. This took 3.5 months to get sent out. I was already working there by that time.
Recently I started applying to a third state. They have had a much quicker response to any online messages. The guy working with me appears to be much more on top of things this time than the person who was on my case initially. However, it has been 2 months since the request and my credentialling packet has still not been sent out. But most of this is due to a delay in the Residency Program. I get the impression that residency program coordinators also hate dealing with the FCVS.
This service has great potential. I hope in the coming years when I choose (if i choose) to use them that the process goes much smoother.

FCVS is a monopoly with no intention of improving. The main reason I’ve updated my profiles is because I’ve been licensed in some states that require it.
**If your state doesn’t require FCVS and you haven’t started the process yet, don’t use them***
I have one piece of paper to update (Fellowship training program — which, to be honest, they should have done last year when I went through this process again). Request was submitted 5 weeks ago to verify one piece of paper, and still hasn’t been completed.
$ 90 to obtain one piece of primary source documentation. And it still hasn’t been completed after 5 weeks. Let that sink in.
I’d be more angry if an actual license depended on this process, but I’m just keeping my file up to date.

I echo what other’s have said about the time delays, quasi-​governmental status, and sheer bureaucracy. I would like to add that each time you use the service, they require you to pay a processing fee, which is close to $ 200, regardless of whether anything has changed.
.which is the problem. It seems they go out of their way to re-​verify your entire application, causing delays! USMLE scores aren’t going to change, postgraduate training isn’t going to to change. It seems this organization is set up to charge you under the guise of «convenience» and «expediency.»
.unless it is required by the board you are applying to, I suggest saving your money.

As everyone says, STAY AWAY!
They were so slow in processing my paperwork that my new job is now in jeopardy. The two pieces of paperwork that they claimed were holding up my file took me two phone calls and under five minutes of work to get cleared up. In addition, SURPRISE… they don’t do license verification from other states as part of their process. Really? The state medical board organization doesn’t verify licenses… that come from state medical boards?

Absolute waste of money read all the reviews including the «not currently recommended» at the bottom of the page. Don’t just take my word for it. This is not just a few people complaining. They will delay your application and have you running around to tie up lose ends. More bureaucracy and fees we doctors don’t need. Both my girlfriend and I had similar issues. JUST DON’T DO IT!

WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY! DO NOT USE THEM! IT’S A SCAM.
I think… wait, I KNOW, that a group of mentally handicapped monkeys would be more efficient in processing my application than these guys. Not only are they inept, they’re slow and unprofessional, as mentioned by many of the other reviewers. Amongst all the issues I had with them, one of the worst was that they sent verification forms to the wrong program… twice! All they’re good at is holding up the licensure application process by (so far for me) 2 months. I would have been 100x more effective in getting the required information on a postcall day than these guys.
Will NEVER use them again, nor recommend them to anybody. Wish I never wasted my money on their useless service. SCAM.

WASTE OF MONEY! It’s been 3 months and my application is still being reviewed. People here work at a snails pace and just really don’t care about their customers. I am supposed to start my job in a few months and this process is holding up all hospital credentialing. I call hoping they’d at least try to speed up my application, but do they? Nope.
You’d think some of the $ 500 for this service would be justified by saving you time requesting documents from medical school. Well I STILL had to do most of the work emailing and calling my school to send the necessary documents. In fact, it would have been faster if I’d just done it myself in the first place.
Communication through the website is terrible. The claim of a response within 2 business days is a joke. I’m lucky to get a reply in a week.
SAVE YOURSELF MONEY, TIME, AND HEADACHE. Would not do this again!

Unequivocally agree with all posts. They have had all of my records for the last 15 days… and have told me repeatedly that they would rush it… that they would forward it for QA review. Nothing has been done. Every time I call… same answer. Would have been significantly more efficient (and cheaper) to have sent everything in myself. Now I am waiting around the house after moving to a new state… with 4 clinics having put me on their schedules… and being entirely embarrassed by my lack of employability…

The absolute worst! NEED NEGATIVE STARS!
I wish I had read a little before waisting over 500 dollars on this service.
It sounded like a good idea and a headache relief, but the truth is they are USELESS. They take way too long!!! You can do it your self in half the time. They will not help you they will actually delay your licensing.

First of all, please don’t be misled by this organization calling themselves a service, it should more befittingly referred to as a hinderance. Not only is this credentialing hinderance rather expensive, they are completely inept of completing very minor tasks that are imperative to your career as a physician.
Because several states now make FCVS a requirement as part of their licensing process, there really isn’t any way to avoid this extortion process, other than practicing in a state that does not make FCVS a requirement. Oh, and if you think having an unrestricted license already will expedite this process at all, you are sorely mistaken.
If there’s no way out, and you must use this service, start early… like your first day of residency early. Be prepared to send all required documentation a minimum of 6 – 8 times, call to follow up between 2 and 3 times a day for the next 12 months because you will never get the same, or even correct answer to any question or concern you may have,
Oh, and have a solid plan B for employment… in a state that doesn’t require FCVS. I can’t stress this enough! Imagine the excitement of signing the contract for your first ‘real job,’ only to have that ripped out of your hands because you couldn’t get credentialed in time, thanks to FCVS. No need to worry, you can always default on your student loans and live in your mom’s basement while you wait out the breach of contract lawsuit you just got served because 12 months to get credentialed just wasn’t enough.

I agree with most of the other reviews. This service is terrible. I wish I had found these reviews before I tried to use this service.
I made the horrible mistake of assuming that the organization charged with verifying physician credentials for the entire country would be well run. I was terribly wrong.
I had no idea it would take so long. It’s been 2 months, longer than it’s ever taken for me to get a license in the other 3 states I have licenses in and they have even started to request verifying documentation. A friend said it took him 4 months and online reviews are citing 6 months. I finally gave up today and did my own application for the state license I’m trying to get. My school and residencies along with the USMLE do everything online now anyway, so it’s not as difficult as it use to be.
I strongly recommend NOT using FCVS.
Scan all your documents as PDFs and save in Dropbox. When it comes time to apply to a new state, keep the contact information, URLS, etc of your schools in a text file in the Dropbox account and you’ll be golden.
Until we have national licensure, we just have to do it on our own. I feel sorry for people in states that only use this.

They are complete GARBAGE
As with ALL of the previous reviews their service is horrible. I also wish that I could get my $ 500 back. They had been very difficult to deal with in the past (1.5 years ago) and now that I need my credentials forwarded again I had to call them to see why my information was not updated in their new system. I spoke with an incredibly nice and helpful lady late Friday afternoon. She said that it would be taken care of and I would be emailed new login information on Monday. I called back on Tuesday after not receiving any information. I spoke with Vicki and she was absolutely horrible. She said my materials were being migrated and she did not know how long it would take. I asked if it would take days or months, and she said they had no way of knowing that. She had checked with her supervisor and noone knew if it would take days or months…
How is it possible that the only professional organization that is charged with the certification credentials for physicians across the entire country is so inept that they can not narrow down the time frame for file migration to less than the range of a year? I support Romain, Angele, and Ann’s reviews, I definitely wish I could give them negative stars. If you haven’t signed up with them, do yourself a favor, save the money and complete your state-​by-​state documentation yourself.

No need to rehash everything that’s been said, just wanted to echo the sentiment and get a 1 star rating in for them. What a waste.

N.B. This review is of FCVS, not the FSMB, which is FCVS’s parent organization.
I’m a bit conflicted about FCVS. And I’ll tell you why. But first let’s briefly review what FCVS does.
FCVS is a document collecting and verification service for physicians and physician assistants. When one applies for jobs, state licenses, or the like, each place wants copies of your medical school diploma, graduate training certificates, passport or similar ID, etc. You get the idea. It becomes rather burdensome for you (and for the various institutions you survived to get to where you are now) to gather all that info, again and again, and mail it out to these places, each of which has their own criteria, address, and idiosyncrasies as to what they require.
So the idea of a clearinghouse for all this information that works on your behalf and is trusted by third parties is wonderful. And that’s why I signed up for it. But the reality of FCVS is something less.
First, they take FOREVER to process your paperwork. We’re talking 2 – 3 months minimum. And that’s for a US med school grad without any blemishes on his record. It takes longer for foreign medical graduates or for folks who had some bumps on the way.
Second, it’s a bureaucracy. Let’s not mince words. It’s an office with desks and phones and people moving paperwork around. They move at their pace, and that’s that. They are not interested in providing faster or higher quality service, for the simple fact that there is no competition, and they have a semi-​governmental status, in the sense that they’re part of the FSMB, which has government ties, but which has no formal government status per se. It ain’t the Treasury Dept. or the CDC — it’s a coordinator — a private one — of state medical boards. But it acts governmental. Think Fannie Mae /​Mac before they were taken over recently by Uncle Sam. I.e., no true government mandate, but acts /​looks like it does. Handy for them, not so good for you (see bureaucracy part above).
Third, it costs a good chunk of change. It cost me $ 430 up front, plus the cost of the USMLE score report ($ 50+, itself handled by the FSMB!), plus the cost in time, money, and effort in obtaining the records required by FCVS to make your file.
On top of that, further report requests cost upwards of $ 90 (USMLE transcripts are newly required each time!) and take 3 – 4 weeks to process!
So in short, it costs a lot, takes a long time, and functions as a monopolistic bureaucracy. It’s a quasi-​governmental company that essentially makes money processing and packaging information that is freely or cheaply available to you.
The supposed advantage of having a central verifying clearinghouse for your professional education record is almost entirely offset by its cost, processing delays, and lack of universal acceptance. While most state medical boards accept or require it, I am not sure how employers or hospitals view it.
To be fair, the company reps did handle my phone calls and emails professionally and fairly promptly. They also followed through on questions that they or I had. This was one plus.
Also, it could well be that FCVS is advantageous to the person with foreign credentials who needs that translated and transferred, once and only once, to a US verification source, which can then transmit this documentation easily and relatively quickly.
Personally, however, I was disappointed by FCVS, both by the initial processing experience, and even more so by how subsequent requests are costly and time-​consuming.
I also, as a rule, dislike organizations that take advantage of a monopoly (e.g. the USMLE scores) to increase their income. Competition is a good thing.
I also dislike when a private corporation takes on a governmental front — I believe FCVS /​FSMB should be more forthcoming about their nongovernmental status.