Florida License Lookup: Nurses, NPs, PAs and Doctors
Florida checks every health care license through one free search: the Department of Health’s License Verification tool. A Florida Board of Nursing license lookup and a Florida medical license lookup are the same search with a different profession selected. Type a name or license number, and the result shows the license type, its status, its expiration date and whether the board has taken action against it. The whole thing takes about two minutes.
This guide walks through the search and, more usefully, explains what the result means. Florida’s status words are not the ones most people expect: a license in good standing says Clear, not Active.
Where the Florida license lookup is
Go to flhealthsource.gov and choose “Verify A License”, or open the search directly: https://mqa-internet.doh.state.fl.us/MQASearchServices/HealthCareProviders.
The tool belongs to the Florida Department of Health’s Division of Medical Quality Assurance (MQA), which handles licensing for all of the state’s health boards. That is why nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, medical doctors and osteopathic physicians all appear in the same search, each under its own board.
Step by step
Open the search
Go to the Florida Department of Health License Verification tool, from flhealthsource.gov (Verify A License).
Search by name or license number
Enter the last name and first name, or the license number if the clinic printed one. Leave the middle name blank; adding it can hide a match.
Select the profession
Choose Registered Nurse, Advanced Practice Registered Nurse, Licensed Practical Nurse, Physician Assistant, Medical Doctor or Osteopathic Physician to narrow the results.
- Registered Nurse (RN)
- Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN). Florida used “ARNP” until 2018; older websites still print it.
- Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN)
- Physician Assistant (PA)
- Medical Doctor (MD)
- Osteopathic Physician (DO)
Open the record
Check that the name, the license type and the city match the person the clinic describes. A common surname can return several people; the license type and location are how you tell them apart.
Read the status and the expiration date
Only Clear means the license is current. The table below says what each status word means.
Check for discipline
The record shows whether a board action exists. The same site has a separate Search Discipline tool with the documents.
What the Florida license status words mean
Florida publishes one status per license. These are the words you will see, in the order you are most likely to see them:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Clear | In good standing. This is Florida's word for what other states call Active. |
| Clear, with a board action on file | In good standing now, but a disciplinary action exists in the history. Read it. |
| Delinquent | The renewal was not completed on time. The person may not practice until it is. |
| Null and Void | The license lapsed past the renewal period and no longer exists. Practicing on it is unlicensed practice. |
| Probation | Licensed, with board-imposed conditions. The order says what they are. |
| Obligations | Licensed, with unfinished requirements from a board order. |
| Conditional | Licensed on conditions set at issue. |
| Suspended, Emergency Suspension | Not permitted to practice. |
| Revoked | The license has been taken away. |
| Retired, Deactivated, Voluntary Relinquishment | No longer active, by the licensee's choice or by lapse. |
| Military Active | Held by someone on active military service. |
Two rules of thumb. Only Clear means a person may practice today without conditions. And a record that exists is not the same as a license that is current: Florida’s file holds more lapsed, void, retired and deactivated licenses than current ones, because the state keeps history.
Florida is a compact state: what that changes
Florida joined the Nurse Licensure Compact in 2018. A registered nurse or LPN whose home state is another compact state can practice in Florida on a multistate license without holding a Florida license at all. Such a nurse will not appear in the Florida search and has done nothing wrong.
If a nurse is not found, check Nursys, the national nurse license database, before drawing any conclusion. The Florida search itself points there for multistate nurses. Nurse practitioners are not covered by the compact and must hold a Florida APRN license to practice here.
Physicians have their own arrangement, the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact, but a physician practicing in Florida still holds a Florida license and appears in the search.
What the lookup does not tell you
- Where the person works. The address on file is often a home or a former employer. It is not evidence that the person works at the clinic you are considering.
- Whether they may perform a particular treatment. A license type sets the outer limit; it does not confirm training in injectables, lasers or anything else.
- Pending complaints. Florida publishes discipline once a case is final. An open investigation is not shown.
- Anything about a person the clinic does not name. If the website prints no names, there is nothing to look up. 27% of the Florida med spas in this directory name nobody; see the data.
How this compares with Verified Injector
Verified Injector runs the same check against Florida’s published licensee file for every clinician a med spa names on its website, and it shows the result on the clinic’s record with the date it was read. It also does the part this guide cannot: it reads the clinic’s website for you, so you know which names to look up. What it does not do is choose between two licensees with the same name; where that happens the record says so and a person reviews it.
Med spas in Florida with clinician license checks: Miami Area, Tampa Bay Area, Orlando Area.
The general method for any state is in how to check an injector’s license yourself, and why an NPI is not a license is in what an NPI number is.
Questions
How do I look up a nurse's license in Florida?
Use the Florida Department of Health's License Verification search at flhealthsource.gov. Search by name, choose Registered Nurse, Advanced Practice Registered Nurse or Licensed Practical Nurse, and read the status. Only Clear means the license is current.
What does "Clear" mean on a Florida license?
Clear is Florida's term for a license in good standing with no current restrictions. It is the status other states call Active.
What does "Null and Void" mean?
The license lapsed past its renewal window and is no longer valid. The person would need to apply again. Anyone practicing on a null and void license is practicing without one.
Is the Florida medical license lookup a different site?
No. Physicians (MD and DO) and physician assistants are in the same MQA search as nurses. Select the profession to narrow the results.
Why can't I find a nurse who I know works in Florida?
The most common reason is a multistate license from another compact state. Check Nursys. Other reasons: a married or maiden name, a middle name used as a first name, or a very recent license.