Interstate Telehealth Closer To Reality With Establishment Of Compact
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
The compact would ease regulatory process for physicians to practice across state lines
Alabama became the necessary seventh state to adopt the Federation of State Medical Boards Interstate Licensure Compact, joining Idaho, Montana, Utah, South Dakota, Wyoming, and West Virginia. This measure would allow physicians to practice across state lines, and mHealth News reports it is scheduled to take effect in the very near future.
“The goal of the Compact is to ensure that qualified physicians are able to practice medicine in a safe and accountable manner and that the strongest health care consumer protections are maintained,” said Dr. Humayun J. Chaudhry, president and CEO of FSMB in a press release. “The revised compact helps ensure that as the practice of telemedicine continues to expand, patient protection remains a top priority. We look forward to sharing the revised compact with state medical boards across the country and look forward to working with them to achieve implementation.”
Supporters of the Compact include the Mayo Clinic, the American Medical Association, and the American Academy of Pediatricians, since the measure eases the regulatory process for physicians who wish to practice across state lines while simultaneously maintaining the authority of individual state medical boards.
“Now that seven states have enacted the Compact legislation, we can begin the real work of establishing the Compact to ensure patients have access to quality healthcare services, while maintaining the highest level of patient protections,” explained Larry D. Dixon, Executive Director, Alabama Board of Medical Examiners in a press release. “The Interstate Medical Licensure will ease the physician shortage in rural and other underserved areas.”
The FSMB asserts, “The interstate medical licensure compact model legislation creates a new process for faster licensing for physicians interested in practicing in multiple states and establishes the location of a patient as the jurisdiction for oversight and patient protections.
“The compact is a dynamic system of expedited licensure over which the member states can maintain control through a coordinated legislative and administrative process. Participation in an interstate compact would be voluntary, for both states and physicians.”
The next step, now that seven states have approved the compact, is for the organization to form an Interstate Medical Licensure Compact Commission to create bylaws for licensure, a process that could take up to a year to complete.