Expanding Licensure Portability And Access To Care: Lessons Learned During COVID-19

Abstract

Regulatory flexibility by US states and territories during the COVID-19 pandemic rapidly facilitated the practice of medicine across state lines by physicians and other health care professionals, both in person and via telehealth, and greatly expanded access to care. Policy makers and health care leaders at the state and federal levels need to better understand which of these efforts (temporary expedited licenses, licensing waivers, interstate licensure compacts, and data credentialing platforms) worked well, under which circumstances, and how they might complement one another to facilitate more rapid and widespread adoption of measures to improve access to care in times of crisis and beyond. Lessons learned during this global public health crisis should better inform the nation's emergency preparedness efforts ahead of the next calamity.