Newswise — WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 17, 2016) – The U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has announced that it will provide funding to support state medical and osteopathic boards as they implement the administrative and technical infrastructure of the new Interstate Medical Licensure Compact.
The grant from HRSA of $250,000 annually for three years will help the Compact become operational and will support educational outreach to expand participation in the Compact by other states. Grant funding will begin on July 1, 2016.
The Compact, which has been enacted by 17 states since 2015, offers a voluntary, expedited licensing process for physicians interested in practicing medicine in multiple states. The Compact is expected to expand access to health care, especially to those in rural and underserved areas of the country, and facilitate the use of telemedicine technologies in the delivery of health care.
“This is good and very welcome news that comes as the Commission prepares to undertake significant tasks and make important decisions,” said Ian Marquand, Chairperson of the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact Commission. “As Commission Chairperson and as an individual Commissioner whose state is keenly interested in the success of the Compact, I look forward to learning more about how the grant will support that work.”
“The continuing support of HRSA has been very beneficial to state medical boards in their ongoing effort to increase access to quality health care and support the expanded use of telemedicine for patients by streamlining the medical licensure process,” said Art Hengerer, MD, Chair of the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB).
The FSMB has been a strong proponent of the Compact and a variety of other initiatives to facilitate medical license portability and to reduce administrative and regulatory redundancies associated with multi-state practice and telemedicine.
States that have enacted the Compact include Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
For more information about the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact, please visit http://www.licenseportability.org/.
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About the Federation of State Medical BoardsThe Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) is a national non-profit organization representing all medical boards within the United States and its territories that license and discipline allopathic and osteopathic physicians and, in some jurisdictions, other health care professionals. The FSMB serves as the voice for state medical boards, supporting them through education, assessment, research and advocacy while providing services and initiatives that promote patient safety, quality health care and regulatory best practices. To learn more about FSMB, visit www.fsmb.org. You can also follow FSMB on Twitter (@theFSMB and @FSMBPolicy).
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