The U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 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 is intended to help the compact become operational and will support educational outreach to expand participation 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. It 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.
The Federation of State Medical Boards (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.
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.
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