“Doing this requires a certain amount of trust in the system and in other states,” said Dr. House. “Some states may be less willing to go along with the compact.”
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ACEP Now: Vol 34 – No 04 – April 2015The Medical Board of California (MBC) Executive Director Kimberly Kirchmeyer said it is currently weighing its options. The compact was an agenda item at its January 2015 meeting, where members were invited to voice questions and concerns. The board also invited the FSMB to attend a future meeting.
While the overall impression has been positive, the MBC seeks additional clarity and assurance. For example, “there is no requirement for the commission to include a public member,” Kirchmeyer said. “If every state put a physician on the [interstate] commission, it would be physician-led.”
In Maryland, Devinder Singh, MD, chief of plastic surgery at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and chair of the Maryland Board of Physicians (MBP), said that while a compact bill is in play in his state’s legislature, the MBP did not introduce it, and MBP would prefer to see how compact legislation plays out in other states. It invited the FSMB to its April board meeting, though Dr. Singh notes that the compact simply is not a board priority this year. Instead, the MBP aims to close a criminal background check loophole in its current licensing regulations.
In Minnesota, Martinez said the board views the compact as an opportunity to better meet the needs of patients. “I think the advantage to patients is enormous and one of the best things about this compact,” she said.
The MBMP also sees virtue in the high standards that the FSMB would require of physicians seeking licensure in compact states, the opportunity to expedite discipline across state lines, and, in a lesser-discussed benefit, the ability of states to share their physician data.
Martinez is optimistic the bill will be passed in Minnesota this year, and Dr. House believes several states could approve their draft legislation by year’s end.
“The Maryland Board of Physicians supports the idea of portability of licensure, and we definitely see the benefits of telemedicine or teleconsultation,” said Dr. Singh. “As innovation and technology grow by leaps and bounds, it makes sense for boards to be open to innovation and innovate themselves in parallel. The compact may be a way forward.”
Ms. Tyrrell is a freelance journalist based in Wilmington, Delaware.
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One Response to “Interstate Compact May Simplify Getting a Medical License in a New State”
April 19, 2015
Louise B Andrew MD JDSome states, such as California, put physicians who have been sued by the justice system through the “hell” Dean mentions again, just as soon as the litigation is over, and even despite a defense verdict. This extended scrutiny and judgment by peers is for some more painful than that by a lay jury of non-peers.
It would make a lot of sense if boards which inflict this double jeopardy on their physicians would formally (at least in those cases where the board has determined that there was no fault or no negligence) allow the physician to not report the existence of a case at all on future licensure applications, without fear of censure for non-disclosure.
This is similar to what a physician health program does with a physician who has a medical condition that could impact patient care if not monitored, but is either cured or fully compliant with treatment.
Like the Interstate Compact, this idea is something that we, through our quite informal representation at FSMB and through those ACEP members who are actually active on or head state medical licensure boards, could promote. We could also through our formal AMA representation get that body behind such a move.
We are uniquely vulnerable as emergency physicians to these stressors, because we moreso than many other practitioners are likely to practice in several states over a practice lifetime, or even during a single career with certain companies.