License portability across states has traditionally been the biggest hurdle for the doctors to provide telemedicine across state lines so far. While each state has its own rules, the federal agencies are seeking new ways to streamline the licensure process and relaxing the rules for medical professionals working across the state lines. Vice President Mike Pence’s announcement on 3/18/2020 paves the way for providers to treat patients in other states also, opening the door for expanded telehealth and mHealth programs. This move would eliminate, at least temporarily, a key barrier to the continued adoption of telehealth and mHealth.
Many states are taking action to make licensing easier given the urgency of the COVID-19 pandemic. Mississippi has shortened its application and accelerated the approval process. In New York, the governor has also made temporary emergency changes for the practice of medicine in that state. The Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) has assembled the changes to state law as a special COVID-19 webpage.
As on date the following states are allowing doctors in other states to provide services there via the use of telemedicine, without obtaining a license of these states, for the duration of the emergency.
- Delaware
- Iowa
- New York
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- Tennessee
As a consequence of these latest changes, these states can get telemedicine consults from any doctors licensed in any of the states. Accordingly, we have updated DocVilla to allow the residents of these states to be seen by Doctors from outside the states. This regulation is really useful at this critical time when we have a shortage of doctors. It is also beneficial for the doctors as they can get access to more patients during lockdown and can send eRx to those patients using DocVilla platform.
As more states pass the regulation, we will accordingly make the changes in DocVilla platform to allow Providers practice telemedicine across state line.