Effective July 1, 2015, Minnesota will join the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact, a group attempting to expedite the licensing of physicians seeking to provide telemedicine services to patients located in other states. Minnesota joins eight other states in the Compact – Alabama, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming. Legislation is currently pending in at least 10 other states to increase the Compact’s reach. Member states plan to meet later this year to outline management and administrative details.
Through the agreement, physicians in member states will be able to obtain expedited licensure to work across state lines. A license obtained through the expedited procedure would provide the same licensing provided to domestic physicians by the state medical board, granting a licensee the same license to practice medicine as if the physician had applied through the current state licensure process. A licensee would also be subject to the licensing state’s disciplinary procedures. The Compact’s policy is that the “practice of medicine” occurs in the state where the patient – not the physician – is located.
To apply for expedited licensure through the Compact, a physician must first select a state of “principal licensure,” defined as (1) the state of primary residence for the physician, (2) the state where at least 25 percent of the practice of medicine occurs, (3) the location of the physician’s employer, or (4) if no state qualifies, the state designated as state of residence for federal income tax. The physician would then notify the state of principal licensure of the other member states in which a medical license is desired. The state of principal licensure will work with an “Interstate Commission” to verify eligibility and grant additional licenses.
No lawsuits have yet been filed to stop the Compact, so – absent a last-minute injunction – patients in Minnesota may soon be talking to new physicians in Wyoming for their medical needs.
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