by Kyle Munkittrick

During covid, amid the maelstrom that was American healthcare, a miracle happened. State medical boards suspended their cross-state licensure restrictions.

No special legislation required, no political capital spent. Overnight, every state declared they would recognize medical licenses from any other state. One day you needed 50 licenses to practice nationwide—an expensive, tedious, slow process. The next day, you needed only the license you already had. The nation’s entire health system stayed this way for nearly two years.

As a patient, this was an incredible boon. If you had a primary care doctor you liked in New York and moved to Vermont, Texas, or anywhere in the US, you could keep seeing them over Zoom.

Moving did not mean losing your doctor. You could keep seeing someone you knew and trusted, even across state lines. Telehealth boomed. Whole new ways to deliver and build healthcare businesses emerged.

And then, at the end of the pandemic, all that freedom was quietly destroyed. Why? Because State Medical Boards don’t trust each other. Read more »