States bring back retired physicians to fight COVID-19
State licensing boards are moving quickly to help retired physicians re-enter practice. According to the Federation of State Medical Boards, half of the states in the U.S. have taken action to expedite licensure renewals for inactive and retired physicians.
For example, the Alabama Board of Medical Examiners and the Alabama Medical Licensure Commission announced that physicians with retirement waivers can obtain temporary emergency licenses without completing the normally required CME. The temporary license stays in effect will Alabama is in a state of emergency. Also, these physicians will ahve restricted Alabama Controlled Substances Certificates to treat COVID-19 patients only.
In Idaho, "retired or inactive practitioners whose license was in good standing when they retired or went inactive, and who retired or went inactive less than 5 years ago, may apply for a temporary license to practice in Idaho," says a release from the Ohio Board of Medicine. "Such licensure will be valid for 120 days, unless extended by the Board. Applications for temporary licensure can be found on the Board's website. Applications for temporary license for MDs, DOs, PAs, and RTs will receive expedited processing."
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is asking former practitioners to reach out to their past employer, in order to create a reserve workforce of health care professionals who are "on call" for coronavirus response. New York has been one of the hardest hit areas of the pandemic, with 75,795 cases of COVID-19 and 1,700 COVID-19 related deaths. The state's Department of Public Health is trying to build up its cohort of healthcare professionals, by setting up a webpage where qualified health professionals and related professionals can volunteer to help in New York by completing a brief survey about their skills and experience.
"We need the help of additional qualified health professionals and related professionals to supplement our current hospital capacity temporarily as our hospitals are challenged by a surge of seriously ill coronavirus patients," says the message on the webpage. "While extensive clinician resources are required to care for critical patients, there is also a need for health care professionals to fill other roles in caring for less acute patients and providing support services."
To help states expedite the licensure process, the Federation of State Medical Boards is granting free access to its Physician Data Center, its repository of physician licensure information. To see a complete list of states and their expedited licensure orders, click here.
Editor's note: CRC members are encouraged to listen to our webinar Resolving Credentialing Concerns for Reentry Practitioners.