Amednews.com: Medical licensure: State lines pose daunting barriers

Several states have expedited licensing to make it easier for physicians to practice in multiple states.  But some doctors say more needs to be done.

Carolyne Krupa, September 17, 2012

Knoxville, Tenn., family physician Chris Sawyer, MD, has traveled the world providing volunteer medical care for patients in countries such as Haiti, Venezuela and Chile. But volunteering to treat needy patients in the United States isn’t as easy.

Dr. Sawyer often finds himself hamstrung by laws that require physicians to be licensed by individual state medical boards.

“America is kind of funny in some ways,” he said. “To be in family practice, I have to take a national board exam every seven years, but I can’t go 50 miles from here to practice in Kentucky. I can travel all over the world, but I can’t go to Kentucky.”

Read more here.

FierceHealthcare: CMS fails to report to anti-fraud database, OIG says

September 14, 2012, Alicia Caramenico

 

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services still isn't living up to healthcare fraud reporting requirements, failing to report all disciplinary actions against providers to the national Healthcare Integrity and Protection Data Bank, the Office of the Inspector General said in a report released Wednesday.

 

Read the rest at FierceHealthcare.

Federation of State Medical Boards Receives Grant to Facilitate Medical Licensure Portability

HRSA grant to support streamlined application processes, reduce barriers to multi-state practice

DALLAS – The Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) has been awarded a three-year grant from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to continue initiatives currently underway to streamline the state medical licensure process and reduce statutory and regulatory barriers to telemedicine. The grant is the third the FSMB has received from HRSA since 2006 to facilitate license portability.

Click here to read more.