Can Interstate Licensure Compacts Enhance the Health Care Workforce?
Although health care licensing is traditionally a state function, rigid state borders can be ill-suited to meet needs in terms of access to care for underserved populations, emergency preparedness, and the changing nature of telemedicine-based care delivery. During the COVID-19 pandemic, at least 45 states waived or modified existing rules to allow health care practitioners to work across state lines through temporary licensure reciprocity. Amid ongoing, national concerns about health care workforce shortages and “the Great Resignation,” policymakers and researchers are now debating options for longer-term licensure policy to mitigate the workforce crisis. It is therefore important to think through whether licensure compacts can help meaningfully enhance the health care workforce and improve access to care.