HJ531: Interstate Medical Licensure Compact; Joint Com. on Health Care to study advisability of joining.

HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 531

Offered January 13, 2021
Prefiled January 9, 2021
Directing the Joint Commission on Health Care to study the advisability of the Commonwealth's joining the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact. Report.
Patron-- Helmer

Committee Referral Pending

WHEREAS, to practice medicine in the Commonwealth, a person must hold a valid, current license to practice medicine or osteopathy issued by Board of Medicine; and

WHEREAS, physicians licensed in other states who do not hold a valid, current license issued by the Board of Medicine cannot practice medicine in the Commonwealth unless a specific exception to the Commonwealth’s licensure requirements apply; and

WHEREAS, the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact, developed in 2014 by a group of state medical board executives and administrators with assistance from the Federation of State Medical Boards, offers a process for streamlining the licensing process for physicians who want to practice in multiple states; and

WHEREAS, the current participants in the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact, which became operational in 2017, comprise 29 states, the District of Columbia, and the Territory of Guam; and

WHEREAS, participation in the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact may increase the availability of and access to health care services in the Commonwealth, particularly in underserved and rural parts of the Commonwealth; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the Joint Commission on Health Care be directed to study the advisability of the Commonwealth's joining the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact.

In conducting its study, the Joint Commission on Health Care shall (i) study the legal effects of the Commonwealth's joining the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact in the Commonwealth and possible positive and negative outcomes resulting from the adoption of the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact, including impacts on the availability of and access to health care, and (ii) develop recommendations as to whether the Commonwealth should join the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact.

Technical assistance shall be provided to the Joint Commission on Health Care by the Department of Health Professions. All agencies of the Commonwealth shall provide assistance to the Joint Commission on Health Care for this study, upon request.

The Joint Commission on Health Care shall complete its meetings by November 30, 2021, and the chairman shall submit to the Division of Legislative Automated Systems an executive summary of its findings and recommendations no later than the first day of the 2022 Regular Session of the General Assembly. The executive summary shall state whether the Joint Commission on Health Care intends to submit to the General Assembly and the Governor a report of its findings and recommendations for publication as a House or Senate document. The executive summary and report shall be submitted as provided in the procedures of the Division of Legislative Automated Systems for the processing of legislative documents and reports and shall be posted on the General Assembly's website.