Federal Grant Awarded to Expand Interstate Medical Licensure Compact; Support License Portability for PAs

Grant focuses on education and outreach to expand license portability

WASHINGTON, D.C. (August 27, 2019) – The U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has awarded the FSMB federal funding to support the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact (IMLC) and further enhance license portability for physicians and physician assistants (PAs).

The five-year HRSA grant will be used to support license portability for PAs, enhance the IMLC technology platform to enable secure communications among IMLC member boards, and expand outreach to educate stakeholders on how to utilize the IMLC to improve access to care using telemedicine across state lines. The grant will also support new and existing IMLC member states in increasing efficiency in conducting required criminal background checks.

Since 2015, 29 states, Guam and the District of Columbia have enacted legislation to join the IMLC. These states include Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming. 

The IMLC’s application process officially went live on April 6, 2017, and its first license was issued on April 20, 2017. As of As of July 2019, more than 6,671 medical licenses have been issued to 4,446 physicians through the IMLC. To learn more about the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact, please visit IMLCC.org.

About the Federation of State Medical Boards
The Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) is a national non-profit organization representing all medical boards within the United States and its territories that license and discipline allopathic and osteopathic physicians and, in some jurisdictions, other health care professionals. The FSMB serves as the voice for state medical boards, supporting them through education, assessment, research and advocacy while providing services and initiatives that promote patient safety, quality health care and regulatory best practices. To learn more about FSMB, visit www.fsmb.org. You can also follow FSMB on Twitter (@theFSMB).