Columbus, OH – In a new policy memo, Policy Solutions for the Pandemic: Universal Occupational Licensing Reciprocity will Strengthen Ohio’s Health Care System (see full text below or download a PDF), The Buckeye Institute called on Ohio to join the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact and then remove additional barriers to medical care by adopting universal occupational license reciprocity. 

“The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the importance of flexibility, preparedness, and the supply of medical professionals during a widespread health crisis,” said James B. Woodward, economic research analyst with The Buckeye Institute’s Economic Research Center. “Joining the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact and then adopting universal occupational license reciprocity will make Ohio’s health care system more flexible, prepared, and capable of caring for those in need.”

Ohio has adopted many of Buckeye’s policy recommendations to boost the state’s health care system and support Ohio’s workers, small businesses, and economy including:

• Increasing telehealth access and monitoring;
• Extending universal recognition of out-of-state medical licenses to doctors and physician assistants;
• Permitting pharmacists to test for COVID-19;
• Enlisting medical and nursing students to support doctors and nurses fighting COVID-19;
• Beginning to eliminate unnecessary budget commitments;
• Instituting a hiring freeze in state government; and
• Allowing establishments with an existing liquor permit to sell and deliver alcohol on carryout menus.

This new policy memo builds on the recommendations The Buckeye Institute made in Policy Solutions for the Pandemic: How Ohio Can Fight the Impact of Coronavirus, which outlined immediate actions policymakers can take to ensure Ohio and the country is ready to fight and recover from the pandemic. The Buckeye Institute’s recommendations can be found at: www.BuckeyeInstitute.org/Policy-Solutions-for-the-Pandemic.

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Policy Solutions for the Pandemic
Universal Occupational Licensing Reciprocity will Strengthen Ohio’s Health Care System

By James B. Woodward, Ph.D.
April 20, 2020

The Buckeye Institute’s Recommendation
Ohio should join the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact and then remove additional barriers to medical care by adopting universal occupational license reciprocity. 

Background
The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the importance of flexibility, preparedness, and the supply of medical professionals during a widespread health crisis. Like all states, Ohio licenses many medical professions, but places additional restrictions on doctors, physician assistants, nurses, and other medical professionals licensed in other states that limit the care they may provide here. 

Even Governor DeWine’s recent telehealth expansion that adopted one of Buckeye’s earliest pandemic-response recommendations remains hampered by needless occupational licensing and certification requirements despite the fact that Medicare Advantage expanded telehealth coverage last year and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services allows hospitals to rely on professionals with out-of-state licenses for telehealth services. These sorts of red-tape requirements make Ohio less flexible, less prepared, and less able to care for Ohioans, especially during public health crises like the current pandemic.

Ohio should take two steps to address this concern and improve its available health care. First, joining the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact would make it easier for licensed out-of-state health care practitioners to obtain an Ohio license—a welcome change. But even the compact would leave certain employment barriers in place and require practitioners from other states to go through Ohio’s medical board and pay fees before caring for Ohioans. Second, the universal occupational license reciprocity that Buckeye has recommended would allow medical and other professionals to cross state lines more easily and permit Ohio professionals with out-of-state licenses to help their fellow Ohioans immediately. 

Conclusion
As the COVID-19 pandemic has shown, Ohio should immediately join the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact and then adopt universal occupational license reciprocity to reduce unnecessary bureaucracy and make Ohio’s health care system more flexible, prepared, and capable of caring for those in need.

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