America has a shortage of healthcare workers, and patients are paying the price. Many communities, especially in rural areas, do not have enough doctors, registered nurses (RNs), and advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) to meet basic healthcare needs. Providers cluster in urban markets while rural communities are left with too few options. Interstate licensure compacts can help fix that. By making it easier for qualified clinicians to practice across state lines, especially through telemedicine, compacts bring care to patients instead of pretending thousands of providers will suddenly pick up and move. Interstate medical licensure compacts are a cost-reducing, competition-enhancing reform that can expand supply and improve access without spending another taxpayer dollar.
Healthcare licensing is still structured as if patients never move, never travel, and never use remote care. A provider licensed and in good standing in one state can still face duplicative approval requirements just to treat a patient in another, even when the care could be delivered safely and efficiently. Those rules do not protect patients nearly as much as they protect incumbents. They restrict choice, suppress competition, and keep provider supply artificially low. Rural and underserved areas pay the highest price because they already have fewer physicians in general and fewer specialists in particular.
Justin Leventhal is a Senior Policy Analyst for the American Consumer Institute, a nonprofit education and research organization that advocates for consumers through evidence-based analysis and data. Follow Justin on X @JustinLeventhal