MINNESOTA
MARCH 2020
PHYSICIAN
THE INDEPENDENT MEDICAL BUSINESS JOURNAL
Volume XXXIII, No. 12
Improving access to care Expediting the licensure process BY JON THOMAS, MD, AND RUTH M. MARTINEZ, MA
T
he Interstate Medical Licensure Compact went live in 2015 after the law was passed by seven states (Alabama, Idaho, Montana, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming). That same year, Minnesota became the eighth member state when the Minnesota Legislature unanimously passed the law, and 29 states, the District of Columbia, and the Territory of Guam have now joined the agreement. In October 2015, member states met for the first time as the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact Commission. Their task was to develop the expedited licensure process, codified in statute for eligible physicians, that improves license portability and increases patient access to care. In April 2017, about a year and a half after that first meeting, the first license was issued through the Compact. Minnesota has issued hundreds of expedited licenses through the process. Until recently, though, the Minnesota
Surprise billing Causes and potential remedies
Improving access to care to page 124
BY ROBERT W. GEIST, MD
T
he $25,000 surprise bill arrived after the patient, himself a physician, had a radical prostatectomy and was discharged from the hospital two days after surgery.
We will examine why surprises occur, the congressional fights over price-fixing panaceas, why price fixing never works, and other possible remedies that do not involve price fixing.
Surprises big and small The post-op big surprise was created by federal regulation. If the skill of the surgeon gets you out of the hospital in two days instead of three days or more, you pay more. Why? Surprise billing to page 104