Oklahoma expediting medical licenses
State seeks to cut red tape amid COVID-19 rise
As Oklahoma hospitals are seeing a resurgence of COVID-19 patients, the state is once again cutting bureaucratic red tape to quickly get medical professionals to the front lines of health care.
The Oklahoma Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision and the State
Board of Osteopathic Examiners recently passed emergency rules to fasttrack temporary, “critical need” licenses for physicians and other medical professionals.
The rules approved by Gov. Kevin Stitt allow inactive or out-of-state doctors, respiratory therapists and physician assistants in good standing to quickly qualify for a temporary license to be able to get to work.
The change comes as local hospitals, facing a nationwide nursing shortage, are struggling to recruit and retain enough qualified medical professionals to help during the latest wave of COVID-19.
Medical Board Director Lyle Kelsey said a growing number of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations have sparked the need to get more medical professionals into the workforce.
“A number of hospitals have seen increases (in patients) and a higher demand,” Kelsey said. “Many rural hospitals have seen a higher demand for respiratory care practitioners because of the pulmonology issues that come along with this virus.”
The emergency rules reinstate a
fast-tracked licensure process that was in place when Oklahoma was under a state of emergency due to COVID-19. Stitt, who rescinded Oklahoma’s state of emergency May 3, said he doesn’t intend to reinstate the emergency declaration.
When Oklahoma was under a state emergency, the Board of Medical Licensure approved 1,172 temporary licenses and the State Board of Osteopathic Examiners approved 63 temporary licenses.
According to the Oklahoma Board of Nursing, 1,021 nurses, largely from other states, got credentialed under the relaxed licensing rules created by Stitt’s emergency declaration and accompanying executive orders. The nursing board also is working on emergency rules to expediate its licensing process, said Deputy Director Jackye Ward.
The temporary licenses aren’t reserved solely for physicians treating COVID-19 patients, said Board of Osteopathic Examiners Executive Director Michael Leake Jr.
“Even if we issue a temporary license to somebody, a COVID license, they might not be treating directly a COVID patient because they might be filling in for a doctor who’s normally practicing, say, family medicine out in Clinton, who’s now gone to the hospital to help deal with COVID,” he said.