With COVID-19 and the rise of telemedicine, the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) recently launched an online platform that aims to provide extra clinical help through telehealth. The platform, Provider Bridge, connects volunteer healthcare providers with health systems around the country and helps facilitate license portability so the volunteers can treat patients through a connected health platform.
Provider Bridge will help telehealth programs throughout the country and across state lines by collecting information on license portability. It will also provide access to a database of information for verified, volunteer clinicians willing to provide telehealth services during emergencies, which will allow health systems to bring in additional clinical help as needed.
For providers, Provider Bridge will work to ease the burden and support license portability by providing a directory of state and federal COVID-19 resources. It also offers a customer service hub to help clinicians navigate current state licensure requirements, including those specific to telehealth, during states of emergency.
How Does it Work?
Provider Bridge allows volunteer physicians and physician assistants to register and receive a “Provider Bridge Passport,” which will collect their active license(s), disciplinary history, specialty certifications, DEA registration, and NPI numbers. That passport can then be submitted to a health system, hospital, or other healthcare provider that needs help.
While federal and state governments have been able to take emergency measures to facilitate license portability due to the COVID-19 pandemic and public health emergency, those measures are only allowed to remain in place as long as the public health emergency continues. Provider Bridge anticipates serving the medical community after the public health emergency is over.
FSMB was able to get the project off the ground because of a CARES Act grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and will be administered by the FSMB with help from the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA), National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) and American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS).
Currently, Provider Bridge is only open to physicians and PAs. However, FSMB has plans to expand service to nurses and other providers.
If you are an interested health care professional, you can register here. Healthcare entities can verify credentials here.