U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), and Angus King (I-Maine) introduced the States Handling Access to Reciprocity for Employment (SHARE) Act, bipartisan legislation to improve interstate health care workforce licensing and improve access to care across America by cutting through red tape. Companion legislation was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Reps. Tracey Mann (R-Kan.) and Joe Neguse (D-Colo.).
Chris Adamec, Executive Director, Alliance for Connected Care said, “The Alliance for Connected Care believes that one of the most promising capabilities of telehealth is creating health care access where it is currently limited – including through more care across state lines. We applaud the leaders of the SHARE Act for introducing legislation that would help to reduce barriers to this care.”
The States Handling Access to Reciprocity for Employment (SHARE) Act amends existing federal law to authorize the FBI to conduct criminal background checks for state licensing agencies and reduce bureaucratic red tape, which can create a barrier to care. Many of these inter-state compacts (or legislatively enacted agreements between states) face a roadblock, as some state regulatory agencies have been denied, or had their authorization revoked, to obtain FBI criminal background checks for verification of a licensee’s eligibility.
The legislation ensures criminal history record information is maintained in the same manner as requests for all occupational licenses handled at the state level. In accordance with how compact commissions already operate, the SHARE Act specifies that criminal history record information cannot be shared with any entity other than a state licensing agency which requests the criminal background check.
The States Handling Access to Reciprocity for Employment (SHARE) Act is supported by the Alliance for Connected Care; American Academy of Physician Associates (AAPA); American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) Tennessee; American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA); Council of State Governments (CSG); EMS Compact; Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB); Interstate Commission of Nurse Licensure Compact Administrators (ICNLCA); Interstate Medical Licensure Compact Commission (IMLCC); National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN); Occupational Therapy Compact Commission; and Vermont Board of Medical Practice.
