Tear Down This Wall: Liberating Patients to Access Out‐​of‐​State Telehealth

The COVID-19 pandemic made the public more aware of the benefits of telehealth technology. However, most states prohibit patients from accessing telehealth services from out‐​of‐​state clinicians unless those providers obtain licenses from the states where the patients reside. Many patients seeking the expertise of renowned out‐​of‐​state clinicians drive to “telemedicine parking lots” in states where the clinicians hold licenses to conduct telehealth visits. State licensing laws block interstate telehealth services, suppress providers and patients from using the technology, and infringe on patients’ rights to access telehealth. Dr. Shannon MacDonald is a radiation oncologist at Massachusetts General Hospital. State licensing laws have come between Dr. MacDonald and her patients needing follow‐​up care. She has joined with a medical colleague and New Jersey patients to sue the state of New Jersey, contending its health professional licensing laws are unconstitutional.

Join Dr. MacDonald, her attorney Caleb Trotter of the Pacific Legal Foundation, and Anastasia P. Boden, the director of the Cato Institute’s Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies, for a discussion of the issue and the lawsuit’s potential impact on professional licensing laws.

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