Oregon Medical Board Implements Emergency Rule to Increase Physician, Physician Assistant Workforce
The Medical Board
is expediting processes to allow physicians and PAs to actively assist in the
state’s response to the COVID-19 emergency.
The Oregon Medical Board (OMB) has
adopted a temporary, emergency rule aimed at increasing the state’s health care
provider workforce. This rule is effective immediately and is comprised of
three separate efforts.
The first part of the rule lifts current administrative
restrictions from Emeritus and Locum Tenens physicians and physician assistants
(PAs). During this emergency, Emeritus licensees are no longer restricted to
volunteer practice only, and may receive payment for their medical care; Locum
Tenens licensees are no longer limited to 240 days of practice per biennium and
may now provide care in Oregon indefinitely. There are approximately 800
Emeritus and 500 Locum Tenens providers currently licensed with the OMB.
The second effort creates a new expedited license
reactivation process for Administrative Medicine, Inactive, Lapsed, and Retired
physicians and PAs who have been in active practice within the previous three
years and who ended their clinical practice in good standing with the Board.
The OMB currently has approximately 3,000 licensees who qualify for this
expedited reactivation. Physicians and PAs who meet these qualifications may submit the Emergency Reactivation Application and supplemental materials.
The emergency rule also allows out-of-state physicians and
PAs to apply to practice in Oregon if they are actively licensed and in good
standing in another state. This effort was implemented on March 9, 2020, based
on an existing rule adopted in 2002. Physicians and PAs who meet these qualifications submit the Emergency Authorization Application and supplemental materials.