Florida Waiving Licensure Requirements in Response to COVID-19

Out-of-state health care professionals may now come to Florida to render services related to COVID-19 for either the Red Cross or Florida Department of Health — without needing to go through the state’s licensure requirements.

This is just one of many license-related measures put in place in Florida over the past week, as the state ordered temporary changes to its professional licensure requirements as part of its State of Emergency and Public Health Emergency declarations.

As part of our regulatory compliance practice, we at Chapman Law Group are monitoring licensure matters for our clients in Florida and Michigan. We also are keeping our clients abreast of how Coronavirus is affecting physicians, guidelines for health care professionals who could be exposed to COVID-19,  and how telehealth is factoring in during the pandemic.

While Michigan has declared a State of Emergency, neither its Board of Medicine nor its Board of Osteopathic Medicine have waived licensure requirements as of yet.

However, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has ordered that the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs may renew a license “regardless of whether the licensee has satisfied the continuing education requirement applicable to their license,” and “may recognize hours worked responding to the COVID-19 emergency as hours toward continuing education courses or programs required for licensure.” This measure applies through April 14, 2020, at 11:59 p.m.