by James Toomey
Imagine that you were to develop dementia and someone else had to make medical decisions on your behalf. How would you want them to decide? Then suppose that you had to make medical decisions on behalf of another person with dementia. Would you think about decision-making in the same way? A new
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Pursuing an Interstate Medical Telemedicine Registration Compact
by Tara Sklar
Because I believe strongly in the benefits of telehealth, I have obtained licenses in six states through the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact. Doing this took months, cost thousands of dollars, and still leaves me unable to care virtually for patients in 43 states. The process is so cumbersome that less than 1%…
The Life-Changing Benefits of Lifting State Licensure Restrictions for Telemedicine
by Shannon M. MacDonald
“M” was diagnosed with a rare skull-based cancer. A one-in-a-million diagnosis, he was given little information about his diagnosis and told he must seek care outside his home state. “M” worked full time, was the primary caretaker for two young kids, and could not fathom how he could travel to another…
Advancing Access to Health Care Through Federal Medical Licensure Reciprocity for Clinical Trials
By Helen Hughes and Mark Sulkowski
As physicians who have dedicated our careers to clinical research and to the advancement of telemedicine respectively, we’ve witnessed first-hand the transformative power of technology in health care. However, despite our progress over the last four years, there remains a glaring barrier to the potential of telehealth in the…
Advancing Healthcare Equity: Federal Licensure Reciprocity for Physicians Caring for Transplant Patients and Donors
By Rebecca Canino, Anne R. Links, and Fawaz Al Ammary
In the face of a growing organ donation crisis in the United States, characterized by a decline in donors and a surge in transplant waitlists, it has become increasingly clear that existing regulatory barriers impede access to critical transplant services. One solution lies…
Equity Implications of Telehealth Policy on Medication Abortion Care Service Delivery
by Dana Northcraft and Natalie Birnbaum
Since Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2022, fourteen states and two territories have banned the provision of abortion care altogether.[i] Still, abortion rates in the United States are on the rise. This is in part due to the expansion of care delivery through telehealth for…
Stuck in the Middle with You: Licensing Reforms for Cross-State Telehealth
This post launches a Digital Symposium on The Future of Telehealth Regulation, edited by Carmel Shachar, Assistant Clinical Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Health Law and Policy Clinic at the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation. The symposium continues the conversation from a working group held in June 2023 titled “Achieving …
Q&A: Alex Zhavoronkov on Cognitive Enhancement, Anti-Aging, and AI Drug Development
Interviewed by William Leonard Pickard
Alex Zhavoronkov, PhD, is Founder and CEO of Insilico Medicine, a leading clinical stage biotechnology company developing next-generation artificial intelligence and robotics platforms for drug discovery, with headquarters in Cambridge, MA and facilities around the world. He has invented critical technologies for the creation of novel molecular structures, and…
Momentum is Not Enough: A Call for Consistency in Psychedelic Legislation
by Karina Bashir
The law helps establish legitimacy and inform societal norms—a role that becomes particularly pronounced in the field of psychedelics. Lingering stigma from the War on Drugs, despite the promising scientific potential of psychedelics, hinders the growth of the psychedelic industry and its public acceptance. The public’s trepidation is reflected in…
Free Speech versus Public Health: The Role of Social Media (Part Two)
by Claudia E. Haupt
In addition to the conflict between free speech and public health in connection with social media, the role of social media as a public health hazard in itself has gained attention.
Social Media’s Public Health Harms
In a New York Times essay published on June 17, 2024, the Surgeon General…