In March 2020, New Jersey enacted the Temporary Emergency Reciprocity Licensure Program. This allowed licensed health care practitioners from outside the state to obtain a temporary license during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the August Issue, Ann Nguyen and coauthors examine how the state's temporary licensure program impacted workforce supply.

The authors surveyed 10,000 respondents, and found that relying on a temporary emergency reciprocity licensure program allowed New Jersey to quickly increase service capacity during a public health crisis.

Overall, Nguyen and coauthors indicate that temporary licensure of out-of-state practitioners could be a valuable, short-term solution to mitigate health care workforce shortages during public health emergencies.

The paper by Nguyen and coauthors inspired a number of perspective pieces about licensure programs as well.

Bianca Frogner describes state variation in licensure requirements as a barrier to patients, advocating for the permanent adoption of emergency policies that expanded the supply of health care workers across state lines.

Brendan Carr and Nicholas Gavin recognize the opportunities that interstate licensure offers, but also caution future approaches to strike the appropriate balance between local interests and a national focus.

Humayun Chaudhry urges policy makers and health care leaders to critically examine which programs worked well during the pandemic to effectively shape the nation’s emergency preparedness for future public health crises.

If you enjoy reading about topical issues in health care policy, then consider becoming a Health Affairs Insider to get access to curated newsletters from health care experts on issues like health reform, health spending, social determinants, and more.

Today in Health Affairs Forefront, Rachel Levine and colleagues at the Department of Health and Human Services and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration issue a call to action on Long COVID research as part of a National Research Action Plan on Long COVID.

In case you missed it, we published a new episode of A Health Podyssey yesterday discussing the heavy costs of health care coding with Barak Richman from Duke University.

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About Health Affairs

Health Affairs is the leading peer-reviewed journal at the intersection of health, health care, and policy. Published monthly by Project HOPE, the journal is available in print and online. Late-breaking content is also found through healthaffairs.org, Health Affairs Today, and Health Affairs Sunday Update.

Project HOPE is a global health and humanitarian relief organization that places power in the hands of local health care workers to save lives across the globe. Project HOPE has published Health Affairs since 1981.

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