Advocacy Successes
Physician Advocacy Successes
Good health policy is made with physicians in the discussion.
MSDC, working with its members, partners, and other organizations, has won major policy victories to help its members practice medicine. Below is a sampling of those victories. Do you want to be a vital part of the next policy victory helping improve the health of the District? Contact us today.
Opioid Policy
- MSDC was added to the opioid fund oversight panel by the Council in its legislation authorizing the oversight body
Scope of Practice
- MSDC supported legislation to ban the sale of flavored electronic smoking devices and restrict the sale of electronic smoking devices.
- Working with a coalition, MSDC added funding to the DC budget to support the hiring of more license specialists to help with the delay in processing medical licenses.
Women's Health
- B24-143, to regulate certified midwives, passed the Council with MSDC's support
Health Equity
- Mayor Muriel Bowser signs into law the Electronic Medical Order for Scope of Treatment Registry Amendment Act of 2019. The eMOST Registry Amendment Act permits the creation of an electronic database of advanced directive wishes for District residents that can be tied into the health information exchange.
- Mayor Bowser signs into law the School Sunscreen Safety Temporary Amendment Act of 2019. The bill permits students to bring and apply sunscreen during the 2019-2020 school year.
- MSDC comments on the importance of funding United Medical Center (UMC) and health facilities in Wards 7 and 8 in the mayor's budget. Those comments are used almost verbatim in CM Trayon White's comments advocating for funding of United Medical Center.
Scope of Practice
- DC Health publishes draft regulations removing the 3 mandatory CME hours for HIV/AIDS awareness and replaces them with a requirement to fulfill 10% of mandatory CME hours with a topic from a public health priority list. DC Health then waived the requirement for 2020.
- The Strengthening Reproductive Health Protections Act of 2020 is signed into law with MSDC support. The bill prohibits government interference in reproductive decisions between a patient and doctor, and prohibits employers from penalizing physicians for practicing reproductive medicine outside of their work hours.
- The Mayor's Commission on Healthcare Systems Transformation releases its final recommendations. One recommendation is for the District to explore options to make providing health care more affordable, including financial relief for higher malpractice insurance rates.
- The Council removes "telephone" from the list of prohibited types of telemedicine to allow physicians and other providers to be reimbursed for telephone telemedicine appointments after MSDC and health community advocacy.
- MSDC worked with the Council to modify onerous language in the Health Care Reporting Amendment Act that potentially would have penalized physicians from seeking help for substance abuse or addiction issues.
Opioid/Drug Policy
- The Department of Health Care Finance (DHCF) waives prior authorization for key medication assisted treatments (MAT) treating substance use disorder patients in Medicaid.
- The Mayor signed into law The Access to Biosimilars Amendment Act of 2019, a top MSDC priority as it would help prescribers to prescribe more cost-effective drugs for patients.
Behavioral Health
- The Behavioral Health Parity Act of 2017, a major priority for MSDC and DCPA, officially becomes law. The legislation requires all health benefit plans offered by an insurance carrier to meet the federal requirements of the Wellstone/Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008.
Health Equity
- The District Council passes B22-1001, The Health Insurance Marketplace Improvement Amendment Act of 2018. The bill prohibits the sale of Short Term, Limited Duration health plans and Association Health Plans (AHPs) in the DC Health Benefits Exchange.
Scope of Practice
- DC joins 28 other states in the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact with B22-177 becoming law. The IMLC is designed to ease physician licensure in multiple states.
Women's Health
- The Maternal Mortality Review Committee is established by law. The Committee is responsible for finding solutions to maternal health crisis in the District. District physicians are an important part of this vital committee.
- B22-106, The Defending Access to Women's Health Care Services Amendment Act, becomes law. The act requires insurers to cover health care services like breast cancer screening and STI screenings without cost-sharing.
Opioid Policy
- Right before the Council adjourned for the session, it passed B21-32, the Specialty Drug Copayment Limitation Act. The bill limits cost shifting by payers for prescription drugs.
Behavioral Health
- B21-0007 passes the Council. The Behavioral Health Coordination of Care Amendment Act of 2016 permitted the disclosing of mental health information between a mental health facility and the health professional caring for the patient.
Women's Health
- MSDC was proud to have worked on B21-20. The law requires payers to cover up to 12 months of prescription contraception, advancing women's health and equality.
MSDC President Susanne Bathgate Calls for License Reciprocity “ASAP” – and Gets It
In a victory for physicians, MSDC has helped pave a pathway for expedited medical license reciprocity between Washington, DC, and neighboring Virginia and Maryland.
Today, the District of Columbia Board of Medicine announced that it and the Maryland State Board of Physicians and the Virginia Board of Medicine, “have entered into an agreement to establish reciprocity amongst the parties to facilitate the expedited reciprocity licensure of physicians practicing within the three jurisdictions.”
This announcement comes on the heels of MSDC President Susanne Bathgate’s forceful testimony before the DC Committee on Health, when she recently called for “regional license reciprocity as soon as possible.”
Today Dr. Bathgate stated, “MSDC has long loudly championed the need for a streamlined medical licensing process with neighboring Virginia and Maryland, and we have worked diligently over many years to bring together our counterparts across the DMV. Today the DC Board of Medicine announced that it has entered into agreement with the medical boards in Maryland and Virginia to develop licensure reciprocity between our neighbors. On behalf of our hard-working physicians who have led the call for this change, we thank the Board for this first step. MSDC will continue to work with the DC Board of Medicine and neighboring jurisdictions to ensure that the pathway implementation is smooth and efficient for District physicians.”
The current medical licensing process between the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia is cumbersome, onerous, lengthy and has long plagued physicians looking to be regionally licensed. The three states each have provisions in statute to permit this, but the implementation and coordination has been lacking. In response to continued physician frustration, MSDC pushed for collaboration between the District, Maryland, and Virginia.
Allowing quicker licensing for area physicians not only saves time, money, and stress for the regional healthcare system, but also benefits patients in need of care and meets the needs of modern hybrid work settings. MSDC has consistently called for the removal of needless barriers to physician licensure and patient care.
Details about the new system have not been announced by the District, but do appear on the Maryland Board of Physicians and Virginia Board of Medicine. MSDC will continue to monitor the implementation in the District and will work with the Department of Health to ensure that the process is properly executed.
The announcement from DC Health issued on March 15, 2023, appears below.
RE: DMV Reciprocity Pathway
Dear District of Columbia Board of Medicine Stakeholder,
The District of Columbia Board of Medicine is excited to announce a new licensure pathway for US/Canadian-educated physicians. The District of Columbia Board of Medicine, the Maryland State Board of Physicians, and the Virginia Board of Medicine have entered into an agreement to establish reciprocity amongst the parties to facilitate the expedited reciprocity licensure of physicians practicing within the three jurisdictions.
We understand that obtaining a license can be a lengthy process for physician applicants and due to the close proximity and geographical relationship of the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia, many physicians need licensure in all three (3) jurisdictions. The purpose of the expedited pathway allows the Board to minimize the administrative burden on the applicant and staff, while still concurrently ensuring minimum qualifications are met to protect the public.
For more information, please visit the Boards’ web pages: