In this review: Authority of VA Professionals to Practice Health Care (interim final rule)
Effective date: On the date of publication in the Federal Register (currently scheduled for Nov. 12)

The big picture: The Department of Veterans Affairs confirmed that health care professionals may provide services in a state other than the health care professional’s state of licensure. The official confirmation from the VA, long advocated by APTA, is likely to help reduce anxieties among health care professionals in the VA system who practice in states (or work with patients) outside the state in which they initially achieved a license to practice.

Through the interim final rule, VA establishes a new regulation that confirms the ability of VA health care professionals to practice their health profession in other states, so long as they practice within their scope of practice and VA employment requirements. Providers in the system had raised concerns about state regulatory boards' ability to allege unlicensed practice against them. The VA rule lays those fears to rest.