Jonah Mink started racking up medical licenses during the Covid-19 pandemic. The family medicine doctor, who finished his residency at the University of Pennsylvania in 2016, was already working for a digital health company as the virus took root in the United States. But when doctors’ offices started shutting down, physicians like him saw the writing on the wall: Telehealth was the future.
At the end of 2019, Mink had licenses in just four states. Over the next three years, he accumulated 47 more — one for every state, plus the District of Columbia.
Just a decade ago, a doctor with multiple medical licenses was an anomaly. Sometimes physicians would apply for credentials from a few states if they lived near a border and wanted the flexibility to practice on either side, since a doctor needs to be licensed where their patient is physically located. In-demand specialists might get a few more if they wanted to see patients virtually. But in the years since Covid began driving patients online, the number of physicians seeking multi-state licensure has ballooned to support the growing field of telehealth.
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