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The bothersome, manual administrative labor required from medical organizations and their staff is something Merit has strived to ease during the COVID-19 pandemic. The launch of Merit ReadyNow eliminates the paperwork for interstate license reciprocity and license verification, but we also wanted something that would help organizations search for and access the medical professionals that are needed immediately. With these concerns in mind, Merit has launched Merit Lookup.

In a perfect world, states, hospitals, and volunteer organizations would be able to validate and issue merits without all of the sign-in sheets, time spent confirming participant credentials, and countless hours adding up total participant time. With the Merit Check-in app, all this can be done in an instant.

The Current Process Takes Too Long 

It currently takes days or weeks for a hospital’s credentialing office to perform the necessary background checks to allow medical professionals to begin work outside of their jurisdiction. For situations like what we’re facing today with COVID-19, that is time we cannot afford to lose.

The usual process of interstate licensing is known to be a long, manual, and paperwork-heavy process, but COVID-19 is striking an urgency that many have not felt before. During a time when every second counts, faster solutions are needed to allow medical professionals to get to work as soon as possible. Merit ReadyNow rises to the challenge of providing a quick solution, enabling any licensed medical professional in the U.S. to volunteer or work from any medical facility in the country for the duration of the crisis.

With recent city-wide shutdowns, travel restrictions, and limited testing availability throughout the country, many Americans are worried that healthcare professionals will soon be overwhelmed with the number of patients needing care. And even more so—worried about the patients unable to receive it. In response to these concerns, Merit recently announced the launch of Merit ReadyNow which makes digital interstate license reciprocity work for the entire country.

The United States Congress passed the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) in 2014 with wide bipartisan support, to help job seekers access employment, education, training, and support in order to succeed in the labor market. WOIA is responsible for reforming and injecting funding into many key programs that are critical to getting citizens ready for work.

Merit is complementary to these efforts, as our platform helps states unlock their workforce’s potential by providing a single, secure platform to issue, track, and verify credentials earned and trainings completed. As our team meets with labor and workforce partners and key stakeholders across the country, it is increasingly clear that Merit addresses many components of the WOIA.

Here are three specific ways in which Merit is complementary to the WIOA.

Artificial intelligence, machine learning, and automation will undoubtedly impact the future of America’s workforce by making many jobs easier, and others completely obsolete. However, these technologies will have an uneven impact across each industry. Occupations in professional services (legal, science, academics), and “deskless” industries such as architecture, construction, plumbing, childcare, medical services, social work, and more, are more likely to see an increase in the number of available jobs.

This fall, Merit has had the opportunity to support three of Virginia’s premier professional organizations at various conferences and trainings: the Virginia Builders Summit and Expo, the Virginia ASLA Conference on Landscape Architecture, the Virginia Association of Professional Soil Scientists' Fall Conference, and the 2019 VOWRA Conference and Trade Show. While these conferences drew professionals from different industries, there was one thing in common between all of the organizers we worked with and attendees we met: checking into the various sessions, classes, and trainings was a smooth process, thanks to the Merit Check-in app.

New platform will cut through red tape, track worker achievements, increase trust in workforce

Today, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam announced that Virginia’s Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation (DPOR) is streamlining individual professional licensing by partnering with digital credentialing service Merit® to drive innovation, digital transformation, and efficiency for hundreds of thousands of occupational license holders in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Merit’s technology will enable DPOR to issue digital licenses, giving every licensed professional the ability to carry their up-to-date credentials anywhere they go.